Thinking about my most influential teacher, what made him really influential to me was his integration of real-life interests into his teaching. This may be done in little ways like music trivia or reading a popular book with the entire class and so on. If you were part of an extracurricular activity outside of school he was aware of it and was always asking how that activity was going. This teacher was really influential for me because he allowed the real-life aspects that take place outside of school to become part of the classroom. Why I think this is important is because taking time to acknowledge that the studies that happen within the school curriculum are just part of a larger culture of life is huge when taking into account what kind of learner a student may be. What I take away from this teacher’s approach is that you can always make learning your own and it can be personalized by the teacher and for the students. Another large part of this idea is that school is a part of your life but not your whole life. In this sense, what happens at school can definitely affect your life outside it but that relationship also works in the reverse. By taking into account the different circumstances that your students may face and take part in outside of school can give you a deeper understanding of what they may need in the classroom. I personally believe that bridging these two worlds can offer an opportunity for more meaningful learning for all those involved. Another thing that was interesting about this teacher was that things could change in his classroom. Which did have the normal set subjects throughout the day but we also had group problem-solving activities thrown in depending on the day which allowed for different students to work together and create new connections. The opportunity for different kinds of learning is also interesting here because some may work better individually and others in a group setting. Going even further into that there can be more kinesthetic learning versus visual learning, interpersonal and so on. Overall I just really loved having the chance to be in this teacher’s class because he allowed and celebrated individuality.

puzzle peices

Coming from this reflection on my past learning experiences, I have chosen the image of a puzzle piece to represent my teaching metaphor. I chose this image because in representing a learner in each peace they can all be different and when put together can create very different full pictures. Other pieces of their puzzle may be family, friends, hobbies, school and so on that come together to create their picture. So, the piece that is “School/Learning” must fit the learner in order to create their full picture successfully. This metaphor makes sense to me and hopefully, it does for you as well.