Growth

The one word that I will use to sum up my goals and intentions for my upcoming EDUC 491 practicum is growth. I feel that through my previous practicum I grew substantially in my understanding of what teaching is and what skills I need to become an effective teacher. Primarily this practicum I want to focus on continuing to grow my ability to connect with students and create a safe and effective learning environment for them by creating and enforcing appropriate boundaries. I want to continue to grow my understanding of how students learn the subjects I am teaching, and how to make them more relatable and contextual for students. I want to grow my relationships with my cohort and other teachers so that I can be an active part of teacher support systems and work with more teachers to gather ideas from, and contribute ideas to, the pool of knowledge and resources that teachers collectively hold. I want to continue to examine my own biases and privileges and understand how they may differ from those of my students. Through this I want to grow my ability to understand the challenges my students may be facing and the different perspectives on the world that they hold. I believe if I focus on my own growth in these areas that I will continue to improve as a teacher and therefore help to improve the future of my students.