My Learning Journey

Greg Ellis

The Beginning: Home• Such an important part of growing up and learning the

rights and wrongs of life come from parenting and a persons home life. As a child I was extremely lucky to have a very close family life. There were entire family get-togethers weekly and many other activities gave the opportunity for our family to spend time together through the week. The first form of learning and being taught which I can remember, is when my grandfather taught me how to golf. All of my family members golf. Golf is a wonderful teaching lesson, it teaches a person discipline, self control, practice and much more. I was lucky to have such a great teacher to scaffold my learning as I grew up. Another childhood learning experience was learning to play the guitar. My father was the lead guitar player in “The Ellis Family Band”. He showed me how to play the guitar, and supported me in getting better with lots of practice. Both of these activities were excellent learning experiences which occurred outside of school, which is where children are taught for the first time.

FamilyFamily plays such a large role in a persons development. They make a

person who they are, and instill traits which will guide them through life.

• Thinking back through my years of grade school, I can pick out what I feel makes a good teacher and what aspects of those teachers I would like to portray myself. I truly realized that I would pursue the role of teaching in my high school years. I immensely enjoyed going to school each day, but loved even more helping my friends through subjects they struggled with. When I got into my grade 11 Biology class I realized that I wanted to be a science teacher. I had the same teacher for grades 11 and 12 biology and I was extremely lucky to have had such a great influence. There were a few things that I really liked about his teaching. Firstly, he was very enthusiastic and excited about our subject. He kept up to date on everything happening in the world of biology and made his students excited by introducing us to the relevant information he was learning.

School as a Student: AH-HA!

Grade 3 Homeroom

The 3 Legged Stool of LearningRelevant Rigorous Relationship

As I mentioned, for student to be drawn in to a subject a teacher must be able to make the material relevant and exciting. The material must also be rigorous, meaning that it must challenge a students ability to learn and grow their knowledge. An important factor which is sometimes played down is how important the student/teacher relationship is. If a teacher shows some interest in a students life, in and out of school, the teacher can gain the respect and trust of a student. This may be the difference in a student enjoying a course, but possibly even make the difference in them passing. (Dyck 2012)

“Students learn what they care about, from people they care about, and who they know, care about them.” ~ Barbara Harrell Carson (Dyck 2012)

Word Cloud

Important Quotes

• “Don’t just teach kids how to count, teach em what counts.” ~ Karen Salmansohn (Dyck 2013)

• “More than ever, the sheer magnitude of human knowledge renders it’s coverage by education an impossibility; rather, the goal of education is better conceived as helping students develop the intellectual tools and learning strategies needed to acquire the knowledge that allows people to think productively about history, science and technology, social phenomena, mathematics, and the arts.” ~ Bransford, J., Brown, A.& Cocking, R.

• Focus on the culture of excellence and the structures will evolve to support that culture." (Stolp & Smith, p. 14, 1995)

My Vision• As a future teacher, I have set my sights high

and intend to do many great things. I believe to be a great teacher, more needs to be done than showing up each day and getting through the curriculum. Connections need to be made with students, support needs to be given and passionate teaching should be seen through the students eyes. Although there is a curriculum to follow, I will find ways to engage the students interest. It is inevitably important to make connections with students of different race and culture as well, to make sure each student knows that school and the classroom are a safe and fun environment to be a part of.

Reach for the Stars

• Each person has something simply genuine about them. My goal as a teacher is to show my students their potential and let them know that with hard work and determination they can be truly great.

Citations© 2008-2013 Greg Ellis. Slides 2,3,4,5,8.

“Star and arrow” images from Microsoft PowerPoint

“WordItOut” images retrieved from http://worditout.com/word-cloud/280683

Dyck, B. (2012). September 25 (Powerpoint slides) and class notes.Retrieved from

https://blackboard.ucalgary.ca/webapps/portal/ frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1&url=%2fwebapps%2fblackboard %2fexecute%2flauncher%3ftype%3dCourse%26id %3d_155771_1%26url%3d

Bransford, J., Brown, A.& Cocking, R. (2000). How people learn:brain,mind,experience, andschool. (expanded ed., pp. 3-27). Washington, DC: National

Academy Press. Retrieved from http://ucalgary.summon.serialssolutions.com/ search?s.fvf[]=ContentType,Book / eBook&s.fvf[]=ContentType,Government Document&s.q=bransford brown cocking how people learn&keep_r=trueStolp, S. W., & Smith, S. C. (1995). Transforming school culture: Stories,

symbols, values, and the leader’s role. Eugene, OR: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management. Retrieved from https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/3296/transforming_school_culture.pdf