Introduction
Hello! My name is Julian A. Villalvazo, and I am currently a substitute teacher in the Sweetwater Union High School District in San Diego, CA. I am also currently the Academic League Junior Varsity and Assistant Coach at Olympian High School. I plan to teach history at the high school level upon completing my credential program. I graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2014, becoming a proud first-generation college graduate of immigrant parents. One aspect of myself that I have always had is the desire to help people. As I finished high school, teaching seemed the way to go for me. Therefore, I would describe myself as a caring teacher whose purpose is to help students grow into the best version of themselves. I am working in the district in which I was a student in, which affords me the opportunity to work with students that share a similar life story as mine. Because of my background in a low socioeconomic community, critical theory is the educational philosophy that I connect with the best. Education has afforded me opportunities my parents could have only dreamed of. We need more educators and a curriculum that empowers students to become successful members of society that can challenge oppressive systems. Teaching history will allow me to expose students to how world events have led to the development of the world we live in today. Then we can begin to discuss the challenges of today and brainstorm solutions, empowered by the knowledge of how we got here in the first place.
Developing a strong teacher-student relationship is one way that I plan to meet the need of diverse learners. I believe that if students know that I truly care about helping them, they will be more comfortable asking for help and approaching me when they are struggling. Establishing a strong line of communication is also important. By knowing what the needs of my students are I can adjust my lesson plans accordingly, provide supplementary materials if needed, and incorporate multiple learning activities that address different learning needs.
My personality is one that will allow me to be comfortable getting to know my students and letting them to get to know me. For the most part I do not consider myself shy and by no means am I a quiet individual. I am vocal and that holds true in the classroom. According to the personality test I took for this course, I am also an action-oriented and participative leader which will allow me to be involved with my students as we work through the learning process together. Facilitator and education consultant were the top two suggested careers for my personality type, further affirming that I am in the right career field.
In regards to my learning style, I received moderate scores favoring sensing and visual learning while being fairly balanced in the active-reflective and sequential-global dimensions with slight preference for reflective and global learning. Because I did not score high in any of the dimensions, I believe this will allow to remain fairly flexible in my teaching methods and maintain an open mind to different styles in order to meet diverse learning needs. I should be able to adjust between learning styles to help my students succeed.
Developing a strong teacher-student relationship is one way that I plan to meet the need of diverse learners. I believe that if students know that I truly care about helping them, they will be more comfortable asking for help and approaching me when they are struggling. Establishing a strong line of communication is also important. By knowing what the needs of my students are I can adjust my lesson plans accordingly, provide supplementary materials if needed, and incorporate multiple learning activities that address different learning needs.
My personality is one that will allow me to be comfortable getting to know my students and letting them to get to know me. For the most part I do not consider myself shy and by no means am I a quiet individual. I am vocal and that holds true in the classroom. According to the personality test I took for this course, I am also an action-oriented and participative leader which will allow me to be involved with my students as we work through the learning process together. Facilitator and education consultant were the top two suggested careers for my personality type, further affirming that I am in the right career field.
In regards to my learning style, I received moderate scores favoring sensing and visual learning while being fairly balanced in the active-reflective and sequential-global dimensions with slight preference for reflective and global learning. Because I did not score high in any of the dimensions, I believe this will allow to remain fairly flexible in my teaching methods and maintain an open mind to different styles in order to meet diverse learning needs. I should be able to adjust between learning styles to help my students succeed.
