Ellen Petersen

The Art of Teaching is the Art of Assisting Discovery -Mark Van Doren

As a teacher of young students I teach in a creative way that allows them to explore new possibilities and open new doors for learning. I find that young children learn best when they don't know they're learning. One way that I approach this is having my students get up and move. I use my extensive dance training as a tool when teaching young students. Simple concepts such as counting, the abc's, and body parts can be taught through a dance. When children are having fun moving around and singing a song they are unaware of the connections they are making between what they are doing and what they are learning. It is not until later when they start applying these concepts to everyday life skills that they realize they are learning. My job as an educator is to make learning more of an experience than a job or task to be completed.

To view my whole teaching philosophy and teaching portfolio see next page.