Vision of a Teacher

Vision of a Teacher

Joshua F. Holt

University of Southern California

Rossier School of Education, MAT

Dr. Isabel Morales

March 5, 2015

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Motivation in the Science Classroom

I feel that all students are natural scientist whether they realize it or not. My goal as a teacher is to be able to teach to every student sitting in a desk in my classroom by using the necessary strategies to promote learning. I use personal experiences as a father, teacher, coach and Soldier to motivate students to do science.

Strength

        The one factor that I have seen have a direct influence on student learning is motivation. I feel the instructor is a facilitator in the classroom and his or her mood is reflected by the classroom environment. I have noticed the more enthusiasm the instructor shows the more the students also show. I make it a point to be a very motivated, highly enthusiastic teacher.

My classroom is at Holston High School in Damascus, Virginia. The school’s total enrollment is just under 300 students. My class is made up of all freshmen. There are 25 students in all. The classroom is actually over capacity. I only have 24 total desks in my classroom. One student has to sit at a table I have on one side of my room. The entire class is Caucasian. There are 11 females and 14 males. The class covers the entire social economic spectrum.

        Motivation is much deeper than just an environmental aspect of teaching. The overall beliefs and approach to education as a whole must be one that is enthusiastic and motivational in design.  The curriculum itself will be an engaging and exciting design. I have also realized that the more engaging and enthusiastic the instructors approach and the overall curriculum are in design the less reluctant students are to attack rigorous lessons.

        Motivating students every day is much easier said than done. There are days that students in your classroom are not going to want to learn for numerous reasons. Several factors can get in the way of motivating students to learn science daily. Home lives, other classes, the social aspect of high school just to name a few are all inhibitors to motivation. Each student in my classroom comes from a different home life and is motivated by different things. The largest hurdle in my vision of a teacher is the diversity in backgrounds and motivating factors inside my classroom. I have found several tactics that allow for majority motivation but no fool proof way to motivate all students all the time.