There is always room to grow

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As the title of this post suggests, there is always room to grow. This is especially true for teachers. As teachers it is our responsibility to educate and shape the minds of future generations, but in order to do that we must also be lifelong learners. Constantly researching and exploring new perspectives, and coming up with new an engaging ways to get students excited about the content. As I continue my teaching journey there is one thing that I really want to further develop, and that is providing my students with opportunities to apply the knowledge they gain in my class.

There are two primary ways that I hope to go about this; the building of connections with community partners and the use of simulations. After seeing how my mentor utilized both of these to create meaningful and impactful projects for students it is clear just how beneficial these strategies can be for student engagement. By tying the history they learn in the classroom to things happening in the local community students get an opportunity to see the practical application of their knowledge first hand. The use of simulations has a similar benefit for student learning. For example, this year my mentor created a simulation in which the students were divided into factions and tasked with coming up with a zoning plan for the development of a frontier zone on the fictional planet 43Zoro. Through this experience students got to see first hand what it can be like when groups with competing interest must form coalitions to create a plan. This served to introduce our final project for the year which pertained to a redevelopment plan that the City of San Diego is currently considering; tying the classroom content to things happening in our city.