The key to effective student learning is for a teacher to pave the path for students to become involved and invested in their own learning. A quote from Benjamin Franklin comes to mind; Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. I utilize this statement daily to fuel the creation of meaningful lesson plans for my classes. When students are actively engaged in a lesson, it provides them with memorable experiences, challenges their ability to problem solve, and furthers their depth of knowledge, which results in an effective learning experience.

My journey in higher education began in the fall of 2011 at Quinnipiac University in the Sports Medicine program. Throughout my four years in the Sports Medicine program, I attended clinicals in various settings, which included high school and college athletics. Throughout my experiences in the Sports Medicine program, I constantly felt that something was missing, and the high school setting helped me to recognize this missing piece. I realized that being around kids brought me the joy that everyone hopes to have when going to their occupation, and that I wanted to be part of molding students to be positive influences on our society. I then began the Masters of Arts in Teaching program at Quinnipiac University for Secondary Education, in addition to an internship at Cheshire High School. It is through that program and my internship that the missing piece that I had been searching for was found.

Being a teacher is far more than conveying content to students. It is a passion that requires dedication to involving students in their education, demonstrating fun in learning, and instilling lifelong lessons that will carry them beyond the four walls of the classroom. One aspect of education that I love is the challenge to reach and engage every student. Being a biology teacher, it is crucial to keep in mind that science is a subject area that does not come easily to all students. Knowing this, I make it my goal to scaffold each lesson so that students can easily make connections between concepts that individually seem difficult and foreign. The use of student-centered activities is a method that I used to accomplish this task throughout my student teaching, and plan to continue to use throughout my teaching career. The student-centered activities support the formation of independent learners and increase the effectiveness of learning because students are encouraged to problem-solve rather than rely on the teacher for information. Another method that I have found to be effective in teaching biology is to make connections from science content to real-life scenarios. Making relationships to everyday situations helps students to see the application and usefulness of biology throughout their lives, in addition to peaking student interest.

I believe that I fit the mold of the expectations of teachers within Varsity Tutors. Varsity Tutors embodies an engaging, challenging and skills-oriented education, which is the basis of how I plan each of my lessons. Incorporating lessons that will challenge the students is important; however, the goals of that lesson will only be met if proper reflection takes place on both the part of the teacher and the students. The act of reflecting on each lesson is a simple process that I found crucial to do each day throughout my student teaching. It helped me to grow as an educator. Overall, I believe that my ability to create an engaging classroom environment where students feel supported and confident in their academic endeavors will make me an asset to all students on Varsity Tutors.