Sean: United States: Jan 14, 2019

I volunteered as a teacher at my previous daycare over my four years of high school. My main job function was to supervise the children during classes, discussions or recess. I would have to teach religious studies during classes and had to create fun interactive classes so the children would learn and avoid boredom. My classes usually involved acting out the bible story that I had just went over so the children could better understand the story and the meaning of it. I would also start every class with a quick game, such as telephone, to get them started and end every class with a group discussion.

My teaching philosophy primarily focuses on making sure that the students learn, enjoy and have an active interest in the the course subject. I have learned from my time as a student in addition to teaching children over the course of four years that students will not actually learn a subject if they do not personally enjoy it. Some students may perform well in class and may score high grades on their tests; however, a student will never retain that knowledge from class and be able to access that knowledge in the future if the students do not personally enjoy how the subject is taught to them. I believe that improving upon three different areas will encourage the enjoyment of learning a subject. These three areas would be creating a safe environment, providing examples that interest the students, and finally to incorporate many interactive and kinetic practices. Firstly, I believe that initially a teacher must create an environment in the classroom that the students feel secure but also to promote an environment where all students can freely express their ideas, creativity and thoughts. Secondly, I have noticed that most students will not be interested in learning about a topic if it is not expressed in an interesting fashion towards the students. For example, if I try to teach the students about how to form sentences on animals but none of the students enjoy animals but instead enjoy superheroes, I will be sure to shift the focus on forming sentences on superheroes. Lastly, I have noticed that most students both enjoy and learn the most from interactive activities such as games, exercises or active discussions and I will be sure to incorporate many of those aspects within my lessons so that they can converse amongst themselves while also learning English.