Intro Posting

I am an English Education major. I wish to teach in a context much like my own high school. I am from a suburb of Chicago which is a fairly large town. My high school was pretty big; my graduating class had about seven hundred students in it.  I would love to teach in a high school about this size. I am not sure what schooling is like in a small school environment, or one that is too large. I feel, for me, that my high school was the perfect size. It was small enough to feel comfortable, yet big enough to feel like you have more freedom than when in a small school where everyone knows each other. My high school had a great social environment too.  I feel like we were very involved with everything that was going on in the school. If the football players were having a great season we would have weekly pep rallies celebrating their success. If even a small club had something great happen for them we would celebrate. My high school was so spirited and close knit. This is the kind of high school I wish to teach in in the future.  I feel economically we were well off, but not extremely wealthy like some of the other high schools around us. We had everything we needed, and the budget to get the things that we didn’t. I wish for it to be that way for me in the high school I teach at.  In addition, my high school was very culturally diverse, and I loved it. There were students with very various backgrounds and ethnicities. I feel this truly enriched our learning because we learned to work with different learners as well as students with different backgrounds and stories to share. I am comfortable in a culturally diverse environment and would really enjoy teaching in one as well.

As an educator some goals that I have are to really make an impression on my students and their lives. I want them to think of my class as somewhere safe and comfortable. Somewhere where they can come at any time and feel like they belong, and for my classroom to be a place students enjoy.  I want them to find me as a teacher they can trust, talk to, and be supported by. Another goal I have is to be positive always and constantly encourage my students. I want to provide them with an environment they can truly flourish and grow in. Throughout this course I hope to gain a better understanding of my diverse learners and the theories and practices I need in order to teach them best.