Wrapping up requirements

If you read through the "About" page on this blog you know this blog was started as a requirement for my capstone in my master's degree.  You also know that it is my hope to continue to use this blog as a place of reflection for me and a way to connect with other educators around the world.  I don't know how often I will be posting, but I have a goal of once a week until Christmas break.  (That's only 20 weeks away for those of you that are counting!)

I pray what you have read in my blog so far has helped you reflect on the topics I have blogged about and I pray it has inspired to you want to step out of your comfort zone in you career.  If I have learned one thing through my attempts in meeting people and expanding my personal learning community, it would be that we share a common goal...we all want to do what is best for our students.  We all want to keep up to date on the latest educational practices and we are always looking for ways to improve current practices we are doing in our classroom.  

Please feel free to connect with me via Twitter or Google+.  I would love to connect with each and every one of you!

Tona

HE>I

Teaching Philosophy

Throughout my master's program, I had to write and alter my teaching philosophy. I am ashamed to admit that, previous to be required to write a teaching philosophy, I never had one written. The overall idea and foundation were in my head, but as I have shared multiple times in this blog, I am learning that writing and reflecting on happenings in my career is essential to growing as an educator. Writing down my teaching philosophy and having someone else read it, forces me to live out my philosophy. Below is my final teaching philosophy I turned in for my master's program.

I believe a teacher’s role in the classroom is to act as an advisor and guide the students through the learning process. A teacher should deliver lessons that contain state standards while teaching students how those standards apply to their daily lives and their future. Teachers must center their lessons around student achievement and provide classrooms that are safe and allow for personal development.  

At Mount Olive Lutheran School, I have the privilege to serve students in those realms, but I also have the responsibility and blessing of doing so in a family setting where God’s love and forgiveness are taught each day. Within the congregation I get to serve in a variety of ways such as VBS or children’s messages and as a role model for the students. Another key role of a teacher or administrator is community building.  Building a positive rapport with the surrounding community is vital to growth in a school. Without support from the community, a school will surely die. The ability to market a school depends on the reputation within the surrounding community, and the reputation of the school stems from the word of mouth of current and past families. A school must also serve the community. If the school was gone tomorrow, it should leave some void in the community as the school is serving that community. An educator must be in the community building those relationships consistently to know the clientele of the school district and to promote the school in a personal way.

As an educator, I assess my student's ability and learning styles, to analyze their findings, and to teach to each individual’s needs.  I believe in an approach where teachers focus on students as individuals and strive to create more one-on-one, or small group opportunities give teachers the ability to get to know their students.  I believe that an effective teacher must be able to diagnose the student's ability, differentiate to teach them at their level, and continuously challenge and support them throughout the learning process.  While I agree that everyone should be given the opportunity to learn the same information, I believe teachers need to recognize that not everyone takes in the information in the same manner, which is why using multiple teaching methods and differentiating is so important. To do this, a teacher must use a variety of delivery methods for their lessons to account for the students who learn auditorily, visually, and kinesthetically while incorporating technology to enhance lessons. Teachers must recognize that we live in a world that is constantly changing, and new technology is being developed daily.  Teachers need to provide opportunities for students to experience and work with the subject matter.

I believe teachers need to teach to the whole child, ensuring every child is provided with a safe, effective, and challenging learning environment.  As a Lutheran educator, I am not bound to as strict of guidelines and can provide each student with meeting them where they are academically, socially, emotionally and spiritually.  Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs states that biological and physiological needs come first. As an educator, I need to provide these basic needs for those students who do not receive them at home. I have to bond with my students so that I know exactly what needs I need to provide for my students so that they are all ready to effectively learn.

       Working in a Lutheran School makes creating our long-term vision easier because we believe not only in education but also in Jesus Christ as our Savior and his command to “Go and make disciples”  (Matthew 28:19). In creating a Christ-centered classroom, the focus on of my classroom management system is respect, respect for the teacher and peers. My classrooms rules and consequences reflect this respect relationship between teacher and student. Helping students develop respect for themselves as learners, fosters a safe and positive learning environment within the classroom.  

