Welcome to my ePortfolio
Here you'll find information about me, my educational journey, and a record of my professional development.
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Statement of Personal Teaching Beliefs and Values
I’m a physicist, and the goal of research is to keep advancing knowledge, but we can’t do that if we don’t share the knowledge we have and gain through research. There would be no point in discovering something monumental if the knowledge simply lived and died with one individual, as it would not allow for it to be possible for countless other discoveries to be made from that knowledge you yourself discovered. Sharing knowledge is so key to science, so in my eyes science and education are intertwined, they’re part of each other and require each other.
While I love science and physics, I realize that not everyone will… well, hopefully it’s just that that don’t realize they do yet. Things like math and science can be both rewarding and frustrating at times for students, myself included on an ongoing basis. I hope that through my teachings and help provided to my students, I can make learning as painless a process as possible. I remember that one of my most influential physics professors, Dr. Daniel Furgason, said something along the lines of, “learning physics requires a certain amount of beating your head against the wall, but you can only do that for so long before you pass out.” I hope that I can prepare my future students to work hard on their work in science, and then can help them figure out the problems when they get stuck too.
Students and I are both diverse. I am not just John the physicist, or John the computer technician. With my passion in art, I’d like to help students see how much art there is in science, and how much science there is in art. I’d like to provide lessons for my students that allow them to experience how intertwined all the different subjects really are, and hopefully help some of those students who think they only like something such as art or science realize that their passion might actually lead them straight into that subject they thought they weren’t interested in.
My own interests have taken me down paths I didn’t realize I could do as well, and I always have enjoyed working on projects to learn about new things. My projects over the past few years in 3D printing branched out over the past few months into designing objects in virtual 3D spaces, something I never saw myself doing. I hope that I can successfully get many of my students to learn new things and undertake fun projects in their free time throughout their lives, projects that will benefit them professionally and personally.
To close, there’s an African proverb that states, “It takes a village to raise a child,” and I really believe that, as people are influenced and learn from all the things surrounding them. I want my classroom to be an open place, welcome not only to all students but to parents too. One thing I’ve been planning, and would like to execute as a teacher, would be to offer after school sessions for parents to attend in my class so that, if needed, they can refresh on math/science to be able to help in their children’s education.
Additions to my Beliefs and Values over PS1
Never did I realize how much discrimination and intolerance is present within our world until I’ve now experienced it for the second major time in my life. I want to ensure that I am the very opposite of that for my students, and I want to teach my students to be their own advocates, so that they are prepared for the harsh world that they will enter into. I hope that I can provide an environment that is caring, and understanding of differences, fostering and building effective relationships with all students, just as the TQS says.