About Me...
My name is Jacquelyn Poirier. I am currently a junior at the University of South Alabama in Mobile majoring in Elementary Education. When I graduate in 2011, I want to teach one of the lower elementary grades, either Kindergarten, 1st or 2nd Grade. I love children, and am the oldest of six in my family. I have gained lots of experience in teaching, instructing and caring for children over the years. I babysat as a teenager, I taught at Bible Camp for several years in highschool, and I have training and have worked as a professional childcare provider at a daycare. I have always wanted to go into a profession where I helped people, especially young people. Although that may sound cliche, it's the truth. What is more important than education if you want to succeed in life?
There are many reasons why I am excited to become a teacher. The major reason is that I am passionate about learning and want to help others become enthusiastic about it as well. I want to inspire children to be curious and to always want to know more about the world around them. I want them to get excited about learning. I want to impact these children's lives so that they will love learning, and will continue to have a strong desire to learn after they leave my classroom and as they grow throughout their entire lives. I want to encourage them to be "lifelong learners." Another reason I want to teach is because I think it is important to to motivate young children to become strong, independent, confident and positive individuals who can accomplish anything they set their minds to. I think it's very important to introduce and encourage children to love reading. I think that in education today, a love of reading and books has been thrown under the rug, and I'd like to show kids how to pick that passion up, dust it off, and learn to reuse this valuable resource for knowledge. I also want to instill compassion and empathy for each other amongst my students. These are important life lessons that cannot be overlooked because of academic learning. As a professional, I will work hard to reach my goals with these kids, as well as help them reach their own personal goals.
As far as the educational tools I plan on implementing, not too many of these will be technological, since my students will be so young. I do plan on encouraging them to practice keyboarding as well as writing. This will be necessary in the near future for typing up outlines, papers, letters, and other documents. I will probably introduce them to the Internet: how to access it, and how to look up definitions, facts, current events, etc. I think it is important to introduce the World Wide Web early to young students, as it has become a vital tool for research in education. I will definitely use e-mail and telephone to be able to correspond with the students' parents. They will be able to ask me questions, as well as voice any comments or concerns they may have about their children or my approaches to education. I would also like to do as many hands-on activities as possible, as these engage young children much more effectively than just telling or explaining things to them. My six strategies and plans for teaching are outlined and described below.
My name is Jacquelyn Poirier. I am currently a junior at the University of South Alabama in Mobile majoring in Elementary Education. When I graduate in 2011, I want to teach one of the lower elementary grades, either Kindergarten, 1st or 2nd Grade. I love children, and am the oldest of six in my family. I have gained lots of experience in teaching, instructing and caring for children over the years. I babysat as a teenager, I taught at Bible Camp for several years in highschool, and I have training and have worked as a professional childcare provider at a daycare. I have always wanted to go into a profession where I helped people, especially young people. Although that may sound cliche, it's the truth. What is more important than education if you want to succeed in life?
There are many reasons why I am excited to become a teacher. The major reason is that I am passionate about learning and want to help others become enthusiastic about it as well. I want to inspire children to be curious and to always want to know more about the world around them. I want them to get excited about learning. I want to impact these children's lives so that they will love learning, and will continue to have a strong desire to learn after they leave my classroom and as they grow throughout their entire lives. I want to encourage them to be "lifelong learners." Another reason I want to teach is because I think it is important to to motivate young children to become strong, independent, confident and positive individuals who can accomplish anything they set their minds to. I think it's very important to introduce and encourage children to love reading. I think that in education today, a love of reading and books has been thrown under the rug, and I'd like to show kids how to pick that passion up, dust it off, and learn to reuse this valuable resource for knowledge. I also want to instill compassion and empathy for each other amongst my students. These are important life lessons that cannot be overlooked because of academic learning. As a professional, I will work hard to reach my goals with these kids, as well as help them reach their own personal goals.
