Teaching Philosophy Statement

I did not know I wanted to become a teacher until I had my eleventh grade chemistry class. Until then, my motivation to do my best in school was non-existent. As a student with an IEP, it was recommended that I did not take the course. This teacher was passionate and never gave up in trying to help me. She inspired me to become a teacher, which I did after graduating from SUNY Geneseo and teaching for the past four years. I am applying to the University at Albany Master’s program for Curriculum Development and Instructional Technology to further my education in becoming a better teacher. Technology is always changing and students learn quickly how to use these technologies. There are many positive reasons in using technology for both the

At my placement, I planned and taught a unit on the reproductive systems with the help from my cooperating teacher. This unit had a variety of different teaching methods. Students were able to explore plant reproduction by dissecting real flowers. To promote literacy, students had to research when the five senses are developed in the womb in order to complete a writing assignment. Lastly, one of the official observations had to include a technology lesson. For this, my lesson included the use of Chromebooks with an online program. All the scores from the students were sent to me, so that I could use them as a formal assessment. As evident from the scores, the lesson objective was met, while students enjoyed the lesson and wanted to use them

Throughout the year, I was able to observe different classroom settings and procedures. Being in a variety classrooms, I was able to see how teachers incorporated different technologies. Some teachers only used an overhead projector, while others utilized smartboards. Additionally, many teachers had a no cell-phone policy. However, one teacher I frequently substituted for often had math problems tapped around the room that which a QR code. Students would use their phones to scan the code and check their answer. Students were using their cell-phones correctly and were not being distracted by them.

When I taught first grade at an international school in South Korea, I had to create a curriculum. At this point, I had no experience with creating a whole curriculum or planning a lesson for elementary school. The classroom had a SmartTV and tablets. For this curriculum, I tried to use these resources as much as possible with rotating stations. Creating a curriculum for at the elementary level was out of my comfort zone and hard work. However, I enjoyed the challenge and it sparked an interest in me for creating curricula. The curriculum I created will stay as the curriculum for next