Leslie Keller

Team Poseidon - Social Studies

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Background:

I have been living in Vermont for five years. I attended the University of Vermont, earning a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Speech/Debate.

In 2007, I attended UVM to earn a Masters in Middle Level Curriculum and Instruction. I also earned my certification in middle level language arts and social studies.

Teaching Philosophy:

I am a firm believer in student-centered.  I believe that, as a teacher, it is important to motivate students to learn rather than to lecture.  To accomplish this it is important to place the student and his/her learning experience at the center of the learning process; students should be viewed as player rather than a spectator in their education. My goal as a teacher is to root student in their learning by connecting the material to their lives and issues they fell passionate about, instead of allowing them to float through their education without ever understanding its importance and relevance.  Students should be encouraged to understand that education is not an external experience; it is something that can change how they view themselves and the world around them. It is for that reason, I believe educators should have high expectations for their students, empowering them to become engaged and immersed in their own learning.   

Beyond creating relevant and challenging curriculum that engages students my goal is to create a strong classroom culture and community. Establishing a warm, fun, and understanding classroom climate will help students feel comfortable taking risks in front of their peers, which is often difficult at this stage of development. To accomplish this there must be clearly defined classroom guidelines and expectations that students help lay. Additionally, I believe that I as a teacher must connect with your students on a human level by listening, supporting, contributing, trusting, and assisting your students. This can be in a simple conversation, going to a sporting event, remembering a birthday, or sending home a get well card. To create a healthy community of support it is also important to keep parents involved in school by maintaining frequent dialog between school and home. I think that true learning happens when students feel comfortable taking risks in font of their teacher and peers and when they feel invested in their classroom. My goal as an educator is to instill in my students a feeling of love, warmth, humor, safety, curiosity, support, community, and encouragement that will allow them to thrive in and out of the classroom.

As a social studies and language arts teacher I believe that the two disciplines should be viewed as one. Students should investigate history by using helpful reading and writing strategies. The natural marriage of the two disciplines will allow me to teach, history, religion, the classics, law, geography, and world cultures in greater depth by engaging my students with fiction and non-fiction literature on the topic. Students will be able to dive deeper into understanding the human condition if they have to tools to read, summarize, and synthesis the material. I also believe that using relevant and meaningful texts will lend credence to reading and writing strategies.

As a teacher my goal is to instill a love for history and government in my students.  History shapes every aspect of our lives; our schools, literature, family, politics, religion, science, and issues of oppression. I want to engage my student, especially the ones who think history is useless outside the classroom walls.  I want to show them it is not a boring subject, but the foundation of our lives and our culture. To do this I will connect history to their daily lives giving it significance.  To make the curriculum relevant, I will connect my lessons to my student’s lives and motivate them to use history as the vehicle to answer larger questions they may have about themselves and the world.

Not only do I want my students to understand history I want them to become critical of its intent.  Do not mistake this for relativism; rather I want my students to understand why certain events are important and who influenced its dictation.  Perspective is an important concept to understand and it requires students to strengthen their critical thinking skills. 

Finally, I believe that genuine assessment is an important component of a productive and meaningful middle school class room.  I believe in relevant, frequent, and formative assessment to keep students engaged in their learning.  I do not think test overload is what the doctor orders, Instead I believe that helping students evaluate their work along the way is more important, giving students’ time to revise their work while they are still actively learning.  Providing checkpoints for understanding and mastery is more important than reiterating facts, although that too is important at particular junctions of education. 

In short, I believe in teaching for meaning, student centered curriculum, and relevant assessment that helps the student grow personally and academically.