Personal Theory

Through out this semester there are many things I have learned that will be important to incorporate in my classroom. There are many things that I thought I would do that I have now changed my mind about. I have learned many ways that I feel as a better way to handle classroom issues. Through this class I have changed my opinion about what to do to promote student learning, how I will effectively teach diverse learners, and how I will motivate my students to succeed.

There are many things that I can do in my classroom to promote my students learning. First I will make sure that that I incorporate different learning styles into my everyday lessons. This can be very important because every child learns differently. Each child needs to receive information in a way that they will be able to learn it, and be able to retain the information. Also I think that it is going to be important to include my students in on their learning process. They know better than anyone how they learn best, and may be able to help you get the most progress out of them. The students will also be able to give you ideas that will make learning more interesting for them. I feel that if I don’t listen to my students I could miss out on some great learning opportunities. Thirdly classroom management and keeping the students on task will greatly promote learning in the classroom. If my students aren’t distracted by others around them, they will be able to focus on the lesson, thus learn more. Also if they stay on task through out the day they will get more done and learn more on a daily bases. The only way that my beliefs have stayed the same this semester would be the importance of classroom management. I think that this has stayed the same because the information that I gained in this class supports my ideas of how easily distracted students can be at times, and how much more they will be able to learn by simply keeping on task. I think that the biggest way that my opinion has changed was that before this class I didn’t realize the importance of different learning styles and giving the students an active part of their learning. I did recognize that every child learns differently but I didn’t fully understand the impact it can have on a student. Also before this class I thought that giving students a say on how they learned would be a bad idea. I didn’t think that they would be able to know what is best for themselves at such a young age. I didn’t know how effective it can be to take their opinions into consideration I learned that the students would not just goof off, that they are capable of taking things seriously and as a result can learn and benefit from it. Every child does things in their own way and all students will be able to benefit from that.

This semester I also focused a lot on the best way to teach the diverse learner. Personally being exposed very little to people of different diversities, this part of the class was very beneficial to me. I feel that one of the most important things I can do is get to know my students, the more I know about them the more I will be able to relate my lessons to their personal life. Also the more I know about their families, the more I will know where they are coming from and possibly why they think the way they do. I also believe that I will need to go into my classroom with an open mind, and to be sure not to stereotype any of my students. I have learned that just because a student belongs to a certain group doesn’t mean that they are going to act a specific way. I feel that it is important to see each student as an individual. I believe that if you teach your students this way they will be more likely to be a part of the class and will learn more as well. When I have a diverse classroom it will be very important to me to use different teaching techniques. Not only will they benefit from different learning styles but also from what I will relate the learning to. It is important to use things out of as many cultures as possible, and thing out of their own culture that the students will be able to relate to. For example using music, art or theater from their culture in able to teach a lesson in the bigger picture. My students will not only learn a great deal about one another this way, but also be more interested in the lesson. The main way that I believe I have not changed my thinking this semester is that I still believe in the importance of incorporating different cultures into my lessons. I knew prior to this class that it would be affective for my diverse learners, I just didn’t realize how much. Before this class I knew that all of my students could learn from being educated about different background, but now I understand how the diverse children will benefit. I now know that they will be able to relate more to the lesson, thus getting them to engage more, and learn more from it because they will want to learn. I think that the biggest way that I have changed my opinion over the semester would be when it comes to stereotyping groups. Before this class I didn’t think that I stereotypes people or that I had biases of others. I have now realized that I do, and now that I am aware of them I can control them and not reflect them on my students. I also think that because I have been exposed to very little it makes it much easier to have these biases, but now that I have learn more about other cultures some of these have faded away. I have learned that just because someone belongs to a group it doesn’t mean that they say, do, think, or act in a certain way. I have realized that everyone is a individual and that everyone is different.

In the last four months I have learned a tremendous amount about motivating students in the classroom. Not only have we learned about how and why to motivate them we have also learned about when to motivate. One of the most important things that I have learned is about positive encouragement. I have learned about the importance of being positive, and that the students will respond to you more if you are positive then if you always stress the negatives. More students will reflect off of my attitude and if I have a positive out look on school, then they will as well. Also when I am positive with my students they will see this as being supportive of them. For some children I may be the only support they have, and if I am encouraging for them to do well, they will be more likely to do so. I think that another way to motivate my class is to use rewards for improvements. This may be a special treat, a good grade or possibly just telling them what a great job they have done. This will benefit my class because some students just don’t have the internal motivation to succeed and will need a little help from me. I think that with most students all it takes is to recognize their hard work and to acknowledge there improvement. For most kids this will make them feel good about themselves and they will want to continue to make improvements. Another way that I am going to motivate my students will be to keep their parents involved. Not only will I contact the parents on negative issues, but also on positive ones. I think that it is important that the parents know when their child isn’t doing their best work. Sometime just a quick phone call will get the child back on task and wanting to do well so you wont call their parents again. On the other hand I think that it is just as important for teachers to call parents if their child is doing well. I plan to call parents if the student in making improvements in a certain subject, or if they are just working exceptionally hard. I feel that by telling their parents good thing about them, this will help to keep my students wanting to do a good job. Plus every parent loves to hear good things about their child and possibly the parents could give the child a special reward for doing such a good job in class. When it comes to motivation a lot of my ideas have stayed the same this semester. I already knew the benefits of having rewards in my classroom. Also I previously thought that parent involvement was important, but I think that the way that my views have changed on these topics is that now I am more positive. I didn’t realize how much being positive can motive a student. If there is a student who isn’t motivated to do well, rewarding a student who is doing well can motivate the one who isn’t. I think that this is important for every teacher to know. Also I didn’t realize how much being supportive for a student can affect them. Just by taking a few minutes out of my day to see how their work is doing, the better they will want to do in my class. I have learned a lot about the significance of motivation in the classroom this year. If my class isn’t motivated they will not meet the goals that I set for them, and will not meet their potential as learners.

This semester has taught me a tremendous amount about how I want to handle my classroom. I think that not only have I grown as a future teacher but I have also grown as a person. I have learned about what I do and what I don’t want to do in my classroom. I think that after this class I am much more prepared and excited to go into the classroom. I have learned so much about how to promote learning in my classroom, teaching for diverse learners, and how to motivate my students that I will be able to take with me into the classroom, that will not only make me a better teacher but also make it a better learning environment for my students to create their ideas to make them better people.