As a freshman at Calvin, I created a video to portray the identity I

wanted to develop as a future teacher. The video was made in a Young

Life club talk format. I have been involved in Young Life for many years
and was also a leader for high school and middle school students. For
this project, I set up my perspective as a Young Life club talk as this
was a personal and comfortable format for me. In the talk, I am
sharing with the audience about how I want lead my classroom as a
teacher.
Two of my main points in the video included not favoring certain
students within my classroom and being an encourager for students.
Looking back, I agree with these plans and ideas I still want to be this
kind of teacher! It is evident, however, that I have grown and have
new and more developed ideas of how carry out these intentions.
One of the topics I highlighted within my video was having no
favorite students within the classroom. Although I still hold true to
this perspective, I now have a much deeper idea about making
students feel valued. Each student in my classroom is an individual
with gifts and strengths - I want to engage with them so I am able to
know and help them understand these gifts! Not only do I want
students to feel as though they are all equal in my eyes, I want them to
be known and cared for.
In caring for students as a teacher, I want them to feel as though
their peers care them for as well. In the video, I talk about being an
encourager for students. Now, I want to encourage students, but
rather than being the sole encourager I would like to develop a
classroom community where encouragement from both teachers and
peers is part of a classroom covenant. I have learned there are many
opportunities for learning in an environment where students feel
valued and encouraged by their learning community.