Trevor Butler's Blog

One of the current trends that poses a challenge to me as a future teacher is differentiated instruction. Being a new teacher, you tend to look for the simplest routes, and you would think it would be easier to create one lesson plan for all. Differentiated instruction makes teachers have to change their strategies to meet every student. This is significant in today's educational landscape because students' diverse backgrounds vary. Every student has a unique way of learning that you have to accommodate. It is a teacher's number one duty to provide an equal opportunity for everyone to achieve success. It feels challenging to me because it puts even more pressure on me to make sure my students are set up for success. I have to have a deep understanding of the content being taught and be able to interpret the information for different-minded individuals so they will understand it. It also challenges me to have several different approaches while teaching the same overall conc...

I anticipate my students being different from myself in a few different ways. My generation has mostly grown up with social media, but we still allow time to interact in person. Future generations may fully depend on social media and hinder the importance of interpersonal communication.  Not everyone comes from the same background. I was fortunate enough to be involved in school clubs and sports, strengthening my human interactions. I may end up with students who may not have been given the opportunity to experience the personal connections I did.  I will learn what their lives are like by creating a safe environment and forming close ties with them so they feel comfortable sharing their background and experiences to be able to guide them to success. This starts on the first day of class by showing kindness and engaging in small talk, continuing throughout the year. When students begin to feel comfortable, they begin to open up more. I will also use different self-examination ...

Basketball can be viewed as both a mirror and a window to the students I teach it to. When young minds see how passionate an individual is about a certain topic, they tend to be intrigued. It can cause either a mirror or window effect, depending on how it is interpreted. The mirror metaphor helps one reflect on their own experiences and struggles, helping them improve and succeed in life. Basketball is all about conducting oneself through perseverance. The game did not go to plan? You messed up in a play? You turned the ball over? You did not win? You got hurt? All these scenarios would likely bring out bad character in an individual, but they can look in the "mirror" and "reflect" on how they handled the situation and look for ways they could handle it differently in the future. The window metaphor can offer an experience different from one's own. Witnessing how someone else reacts to a certain situation can also help you decide how you might want to react to ...

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