Ask me to reflect on my K-12 experience as a student and I would say I was fortunate to spend it surrounded by caring teachers. Of course, that's not to say all my teachers throughout my education had a lasting impact on me, since I can definitely remember a few who I found to be lacking in passion. However, while I am a product of a lecture-based education where I was simply to absorb information relayed from the teacher, I still remember the effort among multiple grades and classes to make subject material more interactive.
While several of my most memorable teachers were my early elementary ones, I want to focus my attention of my 10th grade Biology teacher, Mrs. Wilson, mainly due to my own goal of becoming a Secondary teacher. On my first day entering her Biology classroom, I remember seeing her standing behind her desk, an unassuming height of 5'2. She wore glasses and was usually dressed in black dress pants, with a variety of blouses always decorated with a light weight cardigan. At first glance, you wouldn't know what to think except maybe that she seems nice. Quickly, I learned that a passionate interior was hiding underneath that unassuming exterior. On the first day, she made introductions interactive and even took the class on a "tour" of the classroom with the lab in the back where there were some plants in the back she had just planted. At the end of the first class, she excitedly told us to come back again with an open and hungry mind because we would be wasting no time. Throughout the year, while Mrs. Wilson utilized PowerPoint presentations for her dedicated lecture-based periods, she made sure to include at least one interactive activity per class period. The most prominent memory I have of her is how even her lecture-based class time was entertaining and not at all mind-numbingly boring. She was a storyteller and in her lectures, she always found a way to connect it to a personal story of hers, specifically stories about her and her husband never failing to make us laugh. It was her knack for story-telling and allowing her students to see bits and pieces of her personal life that made her students adore her, but most importantly want to learn from her.
Focusing on InTASC teaching standards, two that I identify with Mrs. Wilson would be Standard #3: Learning Environments and Standard #9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice. For Standard #3, Mrs. Wilson demonstrated great attention towards the design of her classroom and how it could trigger curiosity among all her students. She successfully managed the classroom time between lectures, interactive activities, and labs and made sure that all students were participating in the learning environment. She also stressed respectful interactions between her and students, as well as student-to-student interactions. By allowing herself to open up and let her students learn more about her, she encouraged other students to do the same and create a trusting environment. Lastly, for Standard #9, I recall Mrs. Wilson announcing her plans of attending any conventions or extended learning opportunities. She never hid her passion for expanding on her knowledge and because of this, she motivated her students to continuously ask questions and learn since she never stopped doing so herself.
Lastly, I believe Mrs. Wilson's teaching practice centered on two philosophies: Essentialism and Progressivism. Essentialism because she taught material as something to be understood and even memorized. While she promoted individual thinking, she also explained to us how memorization of key terms and processes would lend itself a huge help towards understanding more complex material. For Progressivism, this philosophy was evident in her planning of interactive activities for her students. She made content meaningful through her storytelling of her own personal life and adventures, but she also wanted her students to connect a meaning between themselves and the content as well. She encouraged us to share stories about our family, and even talk about physical descriptions of our family members to gain a better understanding of genetics. Overall, while she practiced ideas of Essentialism by encouraging memorization and strict understanding of select topics, she meshed her teaching practice with Progressivism as well, since she understood the importance of individuality and making meaningful connections to the content.