Teaching Philosophy |
Teaching Philosophy |
Teaching PhilosophyI am inspired to teach younger generations because I feel an impending pressure to help educate the youth in concerning matters of the future. I am fortunate enough to be in the position to receive a higher form of education at the University of Oregon and feel that it is of the upmost importance for me to share the knowledge I have learned, specifically that of preserving and protecting the environment in which we all live in. I am specifically motivated to teach about environmental education because of my personal background within Pacific Northwest forested areas. I was raised in the surrounding area of Mt. Hood, Oregon and as such have had the privilege of exploring the grand wonders of Oregon’s old growth forests. My love and admiration for the beauty of the PNW has driven me to want to share the connected experience that I believe all people can have within nature. From experience and research, I believe that creating a connection with nature early on in childhood can help cultivate social connectedness, heighten observational senses, foster a sense of creativity, improve mental health, lower stress levels, and promote physical activity.
Both in and out of the classroom I aim to follow the teaching method of engaged pedagogy, enforcing equality and curiosity within the classroom while simultaneously enforcing R.O.S.E: respect for others, self, and the environment. I want to ensure that children feel as if they are in a safe place when I am their educator. This entails not only creating an environment of respect but also adhering to different learning styles. As a teacher I aim to acknowledge the eight intelligences: linguistic, mathematical, spatial, kinesthetic, musical, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and naturalist. I promote these different forms of intelligences by provoking the children to utilize all of their senses within my lesson plans. When developing the 4th grade pre-trip lesson my team and I incorporated a creative coloring activity followed by a macroinvertebrate charade game to help adhere to the students learning styles and intelligences. As an educator I am inspired by the children’s sense of curiosity and work toward fostering this curiosity through inquisitive questioning, active gameplay, and storytelling; rather than traditional didactic methods within the education system. In my line of work, I have noticed that one of the most important elements to incorporate into a lesson plan or curriculum is room for flexibility. Schedules can often change at the last minute, or the group of students I am working with may not be responding to my planned curriculum as I had imagined they would. Incorporating flexibility within my curriculum may entail creating a pocket game or taking a moment to refocus the group’s attention so that the planned activities within the curriculum can be executed successfully. For instance, I always have the children engage in a riddle game with me when our group takes a bathroom break. This allows time for children who need to use the restroom have that opportunity and for the other students to still be engaged in a stimulating activity. Veering from the set curriculum in this way can make a world of a difference when it comes to executing learning outcomes and goals for the students’ education purposes. |
Reflections on Teaching |
My teaching experience through the Environmental Leadership Program has taught me a handful of lessons about the best way to keep my audience engaged as active participants of the curriculum, and receive as much educational benefits as possible. One of the larger themes that I noticed to be of great importance throughout my evaluations was the way in which I frame lesson plans. Framing within education refers to the way in which an educator is able to not only teach information to students, but be able to present an educational lesson in a way that allows the students to truly understand the reason or importance of the lesson as active participants in their learning experience. For instance, much of our environmental education involved teaching students about biological information of the forests within Mt. Pisgah Arboretum; but the importance of this information was not just to retain the informational facts, but to engage with the outdoors through a scientific lens that helps the students expand their critical thinking skills. I learned that the more I reiterated the relevance of being scientists out in the field for the students, the more engaged they became in the class lesson and the more information they retained. Another large theme that I acknowledged from my evaluations was the way in which I engage with my audience. I have taught a variety of ages, ranging from kindergarten to fourth grade, and I began to notice that the way in which I engaged with kindergarteners was not as effective for an older audience of a fourth grade class. First and foremost, talking to any and all audiences, no matter their age, like they are human beings is extremely important. Even though all of the children I educated were years younger than I, addressing the students in an adult manner helped keep the group dynamic positive, rather than reducing the students’ presence to childish beings. Through the duration of my teaching experience I learned the inflection in my voice, the expressions on my face, and the tone in which I spoke to the students had a dramatic impact on their reactions to my teaching approaches and also their participation in the lesson. An additional lesson I learned through my educator experience was the best way to address inaccurate statements made in the classroom or out in the field. Much of the time a student would make a comment that was either irrelevant to the lesson or completely inaccurate. I learned that the best way to address this situation was through a two-step approach: first to acknowledge the statement of the student, that way they do not feel pushed aside or left without a voice in the classroom; and secondly to either correct the inaccurate statement by replying with an accurate statement, or to simply redirect the conversation to be aligned with the lesson plan. I learned through experience that it is best to acknowledge all student commentary, rather than push irrelevant or inaccurate comments aside to ensure that everyone feels comfortable with using their voice in the classroom. This however, does not mean that unrelated comments should not be addressed, but done so in a way that encourages participation while simultaneously setting class boundaries. Other EvaluationsSummary of student/teacher evaluations: I used feedback I received from elementary students and teachers to improve my attention getting techniques. Through the duration of my teaching experience with the Environmental Leadership Program I have learned that all teachers use a different technique to gain the attention of their students. Although there are universal attention getting techniques that usually work on any type of group dynamic, I learned it was much easier for me to ask the teacher their preferred method before addressing the class. This was extremely effective, and helped me create a classroom environment in an outdoor setting when the students and I ventured out on our field trips at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum. I even was able to learn some unique techniques, such as “Flat tire… shhhhhhh”. Additionally, I learned the importance of self introduction through the evaluations I received from students and teachers. The first class lesson I taught I was focused on executing the education curriculum properly that I almost forgot to introduce myself. As I continued practicing my teaching methods I realized that my introduction to the students is of great importance as well. I expanded my introduction from a formal “My name is Hannah and I’m here from the University of Oregon to teach you today,” to a more informal introduction including my hobbies and interests after graduating from college. This small amend helped me create a more intimate connection with the children before we even began the educational lesson, which I later learned is vital in creating a successful group dynamic for teaching purposes. Summary of community partner evaluations: I used feedback I received from our community partner, Jenny Laxton, at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum to improve the universal use of our fourth grade curriculum. When first developing our fourth grade environmental education curriculum at Mt. Pisgah Arboretum my group and I created elaborate activities and classroom lessons. Jenny Laxton assisted us with informing us that the simpler the curriculum the better. Although Restoring Connections will be actively involved with the execution of the spring curriculum, Mt. Pisgah Arboretum relies on volunteers to lead field trips and potentially even pre-trip lessons for the Adams Elementary School students. This perspective helped us realize that not only does curriculum need to be effective, but it needs to be easy for future educators to understand and execute. My 2019 Restoring Connections team and I had to dramatically change the activities we previously developed to be adaptable for future implementation. Summary of ELP evaluations: I used feedback I received from Aimee, my project manager, and Katie, our project director, to improve my patience and group management skills working with elementary school students. I was told by both Aimee and Katie that I had great group management skills, but I would always feel frustrated at points during the field trips when I felt as if I was not being actively heard by the students within my group. Katie had to explain to me that it was not my behavior management skills that were lacking, but rather my patience for flexibility. From Katie’s feedback I realized that the audience I was teaching could not always be 100% engaged with education material throughout the full duration of a class lesson, especially in an all-day outdoor environment. Instead of expecting students to be exceptionally attentive throughout the day, Katie suggested “to choose particular sections within the curriculum to ask for full and undivided attention”. This allowed my students to not feel restricted throughout the day, and feed into their natural curiosities while simultaneously being engaged in the lesson and executing learning outcomes outlined in the curriculum. If you would like to know more about Restoring Connections or view the 4th grade curriculum my team and I made please click on the links below!
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"In every walk with nature one receives |