Design Forward
An emergent exploration of critical instructional design.
Design Forward
Portfolio Part: My Influences on Teaching
Your Teaching Origins
My Influences on Teaching
Step One
In the boxes below, Name those things/people/experiences that have shaped your approach to teaching. Describe their Influence. Add as many as you would like.
In the Rank column, try to rank your influences (as best as you can), where the lowest number means the greatest amount of influence.
| Name | Influence | Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Shaylah Kelly | High-Shaylah helped me find my why I wanted to continue in residential life, and helped me really define who I am as a leader. She helped me figure out my areas of growth, and through positive encouragement, helped me do better. | 2 |
| My parents | My parents helped me develop a hard work ethic and helped me through some hard lessons. | 1 |
| My students | My students teach me things everyday! I love working with people, and they are why I wanted to come back to PSU. | 3 |
Step Two
Choose three influences you identified and write three paragraphs about the impact they had on your teaching.
Paragraph 1: Identify specific ways in which these influences can be seen in your teaching.
Paragraph 2: Discuss whether you feel like that overall impact has been positive or negative.
Paragraph 3: Imagine your future teaching self and write how you would like to further integrate or eliminate these influences.
These influences can be seen in my teaching through the level of dedication I have to my role, my professional/personal relationships, and my commitment to life long learning. I encourage my students to never give up, and I also teach them to be positive community members. I think that because I had caring role models, I strive to be like my role models for other people. I want to be there to support and guide our students as much as I can, and I think that the guidance I received heavily influences how I interact with my community. Specifically, how I work with my staff and students through checking in on their wellbeing, questions/resource referral, and also educational conversations.
I think the overall impact is positive with how I work with my community and peers. However, I think that it can also be negative with my self care. I put in 110% of myself into my role and community; but often struggle with self care and recharging. I have learned that I cannot do it all 24/7, and that if I do not take time to care for myself, I cannot take care of others. I have had a hard time asking for help, but I encourage my students to always reach out if they need help. I think this is an area of growth for me as an educator and as a human; so I will continue to do better in this area.
Regarding my future self, I would like to improve on the self care/recharging area. I think that if I continue to work on a better work/life balance, I will be able to help my community more. I will also be leading better as an example. For instance, my staff would see me really make sure I am not spending all my extra time in the office and take time to do something fun such as taking my dog for a walk. Encouraging self care/asking for help and also doing these things myself would help me be a better leader and teacher.
