Experience Summary
Statement of Teaching Philosophy for Teaching Writing
I think that teaching writing should be both fun and educational. If you do not have the fun aspect in it you can lose students and not reach others. I believe it is important to be a positive model for my students. I want my students to know that what they write can be perfected and publishable. I want them to know that they never have to feel as if they are not good enough even if they do not know exactly how to get the words they want to say out. All it takes is practice. Even using a voice recorder to record your thoughts and getting feedback on those thoughts can make writing the best it can be.
I, personally, have never taught a class. I was, however, a Teacher’s Aide at a school for special needs kids. I have also worked at a daycare where I was in charge of writing lesson plans every week. In both jobs I may not have been a direct teacher in the room but I was right there assisting with running classrooms. I did have great teachers growing up throughout my educational career that have given me ideas of what not to do and what to do. I would like to shape my writing class as a semi-workshop style classroom which lends itself to a group setting. I want my students to work with in a group for a number of reasons. It will help build their self-esteem, confidence, and help them find and form their own opinions. My experience with this type of class has been eye opening with my own writing. I want to share that feeling of accomplishment with my students. If it was not for the experiences I have had in those classes I would not have decided to continue my education or submit a story to “The New Yorker” for publication. Sending that story away made me feel like I could accomplish anything. Even though it was not accepted they responded by mail and I did not feel like a failure. I want my students to have that feeling. I want them to learn that a rejection letter is not someone saying they don't like you or your writing, but that it is not what they are looking for at that time.
I want my students to realize that what they write is important, not just to them but also to the world around them. Fiction can be used to shape the world around us. I want to encourage my students to explore every avenue that is available to them for their writing. For hundreds of years, writers have been sharing stories with the world. Some were loved from the beginning, others to years for people to understand. I want my students to learn that without our peers challenging us, giving us a nudge to be better, how can we ever become the best that we can be. I want them to be able to feel comfortable looking at others papers and offering constructive criticism with regards to grammar and language usage. I want my student to be able to objectively look at writing and make opinions on what can be changed and if that change would negatively affect the work or positively affect it. This is why I want my students to work in a group setting so that they work together to make us all better at writing.
With the high rate of illiteracy in this country I think that reading and writing is important for us as teachers to focus on. In the US 1 in 7 cannot read. This is a statistic that I want to work to change. Several years ago I actually wrote a paper on this very topic. I think, however, that it is a topic that really needs to be focused on. I want to be a teacher that cares about the well being of my students, not just a teacher that wants to get through the day or teach to a specific test. I want to challenge them to constantly strive to build and improve their skills in reading, writing, and comprehension. I want them to know that they can ask me any question and I will answer it and give them the best advice possible.
My Hobbies
Reading, writing, swimming, playing video games