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Natalie Fernandez

Professor Robert L. Shkorupa

Education 201

18 March 2020

Roster #3

Philosophical Portrait of Myself

Being an educator is a crucial and important profession to each and every individual

person so that they may be able to function in society. However, everything starts in

elementary school: learning the alphabet, reading, the basics of math, and science.

Elementary educators play an important role in not only instructing the basics, but in shaping

their students' future by helping them succeed in any way that they can. This includes guiding

students from knowing right from wrong, consequences of their actions, organization, and

overcoming challenges. However, each teacher should develop a style that best suits their

class. All of these aspects are what I have taken into account since the beginning of the

semester so that I may be able to create the best environment I can in order for my future

students to succeed in not only their academics, but in life itself.

As a future teacher and as an individual I acknowledge that I am generally a

compassionate person towards others, especially children. Although my compassion goes a

long way, there should be proper rules, discipline, and boundaries put into effect for students.

These punishments would only be put into effect if that student or students break the rules

implemented in the classroom. This is all to help students succeed in behaving properly in not

only a school environment but in a general one as well. Even though, as a future teacher I am
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expected to be a role model for these students, I do believe that as a teacher there should be

time to take a moment to reflect upon oneself and to think about what could be made better as

to stay humble and always be the best that they can be towards not only themselves but to

their students as well. I believe that elementary students are at their most impressionable,

therefore it is vital to properly guide them in gaining basic knowledge skills in school to

transition properly into the next stage of their life.

The number one thing I prioritize above all else as a future teacher are my students'

happiness, self-confidence, and success. As a person, sympathy and empathy are major

aspects of myself that I believe should be implemented within the classroom alongside with

teaching. Instruction should be made with care and take into account what students might be

feeling during class times and take the time to understand their struggles with certain

problems or subjects in order to better help them overcome and understand what they are

being taught. When students struggle harder at one subject than others do, it can build up

insecurity within them and may cause them to want to give up. Struggling with different

subjects has been a massive part of my schooling experience, and the goal is to guide the

children through what they struggle with to the best of my ability as a teacher to ensure that

these children do not feel left behind as I had.

In the future my teaching style will come in a variety of different methods that can

engage the students to focus on that lesson. Lessons in the classroom should either vary or

combine with the traditional instruction, incorporating hands on activities in the lesson plan,

as well as providing collaborative approaches to these future lesson plans in order to teach the

value of teamwork among students. Not only this, but should there be any Special Education

students that are among the classroom, the IEP that is given will be met with the utmost care

to successfully modify the classroom, lesson plan, and activities to meet the needs of that

child or children so that they may succeed. Each student is different, so it would be important
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to get familiar with my students and modify or switch up the lesson as needed each day. This

way though, when just getting started to get familiar with a new set of students, I would have

already had different methods to test out to see what works with them and what doesn’t. Not

only would these lesson plans be a part of my classroom, but I would thoroughly ensure that

students will participate in the lesson. Visual or audio cues would be used in my classroom to

gain the attention of students to ensure they are following along, and transition into having

them participate in the class. Overall these teaching and learning style preferences are for the

students, because above all else as a future teacher, I value the success of the children that I

will be teaching.

Within the next five years I hope to be teaching in an elementary school and creating

a positive environment in the classroom. In the future I will have been making lesson plans

and modifying them along as I get to know my students and which teaching method is most

effective towards their comprehensibility of the lesson. My hope is to be a teacher that is

compassionate, that is flexible towards my students needs, and treats them all equally. In the

future I want to become an excellent role model for my students, and that after taking my

class, these students will have become a little more grown with the experience in my class

that I have provided for them. Within the next five years, I want my students to know that I

care about their education and their growth in not only their knowledge, but as a person.