THE 5 W’S OF BEING A TEACHER EDC 415 Dr. Kern Patrick Kearns

WHO AM I? I have had a love for history since I was a young boy due to my curiosity fueled by vaulting ambition. I really enjoy learning about cultures and traveling. I have a love for the ocean and the beach and my job requires me to teach beach safety seminars to large crowds of people for extended amounts of time as well as manage people and enforce regulations and ordinances.

WHO AM I (CONT..)  I am getting a B.A. in history.  I am getting a B.A. in secondary education.  I am working on becoming bilingual in Spanish.  I am considering getting my Masters in special education as well history.

WHY DO I WANT TO BECOME A TEACHER?  I really enjoy talking and being a leader and I am not afraid of public speaking. If I were to give the same speech in front of two people or 20,000 people nothing would change.  I believe the purpose of the life is a life of purpose and that there is no better way to achieve that then inspiring young minds for the better on a daily basis.

BECOME A TEACHER (CONT..)  I exert creativity on a daily basis and I wish to refine my creativity into the classroom.  I feel teaching exemplifies my personality.

WHAT IS MY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY  I want to engage my students in the classroom by making history exciting and relevant by creating exciting activities.  Most students do not care for history because they have had bad teachers in the past that are not excited about the topic they are teaching. I would like to change that.  I want to show students the importance of history and how it has impacted humanity during their lifetime and prior to them being alive.

PHILOSOPHY (CONT..)  The classroom management approaches I will mainly be using in the classroom are authoritarian, humanistic, and behavioral.  I will be authoritarian because I would like to establish to the class that although the classroom is “ours,” I am in control and there are a clear set of rules that need to be followed.

PHILOSOPHY (CONT..)  I will also use a humanistic approach because I feel a lot of times students act out for a specific reason. It is best to understand why the students act out and try and understand them better to have more efficiency in the classroom. It also shows them that the teacher truly cares about them which will make the students give the teacher more respect.

PHILOSOPHY (CONT..)  The last approach I will use is the behavioristic approach and I will show this will a clear set of rules that will let the students know that if they act out there will be consequences. There will also be a clear set of rewards for behaving properly like homework passes and allowing students extra credit points. This will give the students an incentive to behave well and work hard in class.

RULES AND REGULATIONS  The essential rules of the class are for the students to do their work on time and properly, to be prepared for class, and to behave properly in class.  Failure to obey these rules will result in consequences beginning with a verbal warning and escalating to a call home and eventually detention and a meeting with the principle.  If a student behaves very consistently they will get verbal praise and eventually they will have the opportunity of earning a free homework pass and extra credit points for consistently doing their work efficiently.

THEORIES I FIND IMPORTANT  Bandura’s “Social Learning Theory”  Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs”  Skinner’s “Operant Conditioning”  Canter’s “Assertive Discipline Theory”  Glasser’s “Choice Theory”  Kounin’s “With-it-Ness”  Piaget’s “Stages of Cognitive Development”

WORKS CITED  Bluestein, Jane. "What's So Hard About Win-Win?." Educational Leadership 69.1 (2011): Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 29 Nov  "CHILD PSYCHOLOGY And Maslow's Hierarchy Of Needs." Monkeyshines On Health & Science (1997): 44. Primary Search. Web. 29 Nov  Kamii, Constance1, and Kelly A.2, Russell. "Elapsed Time: Why Is It So Difficult To Teach?." Journal For Research In Mathematics Education 43.3 (2012): Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 29 Nov  Slavich, George1, and Philip2 Zimbardo. "Transformational Teaching: Theoretical Underpinnings, Basic Principles, And Core Methods." Educational Psychology Review 24.4 (2012): Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 29 Nov  Wang, Victor C. X.1, "Understanding And Promoting Learning Theories." International Forum Of Teaching & Studies 8.2 (2012): Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 29 Nov