The 5 W’s About Me As A Teaching Professional Torie Okolowitcz

Who Am I? My name is Torie Okolowitcz and I am 19 years old. Ever since I was little I have had a dream of becoming a teacher, which is why I chose to study Elementary Education at the University of Rhode Island. I’m very dedicated and passionate in every aspect of my life. I believe that hard work and determination can help you achieve even your highest goals. Outside of the classroom I enjoy spending time with my family and friends whenever I have the opportunity as well as working part time at a bakery in my hometown, Cranston. I am very creative and organized, two aspects that I believe will benefit me in my own classroom. “If you love what you do you will never work another day in your life” - Confucius

Why I Want To Teach… Growing up I was surrounded by a family of educators. My mother, who is now a resource teacher, and my aunt, who was a 4th grade teacher, highly influenced my decision in becoming a teacher in the future. I have a strong passion for working with children and having a positive impact on their daily lives. The rewarding feeling at the end of the day of having this role in a child’s life is like no other. I believe that I possess all the qualities that an educator should have and plan to utilize them in my future classroom. My main goal is to become and Elementary Education teacher and eventually work in a Special Education classroom. I believe with my hard work and dedication I will have no problem with reaching my goals.

Personal Teaching Philosophy As a future teacher I believe that the most important aspect of teaching is ensuring that each student is given the opportunity to strive to do their best and succeed inside and outside of the classroom. I feel that an effective educator must make accomodations to his or her classroom in order to support student learning. I plan on mainly using a behavioralistic approach to classroom management in my classroom. It is important to put student success as a top priority in a classroom.

Classroom Rules Rewards & Consequences ✏We raise our hands to speak. 📕We keep hands, feet, and objects to ourselves. 📖We use walking feet in the classroom and hall. 📚We listen when our teacher or classmate is speaking. 📓We follow directions. I use a daily behavior chart that goes weekly in the student’s take home folders. I have a spot for each day of the week and a place where I stamp a  or  in it. I also circle which class rule they have broken if it is a  face. The parents will sign the chart at the end of each week. This will allow each parent to see how their child is doing in school as well as serve for documentation purposes for me.

Positive Behavioral Intervention System Rewards will be used to enforce positive behavior in the classroom. Consequences will be given to students who do not follow rules and expectations. When students are not behaving in class I will refer to my 3 strike system. Students will go by a system of warnings: 1⃣ Student is given a warning. 2⃣ Address the student outside of class 3⃣ Call home to parent and speak to principal