My Teaching Philosophy
We have so much potential as educators to empower our students to achieve the best they can, yet there are so many uphill battles that we have to face along the way. Despite what people say, teaching isn't an easy career, in fact, i think it's up there with one of the most challenging. Not only are we challenging students to reach their potential but we are constantly challenged ourselves to keep up with a rapidly changing society and to ensure our students are equipped with the skills and knowledge to enter the world on their own two feet.
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Although my degree will say that I am a Health, Physical Education and Outdoor Education teacher I feel as though I am more that that. I want to empower young people to challenge universal truths and societal norms. My aim as a teacher will be to build the critical thinking and literacy skills of students so that rather than just being sponges of knowledge, they can make decisions aside from the influences of society, the media and other "norms". I've added this scene from the Dead Poets Society as it, and many other scenes from the movie encompass a lot of what important to me as a teacher. Mr. Keating challenges the traditional styles of teaching that we are still seeing in classrooms today and encourages his students to not conform and to be 'free thinkers'.
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Critical inquiry is one of the key propositions of the AC:HPE yet sadly teachers are still using worksheets and research tasks which require little more than copy and paste off the internet. Whilst it cannot solely change health behaviours of youth, Health Education in particular, has so much potential to minimise the impact of influential forces on young people's decision making by building the skills to think critically and challenge the knowledge presented to them. In my Health Education lessons critical health literacy will underpin the content. I want students to build skills that allow them to see through the media's persuasive techniques, to recreate health messages for their peers and society and to be able to walk out of my classroom at the end of the year and say that it was different. I will not conform to relying solely on traditional teaching styles as I want to provide engaging and worth while lessons for my students which encourage them to think for themselves.
Another key message that I took away from Dead Poets Society and one that largely contributed to my decision to becoming a teacher is the respectful and meaningful bond between a student and a teacher.
I was challenged more than ever before as a pre-service teacher during my first placement block of my final year, however, I was also rewarded in a way that will forever stick with me. I walked into my first classroom at a very low SES school and it was nothing short of chaos. One boy in particular refused to listen to any of my instructions or complete any work set. I struggled with this student for another two lessons and was told by my mentor that I was putting too much time into trying to make him engage. I refused to settle with that and challenged myself to try and build respect with him. I volunteered to coach the year 8 boys netball team in an inter school competition and saw a different side to the student. I took a step back and allowed him to take on the role as coach and admired as he applied himself to making sure everyone had play time and encouraged his team mates. Throughout the day I had chats with him and the team about what their interests were, what sports they played out of school and in between games we played some basketball amongst ourselves. I noticed a significant difference in his communication and behaviour towards me at the start of the day compared to at the end, I was even allowed to call him by his nickname. Whilst he still wasn't 100% engaging in the class work, after that day he listened to me when I asked him a question, he contributed to class discussion with and without prompting, he attempted some of the work and when asked to return to the task, would do so without an argument.
That particular student made me realise a few things. One, building relationships with your students, to me, is the most important role a teacher has. The educating part is only partial without trust and respect between teacher and student. Second, don't judge a students ability by the way they act in one setting. Had I not taken the boys to netball I wouldn't have realised how smart and talented this particular student was in the sport setting and the potential that he has both in and out of the classroom. By removing the "misbehaved" and "disengaged" label, showing interest in his ability and believing in him resulted in him becoming more engaged and willing to try in the classroom.
Another key message that I took away from Dead Poets Society and one that largely contributed to my decision to becoming a teacher is the respectful and meaningful bond between a student and a teacher.
I was challenged more than ever before as a pre-service teacher during my first placement block of my final year, however, I was also rewarded in a way that will forever stick with me. I walked into my first classroom at a very low SES school and it was nothing short of chaos. One boy in particular refused to listen to any of my instructions or complete any work set. I struggled with this student for another two lessons and was told by my mentor that I was putting too much time into trying to make him engage. I refused to settle with that and challenged myself to try and build respect with him. I volunteered to coach the year 8 boys netball team in an inter school competition and saw a different side to the student. I took a step back and allowed him to take on the role as coach and admired as he applied himself to making sure everyone had play time and encouraged his team mates. Throughout the day I had chats with him and the team about what their interests were, what sports they played out of school and in between games we played some basketball amongst ourselves. I noticed a significant difference in his communication and behaviour towards me at the start of the day compared to at the end, I was even allowed to call him by his nickname. Whilst he still wasn't 100% engaging in the class work, after that day he listened to me when I asked him a question, he contributed to class discussion with and without prompting, he attempted some of the work and when asked to return to the task, would do so without an argument.
That particular student made me realise a few things. One, building relationships with your students, to me, is the most important role a teacher has. The educating part is only partial without trust and respect between teacher and student. Second, don't judge a students ability by the way they act in one setting. Had I not taken the boys to netball I wouldn't have realised how smart and talented this particular student was in the sport setting and the potential that he has both in and out of the classroom. By removing the "misbehaved" and "disengaged" label, showing interest in his ability and believing in him resulted in him becoming more engaged and willing to try in the classroom.