Why I Want To Teach...

Honestly, I want to teach because being in that position allows me the opportunity to effect thousands of people in a community. I do not mean simply the lives of my students, but those my students come in contact with throughout there lives. The big picture! We as a society...

Some may think this is a long shot, but I want to have a lasting positive effect on my students. I want to be that one great teacher that maybe made them see things differently or helped them find their own voice in the world. That sort of stuff. I honestly don't expect to win them all.

If I can effect the lives of even just a few of my students throughout my years of teaching, then I have succeeded. Maybe one day those students will want to do the same, maybe not by teaching but by other means, and help continue to make this world a better place by influencing our future generations to do better as "a people",a whole, a society.

Creativity Is Key!!

Several kids go through school doing EXACTLY what they are told to do on assignments. Almost every assignment in high school, and some in my 3 year college career, was outlined specifically for every student. Teachers were almost cloning assignments or dare I say....
Cloning their students!

By this I mean that teachers set out specific guidelines that do not allow for creativity or uniqueness. I do not want to grade 30 some-odd assignments where each one resembles the last almost exactly. I understand that class assignments are given for specific reasons, but that doesn't mean they should all have the same specific instructions on how to do every little detail. I want to encourage creativity in my class room, reiterate class room topics or concepts and still allow my students to create something of their own. I want my students to be proud of the work they do in my class. Just because it is a school assignment doesn't mean it can't be a work of art.

I WILL NOT Be Just Another Teacher

Throughout my years of school I've noticed that students will avoid or insist on taking your class based on what other students have to say about you. I do plan on teaching at the high school level and possibly at the college level one day. I DO NOT want to the teacher that students warn their friends about. I want teenagers, young adults, or adults (whatever the case may be) to look forward to having me as an instructor.

My great uncle owns Seaman's Cove in Escatawpa, Mississippi. It is a great seafood restaurant and he gets plenty of business and people love to eat there. Unlike most chain restaurants, he does not advertise his business. He relies on what I call "word of mouth". If people go there and love the food and the experience, then they tell a friend and that friend tells another. It is a successful domino affect that costs nothing but time, effort, and a love for what you are doing.

I believe the same principles apply when teaching high school or college. Your a good or bad teacher depending on how your students feel about their experience in your class. Your class is either fun and exciting or boring and pointless based on students opinions. Grant it, if I'm teaching at a school I will have a class, even if it's a class full of kids that were trying to avoid me and just got last picks on teachers. I do not want a class of kids that are there only because they have to be. I would like to have students that desire me specifically to be their teacher. I want to be the pick of the litter!

Being a Great Teacher Means....Being a Great Learner!

I don't want to be similar to any of the awful teachers I had in high school. The ones that continued the mind numbing way of teaching that has gone on for decades....

I don't expect to know everything there is to know the second I step foot in my own classroom. I'm actually expecting and looking forward to it be pretty rough the first few years. We all fall off our bike the first time we learn to ride don't we? No one should expect nor hope for perfection the first time they try something, especially not something as complex as teaching.

I want to learn form my students as well as have them learn from me. If a student has an idea to use a particular outside resource (like tools Google has to offer or anything similar) for a presentation or project, not specified in my curriculum, I wouldn't shut him or her out for having that idea. I would want to look into what they are talking about and maybe even have them teach me how to use whatever it is he or she wants to use in order to complete the assignment. Being a narrow minded teacher will only hurt my students.

I'm a Google user!

Google has so many useful tools that I was unaware of before attending Dr. Strange's class. I had only used Google as a search engine before all this, but now I use it for a lot of my other classes and would like to incorporate it into my own classroom one day.

I use:

1. Gmail
2. Google Earth
3. Google Docs

other tools within Google Docs, including

• Document
• Presentation
• Spreedsheet

I aslo use

1. Blogger- which is offered through Google
2. Google Sites
3. Youtube- which is also part of Google

Google owns EVERYTHING

Google Docs is the best! One can have several collaborators adding information or even correcting mistakes to a particular document. It is all online and can be accessed anywhere! It's all "real time" too! Meaning when someone updates it, it is instant. A good example is the outline my group members and I had for our podcast. There were several things we were going to discuss and had no idea who would say what or in what order. Through our Google document, we arranged and rearranged what was being said by who without ever sitting down and scribbling a bunch of ideas on paper. It was very helpful and much more organized than the traditional methods I used earlier in my education. The best part is that all the tools Google offers are FREE!

Quality, NOT Quantity!

How many "educators" give out homework assignments that seem pointless? How many weekly assignments, that are the same as the last, can a student complete before he or she is tired of doing them? We as educators are responsible for keeping our students interests and giving them the best learning experiences as possible.

I understand that practice makes perfect, but there is a fine line between practicing a skill (or learning how to use a tool) and overloading a student with pointless busy work. It is from my personal observation that college professors and elementary school teachers are the best at giving quality education.

During elementary school everyone learns the basic needs to function in society. We learn: to read, write, spell, do very basic math, the calender/seasons, social skills, etc. Some elementary teachers, like Helen King at Pt England School, are introducing their students to create blogs where they show their work that they are doing in their classrooms. Room 14's blogs include iMovies, Hyeprstudios, Art work or stories.

In college, students are taught the skills they need for the job they desire by professionals in their field. It is the in-between areas that need the good educators. Middle schools and high schools are the worst when it comes to busy work. Teachers cram in the needed material required by the state and do not apply enrichment activities until just before the tests.

I strive to be the more creative teacher that allows my students to learn in new ways. Of course I will have a curriculum which I will have to abide by, but that does not mean I must take the same boring routine steps in teaching that curriculum as the educators before me did. Times are changing and so must our teaching methods.