Hi, my name is Tsolmon Batgerel. I am a resident of Bloomington, Indiana, and have been since I was five, but was born in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. I am currently a freshman at Indiana University working towards my Bachelor's Degree in Secondary Social Studies Education. Last year, I graduated from Bloomington High School South with a Core 40 with Honors diploma. Before that, I attended Templeton Elementary and Jackson Creek Middle.
Having moved to America without any knowledge of the English language, I really formed a strong appreciation for all of the teachers in my life. The primary reason for my desire to be a teacher is so that I can help my students thrive and see all that they are capable of accomplishing. I understand that most of my students will be native English speakers but I know that every child has their own struggles and issues. The ages of 12-14 are very tough ages, for various reasons, and I want to make those years a bit easier for everybody. If I can help my students feel more comfortable being themselves and living their lives, whilst instilling real knowledge of history, government, geography, and economics, I have succeeded my life's biggest aspiration: to be as positive of an influence on my students as my teachers have been on me. I went into my field of choice (Social Studies with a concentration on History and Political Science) because the Social Studies are a great bunch of topics that are intertwined within our daily lives and I believe that it is necessary to have a proper understanding of them in order to grow.
My classroom setting will be mainly Project-Based Learning, or PBL as it is colloquially known. PBL is a great approach to teaching AND learning that focuses on students working together to resolve an issue or answer a question, all of which are closely tied to real life experiences and problems. My pedagogy is hands-on learning, which ranges from PBL to large group discussions. However, I do value individual growth, so projects and discussions won't be constant. I won't require students to have their own devices, I understand that it can be financially difficult, but I will personally be using every bit of technology available to me in my class lectures, ranging from PowerPoints to SmartBoards. My main requirement about technology is that it has to genuinely benefit the situation and not just be a new yet more tedious way to complete an assignment. If I can see the positives of using a platform, then I will encourage it by all means. Technology is becoming such a large part of out lives that it is important to include various resources in our educational careers, but in my opinion, pen and pencil can sometimes facillitate the best writing and textbooks can be best for reading. In the end, it is really dependent on the individual student and how he/she/they learn.