As I gain more experience and knowledge in my content area and my abilities to teach, I find that technology will always be something that needs to be incorporated into class. Technology will always be changing and I need to be aware of what the trends are and use that to my advantage in the classroom.

Another think that I can develop is my time management skills. There are time when I give a lesson and I will end the lesson with a few minutes left in class. Me goal is to teach from bell to bell and I know that this is one of the talents that experience will help me develop.

I also think that I can improve on my skills in differentiating content. I think that I get so focused on my content that I do not think about the top 1/3, middle 1/3, and bottom 1/3 performing students. I need to be able to change the content being taught, the way it is being taught, and the product that the students are making.

As I continue in my education career, I need to always self-reflect and acknowledge where I need to improve. As long as I can look at my teaching, admit that I am not perfect (far from it), and know that each student is different, I will be able to adjust my teaching. Life-long learners are the most effecting teachers.

Personality Test

I have taken the Kisa Personality Test and the results are somewhat what I expected them to be. I was described as a ISTJ, os someone who is Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging. I agree with these results. However, I feel like "judging" is too harsh of a word.

I feel like my personality helped me to pick my content area because, to some extent, history is facts, dates, and people, but it is also up for interpretation. I love to hear about events and try to figure out why they happened, who were the people behind it, what was the outcome, and how did that outcome have a enduring effect on society or the world. It is open for interpretation and, if you support your stance with evidence, you have justification for what you believe. So, I guess my personality helped pick history because you hear about an event, internally think about it, try to get a sense of what was going on, think and consider the evidence you find, then you make a judgement. Seems to fit my personality test just right.

With my personality, I may come off as cold to the students, or maybe even heartless at some times, but that is just my strong conviction to what is fair and right. I know that there are exceptions to this. I am also a firm believer in knowing the letter of the law, and the spirit of the law. I will probably be more hard on students when it comes to procedures and rules, but will make exceptions for many of the students after I am able to judge the situation, or the students circumstances.

I have had teachers that have a style of teaching and they do not go off from that style. That is probably due to the fact that they teach to the style that they learn best. I know as an educator that I cannot do that. I know that I am a visual learner, but not every person is like that, and out of the 150 students I have this coming school year, I doubt they will all be visual learners.

I scored high on being a formal authority, a delegator, personal model, and expert. I was moderate in facilitator. I feel like these are good qualities to have, but I can easily fall into being a dictator in the class room. That is the last thing I would ever want. I just need to be aware of the classroom environment, the feelings of the students, and my role in the classroom.

Here is a picture of me and two friends that I've had since Junior High. That's Derek on the left, me in the middle, and Anthony on the right. We were dancing to "Shout" by The Isley Brothers.

Introduction

Hello,

My name is Justin Potter. I live in Fresno, California and work at Sanger High School, which is just outside of Fresno. I wanted to go into education because of my high school history teacher. He was a great teacher and really made it come alive for me. I also come from a community that has a lot of broken homes. I feel like a lot of high school children need a good male figure in their life. If I could be that for a young man and help them get on the right track in life, then I would be over the moon!

I grew up in Madera, California and graduated from Madera South High School in 2009. I attended Fresno State and earned my degree in history in 2014. I took half a year off from school and then started my Master's/Credential at National University. I just got married this past March. My wife teaches Special Education at an elementary school in Clovis, California.