1. Subject
1.1. Goals
1.1.1. My goal in teaching English is to show students the reciprocal relationship between literature and society. I want students to appreciate the power of literature in relating societal values and expectations and also shaping a society's future.
1.2. English
1.2.1. I want to teach English literature and languages arts, the study of the power and impact of language and written text on society.
2. Students
2.1. Adolescents
2.1.1. I want to teach adolescents because they are at a particularly formative age when they are given more adult responsibility and choices. I want to guide adolescents in their learning about the expectations of society as well as their learning about their own values and self.
2.2. Learning
2.2.1. I believe adolescents need to be taught in a way that encourages their developmental state of questioning and challenging norms. Adolescents do not learn by passively accepting information but by testing and discussion.
3. Roles in Education
3.1. Student
3.1.1. The task of the student is not to simply soak up information in the classroom but instead to listen to the knowledge the teacher presents and to critically analyze the information to either accept or reject it.
3.2. Teacher
3.2.1. The role of the teacher is to act as both dispenser and facilitator, giving students the information they need to know from the past and to guide them in their own inquiry and investigation of the world. A teacher's job is to care for students and equip them for the future.
3.3. Education
3.3.1. The purposed of education is to pass on knowledge from generation to generation and to teach the young to think critically about the world.
4. Teaching
4.1. Strategies
4.1.1. In my classroom I plan to incorporate a myriad of strategies so my students feel they are in a dynamic learning environment. While I may use lecture, I also want to use group learning strategies and individual inquiry to show my students that they are the learners and the teacher's role is to provide information and offer support of their own learning.
4.2. Assessment
4.2.1. I plan to assess my students at all levels of instruction and learning. My students will know that I care about their prior knowledge and build on what they already know to teach new material. My students will know they are responsible to actively learn in class as I challenge them during lessons to ensure they are thinking critically about material. And my students will know that they have learned from my class as they reflect on the material and present their learning in innovative ways.
4.3. Curriculum
4.3.1. In a secondary English curriculum I would teach to thematic elements of text. I would incorporate both classical literature and more modern texts, as well as informational text, to teach my students the connection of literature and its impact on people.