1. Ryan Taylor Coming together is the beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. -Henry Ford

2. Hi! Ryan Taylor here.  I am a senior at the University of Rhode Island and a triple major in Secondary Education, History, and Classical Cultures and Civilizations.  I love to travel! Thus far I have been to Canada, China, Italy, and Spain. I am hoping to travel to Greece next summer!  I love nature and exploring the outdoors, so when I am not in school I love to hike and go rock climbing.  I have been a cook for nearly 7 years and I love to experiment with new foods and recipes.

3. The reasons I want to become a teacher are vast.  My experience in both high school and middle school were tumultuous to say the least in terms of my home life. My teachers became my mentors and really inspired me to work hard and helped me discover a good deal of who I am.  I love the people during the period of adolescence. Not only can I help them to discover who they are during trying times, like my teachers and mentors did for me, but they always can teach me new things too. Many of the students I have worked with thus far already have.  I love the study of all social sciences. The topic makes me excited and I want to foster that passion in my students as well.

4. Through my educational studies and experiences thus far, I have come to the conclusion that I do not fit into just one category of classroom management. I believe all of my students and arising situations are different and will require different things from me. The one thing I know is that just as I deserve the respect and engagement of my students, they (being you!) deserve and should expect that I will do whatever it may be to ensure all students receive a positive and safe educational experience that promotes the learning process… for each and every one of you!

5.  I am a firm believer that positive reinforcement can do wonders in improving and maintaining my students behavior and focus.  I believe that putting behaviors on cues can also be effective in controlling and maintaining the flow of the classroom. Students often do need prompting as well as consistancy, even the best ones!  Students will not often be sent from my classroom unless the behavior is absolutely demands it. The student will not learn anything by leaving my classroom and I will not learn how to properly handle the situation either. I want us to work together as often as possible!

6.  As a beginning teacher, the managerial approach is something that I will be using most frequently.  I believe that proper planning in terms of lessons and units is the best way of organizing instruction to make the most use of classroom time.  Having the daily agenda and objectives on the board when my students arrive will help them maintain focus and guide transitions during the lesson.  Posting classroom rules and procedures for common activities will help prevent inappropriate behavior in my classroom as students will be held accountable for what is posted and what will be explained to them.  Prevention of inappropriate behavior and strong organization is perhaps my most preferred and strongest area.

7.  From personal experience, I understand that behavior and performance are often influenced by external factors, such as ones home life.  The humanistic approach directly relates to how my teachers approached me, which inspired me to teach as well.  I will put forth efforts to understand all of my students interests and motivations and incorporate them into my lessons.  I believe it is the job of an educator to help develop the students personal self by meeting their needs and foster maturation, which I will always strive to do.

8.  Being authoritative is perhaps my weakest area as of right now since I lack experience as the head of my own classroom. It will be a learning experience for us all!  I do not believe in the repression of my students. I want our classroom to be as democratic as possible! I will strive to develop a classroom based on mutual respect where my students know what I expect of them based on good communication.

9.  As an incoming teacher, I understand that I may know educational theory like the back f my hand, but that in no way means that I will be the perfect teacher right off the bat.  My teaching choices may not always be correct, which is why trying different things is always important as a method to improve my practice.  I will constantly strive to reflect on my practice, based on my beliefs and my students performance, in order to better my teaching.  As I have always had mentors in the past to help me along, I will seek mentors who have more experience to help guide me over the course of my teaching career.

10. 1. Raise your hand. 2. Be respectful to your peers, teachers, and other adults and personnel. 3. Remain seated during class time. 4. Come to class on time, prepared with all materials. 5. No music, games, or other online activities while class is in session.

11.  It is the hope that our school-wide system of expected behaviors and rules will be enough to encourage positive behaviors and prevent inappropriate behaviors. Students seen performing positive behaviors will be reinforced.  For those not exhibiting our expected behaviors, especially in the classroom, I will have to establish group meetings to talk about why these behaviors are not appropriate where my students will reflect on their behavior as means of a secondary intervention.  If the behavior in particular students persists, individual students will have meetings with myself, an administrator, and their parents in order to try and decipher the cause of the behavior and then come up with an action plan as a means to correct it.