Purpose
Before we dive into our program and begin exploring how to teach CS, we invite you to step back and consider something deeper: your own identity as a teacher. Understanding your beliefs about learning, teaching, and your role in the classroom provides a powerful foundation for the work ahead.
This activity helps you examine the values and experiences you bring to your teaching practice. These insights will support your growth throughout our program and will serve as an anchor as you explore new content, strategies, and challenges. Writing about what you value — before the unfamiliar content begins — is itself a tool for learning. Take it seriously.
Background
As educators, we are constantly shaping and reshaping our understanding of what great teaching looks like. Becoming a reflective practitioner involves examining your own experiences as both a learner and a teacher, noticing patterns, questioning assumptions, and refining your approach over time. Many of your ideas about teaching have been influenced by the teachers you learned from, the learning environments you've experienced, and the ways you naturally approach new challenges as a learner.
This Teacher Autobiography is an opportunity to explore those influences. There are no right or wrong beliefs — this reflection simply helps make your thinking visible to yourself. Over the course of the program, you may find that your beliefs evolve as you deepen your understanding of teaching CS.
Guiding Prompts
These prompts are designed to help spark your thinking. You do not need to answer them one by one. Use them to explore themes, memories, or questions that feel meaningful to you.
Your Experiences as a Learner
- How do you learn best? What conditions or approaches help you make sense of new ideas?
- What kinds of learning come easily to you? What requires more effort?
- What experiences — inside or outside school — shaped your understanding of what it means to learn?
- What have you discovered about your own motivation, persistence, or struggle?
Influences from Your Teachers
- Who was your favorite teacher? What did they do that made a difference for you?
- Who challenged you or made learning difficult? What actions or approaches contributed to that?
- What patterns do you notice in the teachers who helped you grow?
- How have these teachers shaped the kind of teacher you aspire to be — or not be?
Your Beliefs About Teaching
- What do you believe good teaching looks like?
- What is the role of the teacher in learning? The role of the student?
- What beliefs guide your instructional decisions, even if you haven't said them out loud before?
- How do you hope students feel in your classroom? What do you hope they experience?
Your Growth as an Educator
- How have your beliefs changed since you began teaching?
- Where do you feel confident as a teacher? Where are you still growing?
- What questions about teaching feel most alive for you right now?
Writing the Autobiography
Your Teacher Autobiography should describe your beliefs about teaching and learning and the experiences that shaped them. You may organize it in whatever structure feels natural — narrative, thematic, or something in between.
While there is no strict length requirement, most thoughtful responses are approximately 2–3 pages (800–1,200 words). Some may be longer, depending on the depth and detail you choose to explore.
Submission
Submit your reflection as a single document (PDF or DOC, not a link to a Google Doc) on Blackboard.
There is no right or wrong story — this is an opportunity to understand your starting point and help us support your growth in FCCS.
This document is not graded in the traditional sense. Instead, it serves as a foundation for later reflections and as evidence of thoughtful engagement with your own teaching identity. It will appear in the gradebook with a score of 0 or 1 simply reflecting whether you submitted a thoughtful autobiography.