Ham Blog Wk 8

A teaching philosophy is a very important thing to have in order to gain a teaching job no matter where you go. This philosophy tells a lot about you, the way you will teach, and the things you believe should go on in the classroom. Therefore this statement should be so personal that it will make others believe that you are the teacher that they are looking forward to having taught their child or students within the classroom. In a teaching philosophy you can describe what you want in your career how you plan on reaching success with students, and how you believe in the students as well. You should not lie in a teaching philosophy for the fact that it is your own personal opinion and should be taken to heart on how you want to teach or how you feel about your students. Taking someone’s teaching philosophy would not be in the best interest because these are not your own feelings and it really doesn’t show your effectiveness or true self about your passion for teaching. A philosophy should truly come from the heart and reveal yourself to others and a person that really loves what they do and back up the reasons why you believe in the ways teaching should be. Write a great philosophy and keep it with you no matter what teaching job you are applying for, even though it’s possible your philosophy can change overtime it should always be inspiring and motivating to others.

Ham Blog Wk 7

Lesson plans are a part of teaching and should be taken seriously for the fact that this is the way your students will be learning your material. Understanding that a certain theme may be a very affective way for students to learn, this should taken into consideration for the fact that students do like to be entertained while learning. Writing lesson plans are just like making a blue print for construction, it has to be well thought out and detailed enough to a certain satisfaction of learning. If I were to teach small children I would a great thematic scheme like “Hamilton’s Hogs” which the theme would be like a barn yard with hay and farm animals. This thematic scheme/ lesson plan would be to teach the kids about farm life and what goes on within a farm of each animal. A type of lesson plan like this would also set up the perfect field trip I’m pretty sure every child dreams of; which would be trip to an actual farm so students can get actual hands on experience. That sounds like a well executed lesson plan for a pre-k through 6th grade class, because children really do love interacting hands on or face to face. Therefore remember a lesson plan has to be well executed in order to get that successful feed back in class that you hoping to gain from each and every student. Now here is a link on how to write and what you should include in your actual lesson plan for it to be successful. http://tinyurl.com/6v4sn4w

Ham blog wk 6

Learning about portfolios this week has been something that I’ve never took interest in doing or using for my professional career, but now I see why portfolios are a key to getting hired. These portfolios consist of things about yourself, your past, and accomplishments that will set you out from other candidates that are trying to get the same job you are striving for. When it comes down to setting up a portfolio it’s not as simple as setting up a Facebook or Twitter account, there are many other things to this process. Make sure that everything is professional, no childish things like favorite ice cream and activities should be included within this portfolio. More things that involve your volunteer organization and certifications should take the place of those other small ideas that are included in your free time networking site. I would love to figure out how to setup the perfect portfolio to gain the interest of any job that I am applying for so that I knew hands down I’m getting the job. Learning a few things though about how to set up a portfolio came key to mind for example don’t over clutter the portfolio with words or pictures. This simply makes the portfolio too much for a future person that will hire you too much to read or look for while you can keep it straight to the point of the message you’re trying to get out. Next week I have my very first portfolio due, and I plan on keeping it as I continue my college career until I’m ready for my actual teaching career. Wish me luck!

Ham Blog Week 5

Coming in to PVAMU I never thought I would be and educator nor did I think I would ever have the passion to do it before hand. Becoming an Ec-6 generalist has been some journey for me, and there is still a long road ahead of me that looks to be promising. There was never a time that I really did any research about this field because I always thought teaching was teaching. After taking a couple of classes and learning valuable information about the teaching career I saw otherwise. Salary is ok, personally it could be a bit higher, but the question is why isn’t this job not worth six figures? Teachers are the ones that mold students who go off and learn other things but without a starting step would never be able to take that next one. This has to be one, if not the toughest job out there and I believe that this art deserves more respect, pay, and requirements to do it. Now you can earn a teaching certification within six months of training, but we chose the 4 year route in order to get the same exact certification that could be received in less time. Students like us deserve more out of this field, we work as hard as engineers and nurses who also had to go to public or private school to get where they are today. Check out this article on why the education field should be shown its proper recognition   http://tinyurl.com/3p4dnut