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**Rebecca Frusciante Welcome to my portfolio! This has been a wonderful experience and I plan on using many of these tools in my classroom!

I am a Elementary Education major in my third year. I am an active part of the Symphony of Soul Marching Band, Womens Bowling Team and Honors Program. Within each group I have held leadership postitions. I enjoy helping children and I am very eager to get into the classroom to help shape the new generation of children.**

 Philosophy of Education As a soon to be educator for young minds, my teaching style has roots in three basic philosophies of education, progressivism, perennialism and essentialism. It also has many aspects that are based off of our time period, including the type of technology that I incorporate and the methods of dealing with those students who misbehave or need that extra little push. From progressivism I admire the fact that education should be in part, what the student is actually interested in. When a student is interested in the work they are more likely to do the work and retain the basic concepts behind the lesson. Since I am a strong believer that there is no way to prepare for life, students should learn by living rather than trying to be prepared for it. Perennialism has more of the old school methods to it, which have stood the test of time and should be recognized. One of the main principles is that human nature is constant, so the nature of education should stay the same. Although there are new studies and a change in generations there are things such as a core basic knowledge that all children should have. This includes all subject matter. When students are finally released into the world the most important thing they learned from school should be their ability to reason. With this ability they will be able to look at any and all situations clearly and calmly to create a plan to go forth with. The most important philosophy is essentialism which has the principle that learning involves hard work and unwilling application. This is true not only for the students but for the teacher as well. Another point is that the teacher runs the class and with full control. Finally, that school would use mental discipline in the traditional form. This includes when a child misbehaves they write over and over again ‘I will not...’ or being sent to the principal’s office and having to sit in the office and wait as others see them. With the return to basics schools can control the students better and get more education into students. Personally I take the more authoritarian approach to teaching. It is the fastest and most beneficial way for a classroom to be run. I speak on this for an elementary stand point for education; my target group would be from first grade to third grade. At this age not all students are getting rules and consequences at home so school becomes the place for them to learn discipline. With my strictness they will be able to follow and eventually appreciate having rules and routines, ultimately it will prepare them for life and having a job. Being part of a generation that was brought up on evolving technology I would like to include some in my classroom. This would be an addition to the traditional method of note taking. There are many studies that prove that students as well as adults retain information better when they personally write it down. Personally, as a hands-on learner and one that has trouble sitting still for long periods of time, I plan on making as many lessons as possible hands on. Science, all labs will be done even if some review must go home as homework. It is important that students understand how to manipulate different objects and problems to come out with the answers. Hands-on is also a way to help boost self-confidence within students. Not all students can play ball but being able to understand concepts and show the class will make them feel good about themselves. With my matriculation through college I have had the pleasure of observing elementary classrooms from different schools. Some experiences were better than others; while some opened my eyes to the part I feared the most. One class was third grade, since they were a little bit older they were able to sit in their chairs and understood that if they spoke out of turn they would be in trouble or if the teacher was standing quietly that she was waiting on them. These approaches were instilled in the children on day one; they were explained what was allowed and what wasn’t. This allows the students to have the choice of if they will be good or bad. Since this teacher had full control of her class students were open to talking to her and even had previous students come back to say hello. I would like to be able to have students enjoy my teaching so well that they would want to come back to visit my class and tell my current students how much they had learned. During my second experience I was in a first grade classroom. The teacher was an experienced teacher but was still mean to the students. It was almost as if she thought they were in fourth grade. Since they were young things had to be repeated and broken down numerous ways, but when a child asked she usually was impatient about it. There was one student who had trouble sitting down and would get upset if she wasn’t called on. Instead of ignoring that type of behavior she would feed into it and the students knew it was just how that one student was and would pay it no mind. From that teacher I learned that one must have sympathy for young children so that they can trust you and would be more open to talk. My most recent experience was also within a first grade classroom. This Division 1 School was filled with students with IEP’s and ones that needed them badly. As a teacher with five classified and another two on the way, she was able to have control over all of them and make progress. From her I would love to develop her sense of control both personally and within the class. Personally she was able to keep her cool when a child acted up and had to be spoken to numerous times daily. Within the class how she could count from three to one and the entire class was sitting properly and quietly. My final teacher I would love to have her ability to talk to the students. They would come to her in the morning or just before lunch to discuss what was going on at home. She knew almost everyone’s home life and would make references to this during class. Having an open line of communication with my students would allow me to find out if there were problems in the home such as a divorce, a death or unfortunately any type of abuse. Once I establish the tone of my classroom within the first week students will know what to expect when they don’t raise their hand or put their hands on someone else. For those few students that like to test the system, I will be ready to quickly point out their wrong and fix it before it catches into the class. Those students with special needs will be referred to the appropriate offices for testing and evaluation. If nothing comes of that I will alter worksheets and even stay after school or during recess to help keep that student on track. Some parents don’t feel that education is important; thankfully that number has decreased dramatically in the past few years. Many parents understand that having a high school diploma is not enough to get a well paying job and are putting more of an emphasis on education than ever before. If I do get one of those few students I would show them that education is fun, that the activities they enjoy are actually teaching them something. But mainly I would ask them what they wanted to be when they were older and try to relate my lessons to their dream. No one is perfect. That is a concept that took me many years to understand, with this understanding I plan on putting my all into teaching. With that I plan to dedicate the rest of my life to the education and growth of children. I plan to stop at nothing to get my students to their highest potential by setting high goals that they can strive to achieve.