Ms. Ouska's 5th Grade Classroom
MS.OUSKA'S TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
ABOUT MS. OUSKA
Class Mission Statement
School Improvement Plans and Goals
Class Vision Statment
I was born in Thailand, but have been raised in Rockville since I was three years old. After I graduated from Loyola University (MD) with a Bachelors in Elementary Education and a minor in Spanish, I hopped on a plane to teach in Thailand for a year. Upon my return, I started teaching at Clarksburg Elementary. I'm currently pursuing a Masters (M.Ed) in Teacher Leadership Special Studies in STEM Education at the University of Maryland.
Other than teaching, I love to stay active, whether it be playing lacrosse, doing yoga, or hiking and paddleboarding! Whenever I have the opportunity, I like to explore the world. So far, I have had adventures in 19 different countries and am planning on adding to the list! In my down time, I like to cook, try new foods and restaurants, read, paint and write. I believe that everyone should take risks and be open minded to all the possibilities the world has to offer.
For me, teaching is one of the most dynamic and demanding careers one can have. I believe one has to be extremely passionate, patient, flexible, open minded and dedicated to their practice. I call it a practice because this profession is always evolving. Teachers are constantly learning and reflecting on the content we teach and our pedagogy. Therefore my philosophy is that the more we practice our skills and incorporate our developing knowledge into what we do, the better we become and the better our students will be for it.
In my classroom, I instill a warm, easy going environment where students are able to be comfortable, collaborate and engage in meaningful lessons. I try to establish deep connections with my students in order to understand them on a personal level and meet their emotional needs as well as their academic needs. In order to reach every student, I offer multiple pathways for them to succeed in their learning and to demonstrate their understanding by providing various ways to assess. Those range from using technology, artisitc abilities, group presentations and projects!
As a school, based on data and evidence from the previous year, we have decided one of our school-wide goals is to focus on hard work. This meaning keeping students aware of their persitence, effort and motivation. If they have this skill, they will be able to acheive anything. This is what we like to call a growth mindset. Along with having that growth mindset, we are learning how about the brain--how it works and grows. We are focused on the word ,"yet, " reminding ourselves, even if we can't do it now, doesn't mean we can't do it all or can't do it "yet."
Ms. Ouska’s class wishes to achieve all their goals academically, socially, and physically so that we can be better students. We want to become high achievers and hard workers. All of us will always practice persistence, effort and motivation in order to be successful now and in the future.
We envision ourselves being successful in middle school, high school, college and beyond. We hope to acquire life skills, such as being open-minded and confident so that we will be prepared for all our endeavors. Our class strives to impact the world in a positive way so that we can live in a place that is peaceful and safe.