User:Amywilliams

All About ME!

Okay, big world of EDUCATION here I am! It feels so energizing, fulfilling and rewarding to finally be writing something just about ME! That me is me...Amy B. Williams. I am currently a student at ODU on the road to getting her PreK-6th grade teaching licensure. I have a Masters Degree in Social Work from Cal State Long Beach(1991)and have lovingly worked with Pediatric Aids and Oncology patients for 15 years. To help dying little one pass over into a better and more loving place is the most wonderful thing I have been blessed with for a career. Helping families grieve, setting up their support system and listening with loving ears was a pleasure I will never forget. Unfortunately, I lost me along the way and I believe I have found that person...that person that always stifled the love of teaching young children to love life and learning while exploring avenues they have yet to venture down in the path of life.

In my spare time (wish you could see my wink!)I take care of my three funny and loving children. James is 12, Hayden is 9 and Stella Mae is 7. I am determined to raise them to ask questions about life, fuel their fire for finding the answers and to love one another equally in this big complicated world of ours. To help in this endeavor, we live on 6 acres and have a small apple orchard. Life is busy, but somehow, my husband and I manage. Dave is a pilot for United so half the month he lives out of his suitcase and I put another hat on until he walks back in the door to unpack! Somewhere along the way I am blessed to be able to purge my anxieties through tending to my wildflowers, garden and two dogs, Hand and Gus.

My home here is in Stephens City, VA, which is just outside of Winchester, VA. It is a good place to raise a garden and your kids really. Life is simple and allows for time to ponder. The cure for Aids and cancer just very well might be out here in the dirt of Frederick County! Oh how I wish that were true so some of the horriffic suffering would cease to exist.

My Education Philosophy

My education philosophy is to listen to my students and get to know who they are and where they have come from before they entered my classroom. I will validate their fears, wipe away their tears, and let them know that by working together as a team we will get through any and all of their hurdles. My mission is to get to know them and who they are as a person, what their interests are and what they dream about accomplishing. I will act as their guide to seek the questions they may silently ask themselves and light their desire to find out just what the answers to those questions are.

My students will see how important learning is to me and they will also feel the desire to learn. My classroom will not only be a safe place to learn, but it will also be a safe place to make mistakes. My students will have fun in my classroom and will walk away from it looking at school and life in a whole new way; a way that makes them feel eager to gain the knowledge they are allowed. My mission is to connect their experiences in the classroom with their experiences in their own lives so their retention is deeper and longer lasting.

To actively listen to my students is a mission of utmost importance. I will reassure them of my support and will guide them to understand their own inner strength that awaits them through life's journeys. By talking with the students and getting to know their interests and dreams, I will be their personal guide that leads them through their education journey for that very small year in their life. Technology will be at the forefront in my lesson planning, daily instructing and student activities. Powerpoints, SmartBoards and computers will be present and utiilized on a daily basis for motivation and instructional strategies.

I expect not only the very best of me, but also the very best of all my students both socially and academically. My mission is to understand the academic level and diversity my students come to me with and assure them that I will teach to their level and incorporate different styles of teaching and group them appropriately for a better outcome. My students will respect that not one other student will be like them or learn like them and unkind words will not be spoken within my classroom walls. Only words of optimism, kindness and support are allowed.

It is my philosophy to make the students feel like the classroom is a safe place that feels warm, colorful and full of life. They will feel wanted and self-motivated through various levels of engagement, parental involvement and student to teacher interactions. I will use positive reinforcement as classroom management and make each student feel responsible for their own behavior and actions, which will build cohesiveness and acceptance. I expect my students to do the very best that they can do as I will too. My students will see that I love to learn and having fun while working hard is what will carry them into their next school year with a more positive outlook on school and ability to do their best.

I understand and agree with you when you stated the students in your class will be eager to learn because they will see how important learning is to you. When I was in school the teachers that I felt was getting something from us as well as what we were getting from them, made me wanted to participate even more and try harder so they could know that they made a difference. I thank God for those teachers if it had not been for them I may not be in the profession I am trying to enter in now and I might not be the person I have become. Some of my teachers really impacted my life in ways that I don't believe most of them knew. However, it wasn't really for them to know...I received the knowledge, power, strength, and determination from it and they will receive the blessing. You are truly a gentle soul, the world really needs more people like you. Pperk002 (talk) 05:27, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Hey Amy! I love your outlook on teaching children to "love life and learning". It seems like you will be the type of teacher that attracts young minds like a magnet and puts enough of that energy into each them that they in turn can become the type of students others will look to for help in their classes. I agree with you that classrooms absolutely should be "safe places to make mistakes", especially since I am a parent myself and have seen some not so safe situations in the past year that made me start to question why certain people ever chose the teaching profession. I would be honored to have my own children in your future classroom and hope that your aspirations for your students to give you the very best that they have will be accomplished over and over again with each year you teach. Cmorrell (talk) 18:03, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Hi Amy!!! I have really enjoyed reading about your life and your educational philosophy. It is really wonderful to hear someone so passionate about their life and career. I hope that the energy you are showing for this project extends into your future classroom and enriches the live of your students. I really liked that you think of the classroom as a safe place that feels warm, colorful and full of life. I agree that this will foster trust and enrich students' learning. Also, the part where you stree active listening is something I found quite interesting.It is so true - yet so sad - that teachers and adults alike tend to look through children instead of looking at them and seeing what is beneath the surface. It sounds like you will be a blessing to all of the little lives that will enter your classroom - good luck!!!Mbiernot1979 (talk) 21:07, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Hello Amy :) I really enjoyed reading your philosophy of teaching. The teachers that truly care about thier students are the ones that motivate and activate our love for learnig. Those teacher inspiredme to do great things. I am sure you willbe the inspiration to many young pupils. Cojames (talk) 22:15, 1 June 2008 (UTC)