Learning All the Time

I believe teachers should be open to learning all the time. Students are teachers as well and teachers should be willing to learn new ideas from their students as well as doing things outside the box. I believe students will always remember a teacher that went above and beyond to teach something they were having trouble with understanding. In my classroom I will stress the point that we will all learn and no one will be wrong or right because we are all here to learn new ideas. I remember the teachers I had were stuck to teaching one way and it was always boring. I felt those were times I did not learn because I already knew what to expect. I believe students should never know what to expect from their teachers because it keeps the classroom exciting and students are motivated to see what happens next. The saying "You learn something new everyday," will be one of my motto's in my classroom and students will remember that we did not do the same thing all the time.

Involved with Campus Life

Although teachers have a busy schedule during class time, I believe teachers should always be involved with what is going on in the school. Teachers should know who, what, when and where. I believe teachers should also be creative and come up with ideas to keep there students involved in campus life. Children these days are so eager to go home and do things that they have no business doing when all they have to do is have an encouraging teacher that is involved with what the school is doing. I believe the teacher should even volunteer to bring students to the event. I am all about helping and encouraging because someday I would like to open a center for students to come and do activities they love or enjoy and not have to worry about the bad things that go on after school. I want to be the teacher that is constantly involved with my students even if it is not a function that is being held at the school but maybe there basketball game. It is all about support and encouraging. I did not have any of that from any of my teachers, so therefore I want to give that to my students.

Time Management

In the classroom, I believe teachers should have great time management skills. I believe teachers should not take up to much classroom time doing petty things like taking the roll or disciplining a student. However, teachers should allow enough time for students to understand because every student is different and every student learns differently. I remember having teachers they would state "we will not go over this anymore because you are not paying attention," when it was not that we did not pay attention it was that we did not understand. In my classroom I do not want students to feel rushed or feel that I am pressuring them to put something down on paper. I want my students to be able to feel that they can come to me after class and ask questions about something we may have discussed earlier that day. I believe students learn better when they actually understand and not pretending they understand. However, I know a teacher has a certain amount of time to go over things or teach a certain lesson but I feel that a teacher should want his/her students to know the material. Overall, teachers should be willing to accomadate to there students' needs.

Blogging in the Classroom

While attending the University of South Alabama we were required to take a class called Microcomputing Systems in Education. In this class, the world of technology was opened up to us. We made a blog page, which was very interesting and I think it would be great to use in the classroom. I think that students can write daily topics and leave comments on other students' pages. Students will learn how to use the computer and they will know how to blog. I know when I was in school we did nothing like blogging. We played educational games on the computer which were very boring after time to time. Of course, this would have to be approved by the school's principal. I believe that students would love this part of the day because they would learn things like the keyboard and how to socialize with classmates. In this day and age we have Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter and I believe elementary age students should not have an account with those social networks. Therefore, students can blog about vocabulary words or what they did for the weekend. Most of all, it is free and I think it would be a great asset to the classroom.

Art in Education

As a soon to be teacher, Art in Education is very important. Having art in the classroom, students are able to be creative. Any type of art whether it is music or students drawing how they feel, students can acknowledge a lot of talents. They can also facilitate personal feelings or choices they want to make as a person. When I was in elementary school we did not have many encounters with art. We did things but it was not on a level that we understood this is why we are doing this art activity. Although, painting, dancing, or singing can be fun it can teach us life values. For instance, singing songs and actually listening to the words and relating to them. Students can do research on different songs and discuss them with the class or maybe even teach a song. It will be fun but students will have a learning experience and they will remember when they become my age how art affected them in the classroom.