As a teacher, I motivate students by creating a learning environment that is positive and safe while creating bonds with the students by showing them respect and interest in their activities. This type of environment should be evident in every classroom.  I believe teacher’s job to continually build students up and provide that positive reinforcement. As a junior high teacher, I believe it is my role to begin to show students the importance of education, to help develop their intrinsic motivation and desire to achieve, which will serve them for a lifetime.

Students are the driving force behind all of the aspects of education and every decision that is made. Educators want the students to feel safe and cared about each day they walk in the door, making them ready to learn. Once they are ready to learn, the educator attempts to put the best curriculum, lessons, classroom environment,  technology, and other resources to best increase student achievement. This love for education, but more important, the love of children is the driving force behind my hard work and dedication to my calling as an educator.

Tona

HE>I

Life is about the process...

Normally I am not one to talk about my accomplishments and this post is no different, but I do want to take a minute and reflect on the past two years of going through my master's degree and what it has meant to me and my profession.

I started out my master's program in pursuit of a degree in Educational Administration.  As I progressed through my first two classes and really took some time to think about where I wanted my career to go, I realized my passion was in educational technology and teaching other educators how to effectively use technology in their classroom.  

At first this frustrated me because I had taken two classes I didn't actually need, but the more I have gone through my classes the  more I realize that taking those to classes was part of the process of getting to the decision I did.  I am learning that is what life is about.  I realize that many times life is not about the end result but about the process of getting to the end result.  That may sound cliche'.  I have heard that before, but never truly understood it.  Not that I do, it helps this high anxiety teacher enjoy the process of whatever it is I am working through.  That may be a curriculum, a needy student, or even just how I am going to set up my Planbook for the upcoming year.  It is a process and eventually I get to where I want or need to be.  

Now to remember that as the stresses of the beginning of the school year start...

Tona

HE>I

A Life Long Learner

Image taken from Shutterstock

Becoming a life-long learner is essential in anyone’s professional development, despite the career path they are on.  As an educator, I believe it is important not only to continue to develop as a better teacher for myself, but also for the development of my students.

"If we want students to learn, the most critical element is the teacher. So professional development is the overall most important thing we can do to help students learn."  (Johnson, 2014, para. 4)

Education is in constant motion.  Best practices are often changing and keeping up with those changes is essential in providing the best education for the students we are entrusted with.  I define professional development as not only things that are formally called “professional development” like attending conferences or inservices, but also using tools such as Twitter, Google+, Pinterest or even collaboration with a coworker.    

This summer I have reached out and really starting looking for ways to build my personal learning community. I teach in a school where they is only one teacher per grade level or one teacher per subject in the junior high. This makes collaboration and bringing new ideas into my classroom a bit of a challenge. I have joined multiple groups on Facebook. Some of my favorite are:

MIDDLE SCHOOL MATH TEACHERS UNITE!!!

SURVIVING SIXTH, SEVENTH, AND EIGHTH GRADE MATH (FOR TEACHERS!)

BUILD MATH MINDS

TEACHERS USING GOOGLE CLASSROOM

Through discussions on these boards, I have found many new ideas I am bringing into my classroom. They range from classroom management to new technology tools to try. I am so excited about the resources other educators have shared with me.

Do you have groups that you belong to that inspire you to step up your game in your classroom? Please share in the comment section below!

Tona

HE>I

Reference Johnson, B. (2014). Why quality professional development for teachers matters. Retrieved from
     http://www.edutopia.org/blog/why-quality-professional-development-teachers-matters-ben-johnson

Radkov, I. (2011, July 07). KEY acronym - KEEP EDUCATING YOURSELF. Educational concept with different color sticky notes and white chalk handwriting
        on a blackboard. Retrieved from https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/key-acronym-keep-educating-yourself-educational-80589910

Reflecting on being a teacher leader...

