Teaching Statement

As an educator, I work to create academically ambitious and rigorous content set in an

environment where students work together to achieve goals and effectively articulate their
ideas. I focus intently on complex and sound instruction, the writing process as it is critical to
understanding and communication, and collaboration as a vehicle for openness and respect in
the classroom.

I pride myself on my ability to give effective instruction which consistently engages
students in higher level thinking activities and holds them to high standards. In my classroom,
students will participate in activities which not only build foundational skills of reading, writing,
listening, speaking, and vocabulary; they will engage in these activities with complex analytical
and critical thinking to build sound academic approaches and habits. One example of this
instructional approach is built into my vocabulary instruction. While studying To Kill a
Mockingbird, my students construct a variety of vocabulary exercises which rely on employing
correct syntax, providing context clues to illuminate meaning, and reinforcing important study
skills. Through this process, students help to build their own vocabulary test, creating
meaningful work throughout the unit. This type of activity pervades my lesson plans as students
engage with each area of content.

My instruction also focuses heavily on the writing process as it necessarily works to
articulate the complex thinking in which my students engage during their activities and helps
them to achieve across the curriculum. I make a point to include all forms of writing throughout
my course design, while still engaging students in analysis to reinforce higher-level thinking
skills. The students in my student teaching practicum participated in many forms of writing:
analytical, persuasive, narrative, and reflective. Moving from unit to unit, my freshmen college
preparatory class completed large-scale writing assignments using both narrative and
persuasive writing; students wrote memoirs for the unit on The Glass Castle and persuasive
essays addressing the issue of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird. In both of these units, students
also participated in analysis of the novels in class to inform their strategies used while writing.
Reflective writing in the form of regular journal entries allows students to analyze their own
processes of thinking and writing, as well as provides students with a low pressure environment
to practice writing. Students also regularly review and revise their writing according to teacher
and student feedback.

Through consistent peer editing, supplemented by regular group activities and a
classroom organized by tables, I establish my class as a collaborative space, open to all student
ideas and opinions. In my unit for The Glass Castle, I devised a routine including roles within
groups for sharing homework assignments; this routine allows quiet or shy students to build
confidence by sharing their ideas in a small group and having them honored by the entire class
when shared by the group, despite being reticent to contribute in the whole class setting.
Through collaboration and openness, I work to establish a classroom climate which respects
and values all students and creates collective knowledge among the class.

My personal approach to teaching seeks to push students to engage in challenging and
comprehensive activities, to articulate their own high level thinking through varied and fully
developed writing, and to share their ideas with the class as they work collectively to achieve
lesson, unit, and course objectives.