Education is not one size fits all!

Education is not one size fits all. When I was in elementary school I had a difficult time understanding information when it was spoken to me; yet if I was given a hands-on activity covering the same material, I would soak the information up like a sponge. Every student is different and learns in a unique way.

Through substituting, I have realized that the single most valuable ability I possess is the ability to identify each student’s individual learning style—whether he/she is a visual, auditory or tactile learner. After identifying each student’s individual learning style I am able to integrate multiple styles into lessons. Making lesson plans that integrate many different styles ensures that the majority of students will better understand the material at hand.

When I become a teacher, I plan to incorporate more than one teaching style into my lessons, so that no one student is lost during a lesson. If my teachers in elementary school had not given me the opportunity to do projects and hands on activities, I probably would not be studying to be a teacher today.

I believe that I possess the skills necessary to ensure high academic achievement for all of my students. As an example, below is a link to a lesson that I made on Voice Thread in order to teach kindergarteners vocabulary related to location and direction. This lesson uses the spoken word along with visual aids in order to instill the main points of the lesson into children through different senses. The material was also presented in more than one way so that students who did not immediately understand might make the connection when hearing the information or looking at the picture in a different way.
https://voicethread.com/?#q+kindergarten+location+and+direction.b909202.i4909462

High-need schools need more dedicated teachers

I want to teach in a high-need school in a low-income community because I feel that, too often, children in these schools do not receive the quality education that they deserve. As the daughter of a special education teacher in a high need school, I have grown up recognizing how important it is for all schools to have quality educators who care about each individual student and each student’s progress. I feel that I can make a difference in the lives of children by giving them the education they deserve.

I expect there to be many challenges when teaching in a high need school. Students in high need schools often lack support systems. I believe many students will need additional encouragement from family members and teachers—just getting family members involved can be a challenge. I expect many students to lack aspirations of going to college or succeeding in a higher level of education. This mentality hurts the teaching/learning process because students who feel that school is pointless rarely try their hardest to succeed.

While substituting at a title one school, I have gained insight into the mindset of these students and have seen, firsthand, the challenge of teaching in these schools. I have met many students who feel that education is not important to their life or their future. Many students at the school do not recognize their individual potential, so they never strive to do their best in hopes of continuing their education after high school. As a matter of fact, many students have told me that their grades do not matter because they plan to drop out the minute they are given the opportunity to do so.

When given encouragement, however, many of these students show that they can do the work and do have the potential to succeed. If these children had been given the opportunity to love learning at a young age, the fundamentals of learning would be forever instilled in them and the rest of their school years would be less of a struggle. Furthermore, when children are given a lot of encouragement when they are young, they have more confidence in themselves and what they are able to achieve later on. Unfortunately, lot of kids get to high school and are unable to succeed because they did not learn the basics at a young age.