Hey There
My name is Lila Newman. I am from Brevard, North Carolina. I'm currently a senior at Appalachian State University. I expect to graduate in May with a degree in Secondary History Education. In my free time I enjoy cooking, crafting, playing basketball, watching 90's movies, and trying new coffee shops. I look forward to my future in teaching!
Teaching Philosophy
I believe that teaching is one of the most important, if not THE most important, jobs in society today. During the time we have the students in our classroom, we have the opportunity to leave an impact on the next generation and an obligation to prepare them for what is to come. After all, life after high school goes far beyond grades.
This is why I have a great interest in socioemotional learning. When I run into a future student in the future, what they have retained from my class is a secondary concern to my true focus; if they are a good person. I want to help equip the coming generations to be good people and productive members of society. I intend to model such behavior in the way I conduct myself as a teacher and the way I interact with my students with an emphasis on respect, compassion, and accountability. This is my ideal classroom environment as well in which students feel safe, respected, and free to be themselves with their own diverse cultures, backgrounds, and personalities.
My goal as a history teacher is to teach them how to be historians. I understand that not all students like history, yet there are still valuable skills to learn from the discipline. I want to cultivate critical thinking skills in my students, which means that I will give them plenty of primary and secondary sources to analyze with a critical eye. The other reason for teaching history is equally as important. In learning history, students may learn more of the world and have a better understanding of what is going on within it now. This will inform the way I structure the curriculum, as my goal is to show a progression which will culminate in our unit in modern times.
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It is important to me to challenge my students, as meeting challenges successfully will help them to develop their confidence. This will be a fairly gradual process, as assignments will become more challenging over the course of the term as they have honed their historical and critical thinking skills. I see grades as being a measure of progress rather than merely assessing proficiency. Accordingly, I will use a progress-based rubric for writing assignments. This is a simple way of encouraging students to aim for comprehension instead of a specific numerical grade.
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My personal learning will not end with my degree. I will continue to attend professional workshops, seminars, and talks so that I can freshen up my knowledge and curriculum over the years. I will look to my colleagues as an endless source of knowledge and guidance, especially during my first years of teaching. My goal will always be to teach the students historical thinking skills and provide a safe, inclusive classroom environment for them to learn and grow.
