By John Hoving 

            The life of a teacher is both challenging and rewarding.  My love of the sciences allows me to truly enjoy my work, while my passion for teaching is due to a greater extent from my love of the students.  In working with youth in a variety of leadership roles, I have had the chance to build some great relationships.  To learn what empowers a certain group of students to learn or lead is something most great teachers strive for.  It has been my experience that this begins with listening and building a safe environment for students to share their ideas. 

            In college I was lucky enough to work in Housing and Residence Life with Dawn Dore, my Resident Director. She was a great friend and mentor, who challenged me as a Resident Advisor to do more than what was simply expected of me.  I also learned a great deal about persistence and integrity during those years, especially in finding a balance between leadership and service to the students.  I was beginning my education methods classes at Northern Michigan University and learning quickly about the value of each individual student.

            During my student teaching experience, I was given full responsibility of a classroom in which I learned of the creative and complex aspects of teaching.  I was able to apply different teaching and learning strategies through lesson planning and presentations.  It was very powerful to see how my expectations of the students directly affected their performance.  This led me to realize how my presence in the classroom reflects the values I hold for each student’s potential.  I continue to learn more each day about what that presence truly entails. 

            I believe teaching and learning each need to be assessed often in a variety of ways.  Using a learning cycle: Engage, explore, explain (elaborate), extend, and evaluate, helps to be sure misconceptions are held to a minimum.  It has been my experience that learning science is doing science.  My focus is on instilling a deeper understanding and desire to learn the content of each course.  Any time the class can be extended to the outside community is a plus, either through field experiences or the Internet. 

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