Hi, I am Aaron Craig, and I am really excited and looking forward to working with the staff and students at St Patrick School, teaching in one of the grade 2 - 3 classes. I am, first and foremost, a lifelong learner. First earning an English Degree in 1997, and in 2010 a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Accounting and most recently my Education degree, all from the University of Lethbridge. I have been coaching indoor and outdoor children and youth soccer for over 11 years. My passions include: literature, where I am a lifelong reader and writer; watching and participating in soccer and sports; and watching and reading most things science fiction, fantasy, and comic books. I love guitar and inspire to one day learn how to play it at a proficient level, and along with that I love listening to music in eclectic genres. I am a family centered, father of two children, one attending St. Francis in grade 8, the other starting at CCH in grade 10. I have always been actively involved with my children's schools and extracurricular activities, and love spending quality time with my wife. In anything I have ever done, whether in work, volunteer and life in general, I have sought out ways to teach or coach others. Teaching is my calling and a passion. I live for those moments when children light up when they discover and learn, and love to see how they grow under my tutelage. I am a servant by nature, creative, organized, and have a strong confident and caring presence in front of a classroom. I hope this year to inspire my students to grow and learn together in my class, and become vibrant members of our school community.
Statement of Teaching Philosophy
First and foremost, a teacher needs to be flexible and fast on their feet. Classrooms are very socially dynamic and inclusive, so as a teacher, differentiation in expectation, assessment and lesson activities are all considerations year after year. All classrooms have a culture that good teachers facilitate and develop into a positive learning environment. Classroom management plays an important role in running a classroom, boundaries for safety and orderly behavior has to be balanced with a fun and engaging classroom, where learning can be nurtured and everyone is respected.
Formative assessment needs to play an ongoing role in every lesson in order for evidence of learning to be seen and lessons to be tweaked where needed. Differentiation in a lesson and different teaching strategies can be implemented in order to ensure that learning is taking place. Assessment is most effective when students are involved.
It is important to look at all the children as individuals, with individualized needs and not as a collective. Conformity is important for societal cohesion, but not at the sacrifice of a child’s will; we need to shape them and not break them, recognizing their individuality and use it to add strength to the community. A balance must be struck between individual activities and collaborative activities. Activities that promote children learning and working as groups can have immense benefits, I plan in collaborative activities in as much of my lessons as I can, so that my students gain these important skills that they will use in their future beyond school. Children need to learn curriculum content, but essentially they need to grow and develop and learn how to learn, so teachers need to facilitate the connection between students’ experiences and curriculum content, in the student environment we all learn to grow and develop in community.
Cognitively children develop at different rates, so this is another reason for concessions in learning and differentiation in lessons. Children develop social, physically and cognitively at different rates, so judging a child and labeling them is a mistake that can add to the problem, rather than finding solutions and making an action plan for that student to be successful.
Students learn and need to learn in a variety of ways. In the old paradigm, students had learning styles; these learning styles are now call learning preferences. From the perspective of preferences, teachers need to teach students in their preference, but also challenge students to work in other modalities. I, myself have a learning preference, but to teach only through my preference would be a disservice to my students, so I stretch myself and teach in different modalities and grow along with my students.
Integration of technology is an important aspect for a 21st century learner, we need to prepare the students for technology that has not even been invented. Technology needs to enhance the lesson and not just be there for its’ own sake. Cyber safety and digital citizenship needs to be fostered, so safety and respect of other users is observed. Additionally, a balance needs to be made between low tech teaching strategies and high tech strategies, I incorporate planned movements into my lessons, which injects dopamine, a neurotransmitter that stimulates learning, which students get from high tech devices, but also get when movement is happening. The movements I plan are logical and add to the learning, rather than movement for movements sake.
Professional appearance and behavior are expectations that are expected of teachers. We are always representing the profession. We are facilitators of community for our students and work for the community to develop a most precious asset, their future. This is a responsibility that teachers agreed to when they join this profession starting as pre-service teachers. We are not just responsible to our students, but to their parents, other teachers, administration, government, and the community as a whole. Everything that I experience as a teacher goes towards my own learning, as a life long learner it is important to always work on my own professional development.
Formative assessment needs to play an ongoing role in every lesson in order for evidence of learning to be seen and lessons to be tweaked where needed. Differentiation in a lesson and different teaching strategies can be implemented in order to ensure that learning is taking place. Assessment is most effective when students are involved.
It is important to look at all the children as individuals, with individualized needs and not as a collective. Conformity is important for societal cohesion, but not at the sacrifice of a child’s will; we need to shape them and not break them, recognizing their individuality and use it to add strength to the community. A balance must be struck between individual activities and collaborative activities. Activities that promote children learning and working as groups can have immense benefits, I plan in collaborative activities in as much of my lessons as I can, so that my students gain these important skills that they will use in their future beyond school. Children need to learn curriculum content, but essentially they need to grow and develop and learn how to learn, so teachers need to facilitate the connection between students’ experiences and curriculum content, in the student environment we all learn to grow and develop in community.
Cognitively children develop at different rates, so this is another reason for concessions in learning and differentiation in lessons. Children develop social, physically and cognitively at different rates, so judging a child and labeling them is a mistake that can add to the problem, rather than finding solutions and making an action plan for that student to be successful.
Students learn and need to learn in a variety of ways. In the old paradigm, students had learning styles; these learning styles are now call learning preferences. From the perspective of preferences, teachers need to teach students in their preference, but also challenge students to work in other modalities. I, myself have a learning preference, but to teach only through my preference would be a disservice to my students, so I stretch myself and teach in different modalities and grow along with my students.
Integration of technology is an important aspect for a 21st century learner, we need to prepare the students for technology that has not even been invented. Technology needs to enhance the lesson and not just be there for its’ own sake. Cyber safety and digital citizenship needs to be fostered, so safety and respect of other users is observed. Additionally, a balance needs to be made between low tech teaching strategies and high tech strategies, I incorporate planned movements into my lessons, which injects dopamine, a neurotransmitter that stimulates learning, which students get from high tech devices, but also get when movement is happening. The movements I plan are logical and add to the learning, rather than movement for movements sake.
Professional appearance and behavior are expectations that are expected of teachers. We are always representing the profession. We are facilitators of community for our students and work for the community to develop a most precious asset, their future. This is a responsibility that teachers agreed to when they join this profession starting as pre-service teachers. We are not just responsible to our students, but to their parents, other teachers, administration, government, and the community as a whole. Everything that I experience as a teacher goes towards my own learning, as a life long learner it is important to always work on my own professional development.