As far as the educational tools I plan on implementing, not too many of these will be technological, since my students will be so young. I do plan on encouraging them to practice keyboarding as well as writing. This will be necessary in the near future for typing up outlines, papers, letters, and other documents. I will probably introduce them to the Internet: how to access it, and how to look up definitions, facts, current events, etc. I think it is important to introduce the World Wide Web early to young students, as it has become a vital tool for research in education. I will definitely use e-mail and telephone to be able to correspond with the students' parents. They will be able to ask me questions, as well as voice any comments or concerns they may have about their children or my approaches to education. I would also like to do as many hands-on activities as possible, as these engage young children much more effectively than just telling or explaining things to them. My six strategies and plans for teaching are outlined and described below.
My Teaching Philosophy
Life Lessons
One thing that I definitely plan on doing as a teacher is to teach my students "life lessons", much like Randy Pausch. School is not only about academics and social experiences. I want to teach my students to be compassionate and accepting towards one another, no matter what their individual beliefs, values, or opinions. I want to instill in my students the desire to be helpful and generous to others. For example, having the children work in groups would provide them with plenty of opportunities to cooperate, delegate, and help each other out. I also want my students to understand the value of hard work and effort. I will not be handing out free A's; my students will have to earn their good grades. These practices will also keep motivation to a higher level and hopefully encourage healthy competition amongst mt students. I want to hold each and every student of mine to high expectations and standards. By expecting a lot from them, they will perform at their very best.
Where Does Technology Fit In?
As stated in a previous post, I certainly plan on introducing computers and the Internet to my elementary students. However, this does not mean that I'm going to replace traditional textbooks, workbooks, papers and tests with e-books, blogs, and online testing. I know that these technological tools have the potential to help students in numerous way, but I think these are on a slightly higher age and maturity level than the students I plan on teaching. These tools would probably be more beneficial starting in middle school and used throughout high school and college, rather than introduced in elementary school. The children already have so many fundamental things to learn that I believe these web tools and technology would be a little too advanced for what they need to be working with. I do not want to overwhelm my students, but challenge their minds.
Manipulatives for Mathematics
Personally, learning math seems to have been a bit more difficult for me than for other students. I am a very visual person, I needed to be able to see a concrete example when doing math problems in the earlier grades. Since I am sure at some point I will be teaching math classes to elementary students, I will be sure to implement cuisenaire rods into my teaching and lesson plans. These manipulatives will be a helpful visual aid for teaching addition, subtraction, fractions, and simple equations. The use of the cuisenaire rods is another example of the hands-on materials that I think are so vital in education, especially in the elementary grades when you are introducing and explaining the most basic mathematical concepts to the students.
Utilizing Library Resources
I believe it's extremely important for students to learn how to utilize the library and it's online system for locating books and articles for reading, studying, and doing research. At a young age, the students need to be shown how library books are categorized and shelved. This way, they can familiarize themselves with the aspects of how these books are stored and the various wasys in which they can locate particular materials. The library is a vast resource for knowledge that teachers need to introduce to all students. I don't think 1st grade is too early to start!
Accessing the Internet
With our advanced technological age now in the U.S., it has become increasingly important to be able to utilize the World Wide Web to find information. I think it's necessary to introduce students to the Internet at an early age, probably about age five or six. Since I am very interested in teaching Kindergarten or first grade, I would have to be able to describe the Internet and it's uses in the young students' terms. As a teacher, I could define the Internet for them, describe how it is useful in today's society, as well as help the students find the icon for accessing the Internet on the desktop of their computer. I would then explain to them what a web address is, how to type in into the browser or search engine, and show them that you can access this information anywhere at any time, as long as you have an Internet connection. As the students progress into more advanced grade levels, they will need to be proficient in their use of the Internet; in order to to do this, they will need a good introduction and foundation.
Hands-on Activities
One thing that I believe is both beneficial and effective for students is hands-on activities and approaches to learning. I think children can easily get bored and lose focus with lecture after lecture from the teacher, especially if he/she is prone to rambling on and on. All too often, the students have very few or no opportunities to get involved with the lesson. Some students may also have trouble understanding exactly what it is the teacher is trying to get across. This is where the hands-on learning differs in comparison; this type of learning allows the students to explore and experience the material for themselves. Some explanation and guidance from the teacher is important, but by doing the work themselves, the students become more independent learners and explorers of their environment. I would encourage, arrange, and plan various experiments, role play, and interaction between my students in the classroom.
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