Ashley+Capps

Elementary Education Student Half-way through
 * Ashley Capps**

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 * Ms. Capps' Recaps** - podcast to accompany a learning center on the book //Bea and Mr. Jones,// written and illustrated by Amy Schwartz.

Teachers are extraordinarily important to the future. They impact the next generation of citizens in an increasingly interconnected world. Teachers need to actively engage their students in ways that will help them to find and prepare for their future roles in society. The ways that I intend to assist students on their educational journey, in addition to providing them with the material that will help them to find success, are to help them become life-long learners, to be an example of someone committed to learning and being curious about the world around us and outside of our locale, and to be as accessible and involved as I am able to be in their education without being a hindrance. Life-long learners are people who seek out knowledge even after they have left formal education. With information readily available and everywhere students might feel overwhelmed by the quantity and neglect the quality of that information. We are surrounded by media that can tell us anything we should wish to know (and much that we never cared to know). In the age of the Internet, I think it will be important to help students learn how to glean accurate information from different sources. I also want to help them place value in books and the printed word, while also helping them to distinguish between genuine and weak sources of information. It will be more challenging and therefore more important to me that I foster a sense of curiosity in them, for that is what will inspire them to seek more knowledge. I intend to find ways to help students start to ask the questions that will lead them down that path. In reading a book about bats, for example, I can point out how amazing it is that bats can navigate in the dark. How do they suppose bats can do that? If, when they answer, they give highly varying answers, I would ask the students to write them down (or do it for them, should they be younger), and then as a group we would look for the answers using proper research methods. If by doing this, I can teach them that there are so many fascinating things out in the world for them to discover and that they have the ability to find out more about them, I would consider it a success. One of the best ways to accomplish anything is to lead by example. “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” Mahatma Gandhi has given us many notable quotations, but this, I feel, is the one most applicable to teaching. Show your students that their education is valuable to you, and they will learn to value education. Read, also, when they are to participate in a Sustained Silent Reading program and they will be less likely to feel as though it is a waste of their time. Be understanding and open to the students suggestions. Communicate clearly when you speak to them. Above all, be willing to bend for flexibility can be your greatest tool. Showing that you are willing and able to compromise is something that your students will pick up on. It can demonstrate that we all benefit from a compromise, but only one side (and often, nobody) benefits from an inflexible standpoint. The one thing I truly want to avoid as a teacher is to seem aloof and indifferent to my students’ educational and personal needs. I do not want to appear so distant to them that they cannot ask me questions. I want them to ask me questions. I want them to teach me things, too. Education is an exchange wherein both the teacher and the student take something away from their interactions. I hope that I can help the students to see that as well. Teaching is sharing. It is opening doors. It is building on what they know. I think teaching is important because it allows one person to help shape the future of another. In sharing, it shows personal insight. In opening the door, it will show them the other paths available. When it builds on what they know, they learn that the sky is the limit and they will continue to seek more.
 * Philosophy of Teaching:**