Student Learning

    Personally, as a student I learn best from hands-on activities. It is very difficult for me to understand something if I can not be physically engaged. I dislike classes that are lecture based because it is hard for me to stay focused when I am not actively involved in the lesson. I also learn best from visuals because it helps me make connections and actually see what I am trying to learn.

    I think my learning preferences will affect me as a teacher because I will incorporate them into my classroom. Since I learn best from hands-on activities and visuals it will be easy for me to come up with ways to bring those into my own lessons. These items will be increasingly important in teaching elementary education because children learn best from visualizing and physically participating in the classroom. Also, hands-on activities help students stay focused and they give every child a chance to be involved.




     I do not think that humans necessarily need a reward to give them motivation because when we accomplish things we feel good about ourselves. I believe the only reward humans need is the sense of accomplishment they receive when they complete something. Also, as humans continue to work hard they become more successful and reach their goals which is a reward in itself. If humans needed a reward each time we accomplished something we would never do anything out of the kindness of our hearts. We would not want to put in any extra work because we would get no physical "reward" out of it, and that would make our society very selfish. The best reward anyone can receive is proof that they are bettering themselves!

Teachers Staying Current

    Imagine you are at your first teaching interview and your interviewer asks you: how do you keep current in emerging trends in education, classroom tools, and technology? If you were in this situation right now would you know how to answer this question to the best of your ability?

    I know if I were in this situation, I would be able to tell my interviewer about my PLN (personal learning network)! I would explain how I use separate Twitter and Pinterest accounts specifically for keeping up-to-date with teaching trends! Also, I would tell them about how many great classroom organization and teaching strategies I have learned from Pinterest. I would explain how Twitter provides me with new ideas on many educational technology tools I can utilize in my classroom. The last thing I would explain would be how I plan to go to different educational conferences. I would attend these conferences in order to learn more about educational advances as well as new technology that could help me give my students a better learning experience! I would also let my interviewer know that I plan on continuing to develop my PLN.

   Having a PLN is very important as a teacher, and being able to prove at an interview that I already have a developed PLN would make me stand out! It is important to stay up-to-date on everything so that you can always better support your students, and this becomes easy through your PLN.