Recent Changes

This assignment, the teacher profile, documents some of my experiences with field work I. After taking many field notes during observation, I was able to construct a profile of my mentor teacher, her teaching style, and some of the things that I saw while in her classroom.
I have included this piece in Professionalism because I feel that it portrays my ability to maintain a professional relationship with someone and also use them as a tool for learning. I was able to use her experiences with teaching to my own advantage by asking her questions and confiding in her my own fears about teaching. She reinforced my reasons for wanting to teach and reassured me about my decision. I became friendly with her while also maintaining a mutual level of respect and keeping in mind that she was my authority.
her classroom.
{Field Work Paper 1.rtf}

{http://www.gradebook.org/images/educationalwebsites.jpg} English Program Portfolio
As a prospective teacher of secondary English, I have often asked myself what
values I will uphold in my classroom. This portfolio lists these values as well as
artifacts that convey how I already uphold them. I envision my classroom to be
an environment in which no student feels insecure about participating, or unsure
about whether or not their opinion makes a difference. I seek to make each and
every student feel valued and respected, no matter who they are or where they
come from. Each student should have an equal opportunity to learn and also be
treated with fairness and concern regardless of their circumstances. I have learned
that with experience comes the greatest kind of knowledge a person can acquire.
With this in mind, I plan to move forward with the knowledge that I already have,
keeping in mind that I will learn much more from experiences to come.

English{http://www.gradebook.org/images/educationalwebsites.jpg} English Program Portfolio

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{Class Dynamic Comparison Essay.doc}
This paper was assigned for my English literature class. I was prompted to compare a prominent aspect in two of the books we read that semester and I chose to do a comparison of class dynamic in Aphra Behn’s Oroonoko and Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights. I found this to be a useful comparison because it encouraged me to explore how some very different characters were shaped by their social backgrounds.
I decided to include this in Inquiry & Intellectual Growth because it is a paper that was written for my discipline but it also touches upon important issues concerning diversity and rights to education. It is important to be able to reflect upon what we find in novels and apply it to every day life.
With every paper I finish, I grow as a writer. My knowledge in my area of discipline grows as well. This paper shows me writing at the height of my form and is one that I am very proud of. My knowledge of English literature and my skills as a writer are reflected in this paper. It takes a great deal of work to be able to read, analyze, and apply. This is part of what I will be doing as a teacher and it is something that I have become very good at through lots of practice.

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{Differentiated Instruction Article Response.doc}
This was an article response written for my Differentiating Instruction in Secondary Education class. The article was called “Planning Differentiated, Multicultural Instruction for Secondary Inclusive Classrooms.” After reading the article we were asked to reiterate its main points and include out own thoughts about the topic.
I have chosen to include this response in Appreciation of Human Diversity because the article takes you on a journey of two teachers and their struggle to create lessons that cater to a diverse classroom population. Also, the article emphasizes the fact that the word diversity does not refer specifically to race, gender, or culture; it refers to students’ different learning levels and abilities to learn as well as much more. It is so important to realize that not all students learn the same way, and to teach one way is to leave some students in the dark. Creating differentiated lessons plans and curriculums can prevent this from happening.
Reading the article and writing the response prompted me to think differently about diversity and made me realize that society is approaching an age in which the population is more diverse than ever. The article encouraged me to consider this fact while creating my own future lesson plans. By the end of this article response I have demonstrated my understanding that maintaining a sensitivity to these differences is key to running a classroom where there is equal opportunity to learn. It is my job, as a teacher, to be able to create this type of environment for students.

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{Differentiated Instruction Article Response.doc}

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