Reflection

          As I read through my posts I can pull out a few different key ideas that I repeat. I am going to reflect on why I feel they are so important to me and how they shape me as an effective educator.

• Student-Centered Curriculum: I realize that this idea is something that I bring up throughout alot of my posts. In my eyes I feel this is important in the classroom to have students learn to their full potential. By using a hands-on learning, interactive environmental learning, I believe students learn best. These ideas are supported most by the Progressivism approach. In Teachers, Schools and Society, 8th ed. it is quoted as "flexible, integrated study of academic subjects around the needs, and experiences of students...learning by doing" (page 332). I feel that as a teacher, every single classroom I have will be changing as new students come in. It is my job to change the curriculum and classroom activities to match the needs of the students at the time. In my classroom I feel that using the environment to help students learn will show them examples and real-life situations that will create a memorable experience for them.

• Experiences Shape My Beliefs: Throughout my blog so far I have discussed teachers that influenced me, my environment, movies, media, etc. I believe that all the experiences I have had so far have influenced who I am going to be as a teacher. Looking at my favorite teachers, I realize that alot of what I did in class with them I plan on using in my own classroom someday. When I was in school I never thought about how my classes then were going to effect me other then academically. But now I realize that the way they taught, or the activities they did in class stuck with me and influenced me enough to want to write about them in my blog. Media as a whole, influences everybody, in positive ways and in negative ways. Media in my life, I feel has made me look more at the different view points in the same situation. The different communities I have lived in throughout my life have also influenced me positively. I was able to be apart of three very different school districts and now I am able to see the differences between them all. I attended a very large city school in Buffalo, and also a small rural school. These different experiences will prepare me better for whatever school I am teaching in, someday in the future.

          Out of all of my blog's I feel these two points explain best my repetitive beliefs. I enjoyed learning about the philosophical theories of education to learn more about where I stand. It is interesting to me to go back and re-read all my posts to see the points that I bring up a few times. I feel that this reflection has helped make me feel stronger in my beliefs as a future teacher.