"When I was working through a leadership class during my Master's degree, I learned about the different areas of leadership within education.  I learned that leadership was not just the principal or the school board, but the teachers that step up and take on a role or leadership even if it's just for one task.  One of my favorite books I have read on teacher leadership is Awakening the Sleeping Giant: Helping Teachers Develop as Leaders by Katzenmeyer and Moller.  This book was required to read during one of my classes, but I enjoyed it so much I kept it for a future re-read and thought it was worth a shout out, and a moment of reflection, with other educators.  

The book provides a teacher leadership self-assessment.  The assessment provides statements where you score yourself based on how well it describes you in a given situation.  I really enjoyed this self assessment.  As someone who hasn't always seen myself as a teacher leader, this assessment affirmed that my  thoughts and beliefs are on track with being a good leader.  In all the categories, I scored a 27 or above except in the self-organization category where I scored a 23.  This surprised me at first because I consider myself a very organized person. When I went back to see where I scored low, it was the statement, “I exhibit self-confidence when under stress or in difficult situations.”  I scored myself with a 2 on this statement. I know I am a person that does not have a lot of self-confidence. It’s a lot better than it used to be but is still an area that could use a lot of improvement.

Katzenmeyer & Moller list seven factors that contribute to the uniqueness of teachers:  professional teaching skills, personal philosophy of education, generational needs, work perspectives, interactions with others, adult development, and personal lives.  Reflecting on my abilities on these factors are as follows:

Professional teaching skills:  This is an area I am very confident in.  I know that I am successful with my students.  I strive to meet each student where they are and help them grow.  This is a quality that has developed a lot over the past couple years.  Katzenmeyer & Moller (2008) state, “As teachers become secure in their professional teaching skills, they are ready to reach out beyond the classroom to share with others" (p. 43).  Up until the past two years, I never felt comfortable sharing my knowledge with others due to fear that I would be seen as incorrect. As I have had continued success with my students, I see that I do have the skill and knowledge to help my students succeed and should share that with other.

Generational Needs: I have never given this area much thought until reading about it in the text.  I do believe there are differences among generations in the teaching profession, but I take the approach that this gives all teachers the ability to learn new things from each other.  I have two teaching partners, one is right out of college, and the other will retire in the next couple years, and I’m in the middle. I have learned so much from both of these people.  There have been times we disagree on things, but I try always to take the approach that people with differing opinions provide opportunities for us to grow in our own thinking. **(This is also a topic for another time. I find generational learning very interesting!)

Work Perspectives:  Katzenmeyer & Moller (2008) state some “teachers may believe teaching is a mission and devote extra time and effort."  I personally truly believe the work I am doing is a mission. I believe God puts the children in my life that need me as a teacher and I need them as a student.  I put a lot of time and effort into my teaching because I truly care about the children in my classroom. I want nothing more than to see each of them succeed in their own way.

Interactions with Others:  Interactions are vital in teacher leadership.  Developing relationships with coworkers is essential to becoming a great teacher leader.  Katzenmeyer & Moller (2008) discuss people who enjoy working with others and those that prefer to work alone.  The majority of the time I do enjoy working and collaborating with others, but there are also times that I need to just focus on some things that I need to get done, and then I work better by myself.  I think it’s about finding that balance for each person.

Adult Development:  This was another area that I haven’t given much thought to until reading the text.  I have read hours and hours on child development, but it makes sense that we don’t complete stop developing at a certain age.  Looking back at my adult life, I know I think differently now at the age of 35 than I did at the age of 25.

Personal Lives: As a teacher leader already in my school I can relate to how it affects your life personally.  There have been many nights I have missed tucking my own young children into bed because of a late meeting or a school situation.  It is the nature of the job. Having support helps a lot.

I reflect on this book with you to encourage you to not only read the book, but take a moment to really reflect on these different areas of your life that effect your teacher leadership.

Tona

HE>I

Reference Katzenmeyer, M. H., & Moller, G. V. (2009). Awakening the sleeping giant: Helping teachers
develop as leaders (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.