My name is Katie Pawlowski, and my dream grade to teach is 12th grade calculus. My own calculus teacher, Mr.McGee, was a big inspiration for me to teach mathematics. I grew up in Crown Point, IN and thus I went to Crown Point High School. I was Editor-at-Large of the school newspaper, a representative for student council, a captain on the varsity basketball team, a D.A.R.E. role model for fifth graders in the district and in the National Honor Society. I graduated in 2016 with academic honors and a grade point average of 4.22. I then decided to travel three hours south to join the Indiana University School of Education as a direct admit, and I couldn't be happier with the choice I made. I am a very open and honest person, and I can't wait to start making connections with students.
What are my pedagogical beliefs as a teacher?
I have always known I wanted to be a teacher. In the third grade, for career day, I dressed up as a teacher. My teacher even gave me a stack of papers to grade that night, which was probably more enjoyable for her. But, whenever I made a connection with a child, I just got this incredible feeling that I was making a difference. And to go into a field where I get to have that feeling every day while shaping the minds of the world's next leaders is actually something quite amazing. My pedagogical beliefs surround mainly one idea and that is that I believe all students are individuals and learn as such. Students all learn in different ways, and it is the job of the teacher to accomodate to the students that need to learn in a different way. This is one of the reasons why I desire to teach Calculus. The stereotype around math is that it's hard and if you don't get it there is no hope for you. Well, that's why I'm in the process of becoming a teacher; to work with children who think they're not good at math and simply show them you're smart, you're intelligent, you were just being forced to learn a way that wasn't ideal for you. I plan on being available constantly throughout the school day to help students who learn in different ways, and I plan on explaining them the material in every way possible until I find the right method for them.
What are my beliefs on using technology in the classroom?
I am a huge supporter of technology in the classroom. Like I just said above, students learn in all different ways, and there are technology resources that can help make learning easier for students. Some students are more visual learners, interactive learners, listening learners, etc., and the millions of tools out there on the internet can differentiate for all the students in the classroom. A teacher's job is to help a student learn and grasp material better, and if there is a tool out there that can help more than my lecture why wouldn't I want to use it. For example, I am a big supporter of Khan Academy, and plan on recommending it to my students in my future classroom. Khan Academy is a website filled with helpful videos and personalized lesson plans structured to help students in a variety of subjects. The videos are very minimal in size too so as not to lose the attention of the students so easily. This is a great site for students when the teacher is not available and they need another lecture on the topic they're learning in class. I know it is a bit tricky to make math completely electronic, so for my future classroom I plan to make my class more of a blended learning style. Some assignments are better online, and with some online the extra time can be used to spend more time on the more challenging topics of the chapter. Technology gives teachers more time for topics, students more resources and more ways to learn the same information, I don't see why technology would be frowned upon at schools.