>>+Pedagogy

=// Ms. McKenzie's Teaching Philosophy //=

When I look back on my life thus far, I realize that I've spent more than half of my life in school. Throughout these years, I've had many memorable moments - both good and bad. And many of those memories were created in the classroom. As an educator, it will be my goal to limit the bad school experiences for students with whom I come into contact throughout my career. Furthermore, it will be my goal to perform at my best both inside and outside of the classroom. Below I've outlined four of the top components of my teaching philosophy:


 * **Accommodate Different Learning Styles and Students' Individual Needs**
 * All students learn differently. As such, educators need to pre-assess the learning styles of their students and teach to their preferences. Now, no one said it was an easy task. We also know that some students have learning disabilities and special needs as well, which only makes the teaching profession more challenging and demanding. However, there are strategies to accommodating students' individual needs, such as implementing differentiated instruction (e.g. providing a variety of choices for completing a project/assignment). President Obama's philosophy of "No Child Left Behind" is the key mentality educators must adapt when teaching. But keep in mind, this doesn't happen overnight. It takes time to develop an effective approach much less choose/create and implement it. However, it is our goal to see progress in student achievement, elevating our students to reach their highest learning potential!
 * [[file:Examples of Accomodations and Modifications for Exceptional Students.pdf]]


 * ** Have a Purpose **
 * In all that we do in life, we should always have a reason behind it, especially for the lessons we create and teach throughout our careers. I chose to bring this point to light because one of my professors made a good point regarding the fact that nowhere in the Ontario curriculum documents does it dictate the order in which subject topics should be taught, nor does it indicate that equal time be spent on each of the specific expectations (in fact, Ontario certified teachers are not even required to cover all of the specific expectations). As educators, our obligations and responsibilities are to cover and address each of the overall expectations listed in the Ontario curriculum documents and to possess legitimate reasons for the lessons we teach and the assessment & evaluation strategies we use. For example, every assignment, test, exam, project, etc must include some sort of assessment/evaluation tool, such as a rubric or a marking scheme. Furthermore, our lessons must include learning goals for our students (i.e. what is it that we want students to learn from our lessons? What is the purpose?).


 * ** Uphold the Foundations of Professional Practice for the Teaching Profession **
 * These standards were developed by the Ontario College of Teachers to outline the expectations that educators are required to uphold (as Ontario Certified Teachers). I keep these standards in my mind and refer to them regularly as I strive to be the best educator that I can be. The following links provide details of these standards of practice.

[|Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession] - Care, Integrity, Respect, Trust [|Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession] - Commitment to Students and Student Learning, Professional Knowledge, Professional Practice, Ongoing Professional Learning, Leadership in Learning Communities


 * ** Research is Crucial to the Teaching Profession **
 * ** I attended UOIT's first Research in Education Symposium earlier in November. During the morning session, the keynote speaker, Michael Owen, made a strong point regarding the teaching profession. He outlined the fact that teaching is a profession, and as such, a teacher who does not engage in education research is not a professional. At first, I took offense to this point, until he made the comparison to other well-known professions. Mr. Owen asked the audience "would you go to a doctor that didn't engage in medical research to learn about the latest in medicine"? And at that instance, I realized the point of his argument and strongly agreed. We must stay in tune with education research in order to stay current with the latest developments in education. How can we expect to get better, to be better, if we're not in tune with our "surroundings"?" In a way, engaging in education research is similar to the practice of reflecting in that those who are involved in the practice take an in depth look at today's education systems, pedagogy, etc and strive to find ways in which these components can be modified, as well as ways in which new ideas can be implemented to make student learning more effective. **

Lesson Plans and Teaching Strategies
//Here are some of the lesson plans I created while out on my recent practicum (I taught Grade 7 Math)//

// Here are some other lesson plan samples and resources: //
 * [|Math Lesson: Budgeting - Grades 7-12]
 * [|HotChalk Lesson Plans Page]
 * [|Crayola Lesson Plans]

//Below are some of the teaching strategies I would like to implement in future lessons://