My Beliefs about Teaching and Learning

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(No Transcript)
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My Beliefs about Teaching and Learning
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I didnt always want to be a teacher. In
kindergarten, I wanted to be a police officer, so
I could be friends with the firemen and catch bad
guys. But I think instinctively that I was
teacher, even at age four. I met my best friend
in kindergarten I offered to teach her how to
remove a Band-Aid at the water table.
When I was in elementary school, I wanted to be
just like my grade five teacher, Miss
____________. She was my favourite teacher. She
made me feel like I was special and intelligent.
I remember her mostly because the summer after
that school year ended, she moved away to the
East Coast, but she wrote each of her students a
postcard. I still have it.
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I believe that every student needs to feel
special in some way.
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In grade six I discovered the joys of science. I
wanted to be an astrophysicist. I didnt really
understand what that was, exactly, but thats
what I wanted to be. My grade six teacher, Mrs.
Clark, encouraged me to pursue this interest and
work hard in my math and science classes.
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I believe that students should be
encouraged never to limit their possibilities.
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Grade seven was the year that would shape the
path of my life. We started taking instrumental
music classes that year. I learned to play the
viola. I was determined to the play it better
than anyone else. I took it home every night
(much to my parents delight) and practiced.
Despite the ruckus I caused in my house, my
parents encouraged me to practice and do my best.
I went on to take music throughout high school.
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I believe that parents should be involved in
their children's education.
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In high school, I had several teachers that
shaped the way I think about teaching and made me
want to teach as well. Mr. Stewart was my OAC
English teacher. He was a very liberal person in
his philosophies and in his style of teaching.
He had long white hair and sometimes wore
Japanese sandals to school (with socks). He
taught me to write. He introduced us to the MLA
and insisted we follow that format in our
writings for him. He was determined to prepare
us for the world beyond high school. Mr. Stewart
wanted us to succeed in life, even if it meant
failing first. I wanted to have the same kind of
impact on other peoples lives. Someday, I hope
I can teach half as well as he did.
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I beileve that students can succeed, if their
teachers want them to succeed.
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Mr. ------------- was my least favourite teacher
in high school. I despised him. He was very
political and very involved in the teachers
union. He would leave class to discuss union
issues with other teachers, in the middle of
lessons. I hope that as a teacher, I never am
like him. I was in grade nine when the OSSTF
union went on strike. As a student, I was
annoyed. The strike didnt hurt the board it
didnt hurt the union and it didnt hurt the
government. The only people who were really hurt
in the strike, in my opinion, were the students.

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I believe that union politics should be left out
of the classroom.
On Strike!
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As I mentioned, I took music throughout high
school. My music teachers, Mr. Hu-A-Kam, Mr.
Hill, Mr. Taylor, Mr. Wrigglesworth, Mr.
Sinclair, and Mr. Corrigan were the best teachers
I have ever had, by far. I decided to study
music at York and become a music teacher because
of their influence on my life. They looked at
the whole student. They were demanding of our
time, before and after school, but that never
bothered me. I respected the amount of time and
commitment they devoted to their students and
their music program. They were at school at
700am and were there after school until 900pm
for rehearsals. They invested their own personal
time to their students and worked hard to make
sure that we had fun while we were learning.
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I belive that learning can be fun, and that
committed teachers make the difference.
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Over the past few years, Ive had the privilege
of teaching and having some great students. Ive
received pictures, letters and cards from them.
Its nice to see that they appreciate me as a
teacher.
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I believe that teaching is its own reward.