edTPA: The three Keys to a Successful Classroom

My presentation will discuss the three keys to teaching in elementary and secondary classroom settings. From my personal experiences as a student teacher, learning how to teach within the no-risk confines of a college classroom turned out to be significantly different than learning how to teach in a real world classroom. As a college student, I learned teaching techniques and strategies that would hypothetically work. Additionally, I learned about developmental and pedagogical theories. As an art teacher in training, I have also observed and taught mock lessons to my peers. In short, I believed that I was thoroughly prepared to teach in actual classroom with real students. However, I quickly realized that I was anything but prepared. During student teaching I learned that there are three keys to establishing a successful classroom. These keys include building relationships, implementing classroom management, and instilling organization, all of which are interrelated. In other words, without any one it is hard to develop the others. During the course of my student teaching experience, I have been able to experiment with various techniques to achieve the three keys to successful teaching. I believe that building positive relationships with the students will facilitate classroom management. In turn, effective classroom management enables a teacher to effectively organize the classroom. During my presentation, I will discuss the various ways I implemented these three keys in the classroom to optimize my student teaching experience.