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I spent all four years in college coaching gymnastics at a small Olympic style club in Denver, Iowa

due to my experience on the University of Northern Iowa Cheerleading Squad. These experiences drove and
fulfilled my passion for teaching daily. I am originally from Charles City where I gained my original passion
for teaching in high school at the community YMCA teaching swimming lessons.
Since instructing sports for children and adolescents was my passion throughout high school- and
still today, I realized that I can spend the rest of my life teaching. Tutoring peers in high school brought me to
the awareness that I would fit well in the secondary atmosphere. While helping students who attended the
alternative school in my hometown, I started to get frustrated with their attitudes towards school work and
discipline. One experience lead me to recognize that all students learn in different and unique ways. This
eureka or ah-ha moment has motivated my goal of being a positive influence in young peoples lives. After
I built a relationship with my peer, I found new ways to help him succeed in the task and make it relevant to
his life, which I now know to be authentic instruction. Going through different methods courses at UNI, I
found that my past techniques with my peers were not so uncommon, so these came easily to me during field
experiences. During my field experiences and coaching I built solid relationships with my students that still
continue today. Many students under my instruction have been creative, critical, and persistent thinkers. I
have created lesson plans, such as research on Third Parties in America, which required students to deeply
research and reflect on a small topic, which helped them practice for further topics such as political activism.
The techniques my tenth grade students used can be transferred to many areas of their educational career and
life in general.
My passion for teaching derives from my interest in people and the evidence of success within them.
Students are truly engaging in conversation about a topic, students creating palpable evidence of their
discoveries, and students mastering a certain topic or skill, are all reasons why I have a deep passion for
teaching. History is one area that I noticed is traditionally taught, a mile wide, and an inch deep. Critically
thinking about topics in History can change a persons whole experience with the topic. I want to regularly

challenge students to daringly think about topics such social movements, wars, epidemics, discoveries, etc.,
rather than regurgitate information onto a standardized test to show learning. My passion and motivation as
a teacher is composed of these ideas and backgrounds.
Another driving force behind my teaching career choice would be helping students break biases and
stereotypes that exist in our society. I want all the students who walk through my door to feel comfortable
and learn how to treat others respectfully. I feel that exposing students to other cultures and their histories,
theyll find a new appreciation for all groups of people. I will strive to eliminate ignorance towards people
and their religions, lifestyles, sexual orientations, etc. Young people base their ideas about a certain group of
people on their first impression of them or a strong bias they hear often. In my classroom I will expose these
biases and lead students to a different way of thinking.
To commit to my education in order to become a teacher, the previous passion is required. However,
mastering the skills required to be that teacher I envision myself as, needs more than just passion. Being an
educator requires organizational skills, content knowledge and understanding, compassion for students,
patience, and flexibility. While at the University of Northern Iowa, I have been putting into practice all of
those qualities, and more. Besides personal characteristics, I have strived and will continue to strive to meet
the characteristics of effective instruction. I will have student centered classrooms where learning is relevant
and students feel motivated. I will have classrooms where students question and engage each other. I will
teach for understanding by requiring my students to show evidence of understanding in multiple forms,
creatively and formally. Summative assessments that I give my students will be used as a helpful
communication tool between myself and the class that lead us to successful formative assessments. The
curriculum I teach will be relevant yet challenging to my students with many teachable moments, research
methods, and application. Since every learner is different, I will seek to use many modes of instruction for
my students along with being adaptable to unexpected changes.

I feel that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. captures my philosophy as a teacher in this quotation, The
function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character
that is the goal of true education. As a teacher I am a motivator, a guide, a mentor, and a resource for
students to gain more than content knowledge. Students in my classrooms will learn techniques to analyze
information, rather than memorize it. They will dare to question and criticize concepts rather than simply
accept them. Students will distinctly prove with tangible evidence that they contain critical and creative
minds. With the above qualities, characteristics, and goals, my teaching will capture multitudes of young
people.

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