Hi,
My name is Jordan Aldrich, I live here in Starkville MS, and am a Senior at Mississippi State University. I am behind in my years at school, because I cheered for three years and it took up a lot of my time. Both of my parents went to state, and my dad played baseball here. My mom majored in fashion merchandising. I have always wanted to be a teacher, and I hope that one day I will be a great teacher.
I have always wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. I used to play "school" with my best friend, and loved the atmosphere of teaching students. For this course my first goal is to learn more about Middle School aged children, and maybe leave the class with a different aspect for teaching middle school. A second goal that I have for myself is to also pass the class with an A. The last goal for this class I would like to be able to understand more about what a middle school teacher handles their classroom.
I hope to learn in this class more specifically about how to teach this specific age of children. How to handle certain situations that I may not have really thought about in the past. I also hope to learn to become more confident in teaching middle school. I am not really sure right now about how I feel about teaching this age group of students. I want to be able to say I would not mind teaching K-8th graders, but right now I am not very sure about teaching all the way up through the 8th grade. I hope that this class will help me not be so afraid of teaching middle school children.
Three things that might be beneficial to a teacher who teaches middle school would be to help their students not only in that subject but also in personal areas. I feel that the middle school aged children are going through a rough time with boyfriends/girlfriends, and having attitudes with everyone that they have a conversation with. They also are helpful with their students that tend to fall behind. In middle school I had one teacher in math that was always there for me no matter what, and when I got frustrated or confused she knew exactly how to handle the situations. Middle school is the peek to these students lives. There are situations that students need to be able to walk away from instead of getting in the middle of every thing. It is that awkward stage where they think they are better than everybody else, and do not do anything wrong. That is one thing as teachers that we should all be able to handle, and be there for a student in those situations.
Middle school teachers have a lot to handle, with all of the attitudes given to them by their students. Three things that middle school teachers do that are detrimental are from my past experiences in middle school. I had a lot of my teachers that were lazy, and were just there for a pay check. I feel like my middle school years have parts skipped out of that have been erased over the years. Middle school was not really a time that I cherished. Teachers also seem to be very lectured typed teachers that just make their students read from the text, or stand in front of the classroom to make sure that all their students are paying attention, and following along. Students learn in different ways, and this is one way that is crucial for the students to learn. Some students learn better by a teacher lecturing, but others learn better when they are doing hands on activities, and that is something that a teacher has to realize, and accommodate towards their students.
I am very good at encouraging other classmates, and students to complete a specific activity.
