Assignment 1A - Joshua Rubin

Why I chose education:

         I had great experiences with my teachers while in school and I would like to pass on those experiences to future generations. Ever since I was a child I had a knack for understanding the information I was taught and ended up reteaching that information to my peers to help them understand. Becoming a teacher was a natural progression of that.

How did your personality affect your choice of content area?

         According to the personality test, I am deep into the "Thinker" territory. Science is a subject area in which people must use critical reasoning skills to come to conclusions about information that was presented to them. This is how I conduct my classroom. On the very first day, I explain to them that many of the ideas in science may turn out to be untrue by its very nature. Everything I teach should not be taken at face value. They need to do their own research and draw their own conclusions about the information while subduing their own biases.

How does or will your personality affect your relationships with your students?

         Being a thinker has its problems. As such I find it difficult to emotionally connect with my students if something is going on outside of the classroom. I tend not to notice how students are feeling and step haphazardly over their emotions. Most of the time, if I notice that the student is "off," I just let them know they can talk to me if they need or want to.

How will your teaching and learning style affect your teaching and your students' abilities to be successful?

According to the learning inventories, I am a highly visual and active learner. This means I like doing things with my hands and understanding information through my optic nerves. This transfers very well into science as I am a strong proponent of project-based learning. This gives the students a visual and kinesthetic understanding of the science curriculum I am teaching.