Perhaps my fondest memory of student teaching was the last day when I stopped in the gym during my seventh hour planning period. It is unfortunate that many students come from broken families or unstable home environments. I need to be concerned for my students and become like a second or third parent to them. Their safety in the classroom is my responsibility, but I must be concerned with their safety at home as well. Any bruising or possible signs of child abuse becomes my responsibility to detect and report.
Every teacher has goals in terms of what they want their students to learn in their class.
It is my responsibility as a social studies teacher to transform my students into responsible, caring, and democratic citizens capable of making decisions for the common good. I will use the coaching philosophies of teamwork, dedication, setting goals and striving for them, taking pride in your accomplishments, and learning from your mistakes. The class has practiced in a lot of cooperative learning activities, which are always followed by either a group or peer evaluation. The students seem to enjoy reading how their classmates evaluated them, and are used to help students improve their social skills. I will incorporate technology into my classroom to assist with gathering, interpreting, and analyzing information with the goal of expanding the student's critical thinking.