Blog Post 16

I am an Elementary Education Major at the University of South Alabama. I imagine myself as a Kindergarten or First Grade Educator. As a Kindergarten or First Grade Teacher, I will be teaching all subject matter to my students in a school day. I want my classroom to be fun and inspiring for my students. I want my students to want to learn and become lifelong learners, and I want to be a positive role model for learning.

When I start teaching, I believe my classroom with different learning stations. These stations will include a reading station, computer station, and an art station. I think it is important that children have different opportunities to learn the required material. I think that with the different stations it will allow my students a chance to explore different techniques to learn the material. In the reading station, I will use as much technology as I can, to aid in the process of their learning. I will have several books that my students can read; there will be audio books, videos and podcasts of books. In my second station, it will include computers. I will educate my students the proper way to use computers to help them succeed in their education. I will have a class blog; it will be used as a tool to showcase their class work, and writings. I will also have educational websites located at the computer stations, so the students know which sites are safe for them to play on, as well as interactive programs that will be downloaded to the computer. The last station that I will have is an art station. It will be here that students can paint, color, draw, and make collages on the material that we are learning at that moment. For example if we are learning about adding, my students can paint some addition problems.

My method of my teaching will be a progressive style. I want my students to be able to experience and practice their learning rather than just memorizing the material that is being taught. So with my style in place I will use Project-Based Learning in the material being taught. With Project-Based Learning, I will be allowing my students to explore real world problems and challenges. With this way of learning, I hope to inspire my students to obtain a greater understanding of the material they are studying. I will incorporate in my teachings that my students will appreciate each other for our group projects and group learning activities. By allowing my students to work as a team or group, they have the ability to share their thoughts and ideas which increases their learning and communication skills. Secondly the participation in the learning process benefits all of the students in the group.