Rburt005

About Me

Hello my name is Rebecca Burton, or Becky if you prefer, and I recently graduated with my bachelor's degree in Sociology this May 2009. I am in Norfolk, Virginia and am currently attending ODU to recieve my Master's degree in middle school teaching. I have a twin sister named Jessica, and she is the one who actually inspired me to look into teaching. She is also doing teaching but is doing prek-6 and got me interested in teaching through her volunteering at various schools. We are very close and I am very excited that I will have her to support and be supported by in both of our teaching careers. I am also engaged, my fiance and I have been together for four years now and are getting married this December! My family is local to the Norfolk area, and I also have a black cat named Sigma who I love to pieces!! I would love to teach sixth grade, that is my ideal grade!! I am hoping that I will enjoy every minute of teaching, I am just eager to get into the classroom! I enjoy reading and shopping, and just relaxing and hanging out with friends.

Education on Philosophy

My philosophy on education does not come from any direct personal experience since my first times in the classroom have been with this course, but I believe that a good teacher is someone who wakes up every morning looking forward to the day ahead of them. A good teacher is not someone who goes to work every day just to make some money and get the paycheck, a good teacher is someone who wants the best out of themselves and out of their students. I believe that a good teacher is someone that you can rely on, look up to, and who motivates you to be your personal best. I believe that students with special needs need to be taught a little differently according to the way in which they each individually can learn best. If students with special needs were taught the same as the rest of the class, then they may be at a disadvantage depending on their learning impediment. I feel that boys and girls should be taught the same way because even though some research indicates that boys learn a certain way just as girls do, to attempt to teach both boys and girls in two different ways would end up creating confusion rather than clarity in most cases. Bilingual education is something I feel to be very important in today's society especially with the increasing speaking of other languages besides English.

I believe that my instructional strategies will pertain to a mixture of lecture and group assignments. I feel it is important for students to work in groups to learn off of one another, and to also learn how to put ideas together and come to a consensus. I believe that using both lecture and group assignments is an effective combination for teaching in the classroom. Using lecture allows each individual student to learn in their own unique way, but coming together in group assignments may allow students to grasp the concepts better by listening to their fellow students who may be able to present the information in a way the teacher is not capable of. I want my students to be able to use all different kinds of technology that are available because of the increasing changes in technology occurring everyday. If students are exposed to technology at an early age then they will be more adaptable to using technology throughout the rest of their academic careers. I picture my future classroom with a high level of interaction among student to student as well as between student and teacher. I believe that communication and interaction are important keys to successful teaching and learning. If students are communicating amongst eachother as well as with the teacher, then the door to communication is constantly open leaving no fear or doubt of communicating questions or concerns about the class. I believe that my future classroom will be full of participatory students, willing and eager to learn. Or at least I hope! Insert non-formatted text here