Becoming Ms. Frizzle

Below you will find my first assignment for my certification process. If you are confused, it regards my ideas about my educational experience, my goals as an educator, and my views on the purpose of education. Happy Reading!

I was fortunate to go to school in a very nurturing environment where a love of learning was fostered and nourished. As is expected in thirteen years of education, I had experiences that were fulfilling and others that were disappointing. The teachers that I remember best were those that challenged me to learn as much as possible and who ensured that I had a firm grasp of the material. These teachers, I now know, loved not only teaching and growing minds, but they also loved learning, especially in their content area. They set an example that learning could be exciting. They were model students and masters of information exploration. I dreaded most the classrooms in which surpassing the state requirements for learning was not an option. These teachers taught to a test and taught how to take a test, but never beyond those measures. I felt that I was suffocating between the margins and that there was little to no room for uncharted growth.

I believe that the goal of education is to eventually make the need for teachers obsolete. This does not come from the replacement of teachers with computer technology, rather from the inspiration of great teaching. Great teachers have the ability to pass along a love of learning and acquiring as much knowledge as possible. In a perfect world, students would get so excited about the prospect of new knowledge that they would seek it out until they found it. Teachers would become facilitators of exploration rather than instructors simply imparting the knowledge they have acquired. In a perfect world, the student becomes their own teacher because their insatiable need for knowledge extends beyond they classroom.

However, we do not and will not ever live in that perfect world. Thus the teacher’s job is to work toward that goal of extinction each and every year. A teacher has the responsibility to provide a safe and conducive environment in which students can learn. When students feel safe they will then feel comfortable enough to accept knowledge and begin to explore the capacities of their minds. A wise teacher once told me that “Students don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Teachers must want to be where they are. They must want to be imparters of wisdom. They must enjoy working with students. Once knowledge acquisition begins, an excitement and love of learning can take root, and the best way a teacher can inspire students to love learning and exploration of new frontiers is to lead by example. So teachers ought to first provide an appropriate arena for learning and then lead the way through uncharted territory.

I believe as a science teacher I have the easiest job when it comes to inspiring students to go to unexplored regions of the world. In my classroom I plan to give brief lectures followed by interaction with the concept. Group lab work and discussion will be done on a regular basis so that content can be applied since action is often the best teacher. In this way I also hope to reach all learning types, auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. The auditory students will learn from lectures and discussion, visual students from materials presented during lecture and lab, and kinesthetic students from the activities in lab. It is my hope that learning will not be a chore, rather a delight which can then inspire further independent information seeking.

I plan to set up my class in a way that informs the students that their education is the goal, but that it is not going to require them to be passive. Active learners are engaged learners, and engaged learners are not falling asleep. Safety, however, must be the number one goal during lab activities to ensure that no student is harmed, inappropriate behavior cannot be tolerated. I have learned from experience that students are more likely to follow guidelines when they have been involved in the development process and can take ownership. Students should be aware of rules and procedures and consequences for actions. In this way I will not only teach life science, but I will also teach life lessons. One of the most frustrating events for students is to not know if their performance and knowledge meets the expectations set forth by the teacher. I plan to do daily evaluations, not always for a grade, to let the students know what they have yet to master and to make myself aware of where I may need to fill in the gaps. Everything done in the classroom ought to be done to achieve the end goal of greater understanding for student and teacher.

Goals are necessary in every facet of life, for if you do not know where you are headed, you do not know which steps to take. My most immediate goal is to secure a teaching position in a Texas public school in my certification area. Upon achievement of that goal, I hope to then find the most effective way to make students comfortable and successful in my classroom. Success is achieving the most you are personally capable of. I plan to set an example of a positive attitude, excitement about knowledge, and a passion for teaching. Maybe then, the students will also love biology as I have grown to love it over the past eight years.