Teaching Philosophy

Andria's Teaching Philosophy

What are my beliefs about the nature of learners?
I believe every child is capable of learning and growing. I believe children learn from everything and everyone they come in contact with, teachers, peers, family and the community.  I believe that teachers learn just as much from students as students learn from teachers. There are all types of learners including visual, auditory and kinesthetic.

My role as a teacher?

I love children and always have.  I enjoy watching children learn and that ‘Ahh Haa moment’ when a child really understands something they may have struggled with in the past. For me to see a child learn and grow is very fulfilling and rewarding. I believe teachers need to provide materials and curricula that reach all three learning styles which are hands on, kinesthetic and auditory learners. What I want to bring to the classroom is discipline, equality, fairness, understanding, encouragement, consistency, structured independence, patience and kindness. That is what I feel is the most important with children. As a teacher I want to reach every student with more guiding and less lecturing. I will value the children’s differences and help them to value each other’s as well. I want to help children grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically and socially. I want to teach children good morals and values, while respecting and encouraging the ones they may have at home. I want to teach every child that they are special to the class, that they bring something unique and believe in them, which will help them believe in themselves. I believe teachers need a lot of time for observation and planning. As a teacher I will evaluate my teaching strategies and be open to change. I know teaching is a continual learning and growing process. Just as much as I teach my students, I will be learning just as much from them.  Like the love of learning I have, I want to instill a love of learning in each child that I teach. I want to teach children that life is an educational setting, and help them learn tolerance and patience through a cooperative learning and living environment. I want to be a good teacher that challenges my students, inspires them, nourishes there curiosity and shows children that teaching is an act of love. I want to be an advisor to students; motivating them and helping them manage their education. I want to get to know my students family, coaches of my students, mentors and anyone else that is part of my student’s life. I believe we should all  work collaboratively to create a little community to support children.

Role of schools?

 

I believe the roles of schools are very similar to the roles of teachers but expanded upon. I believe schools should provide a safe learning environment for students, where parents and society feel comfortable attending. I believe schools need to encourage character education and interpersonal skills whenever possible. I feel schools need to let teachers take a more active role in what they are teaching the students. I also believe schools should set up time where teachers can converse and plan with other teachers. I believe schools need to encourage as much community and parental involvement as they can. I belle the school is the heart of social change and individual development. Schools are a mini society for children where they learn how to act and interact to become members of the larger society. I believe that Teachers, educators, administrators, and parents need to work together in an informal manner to provide students with a caring learning environment and an interlocking support system that addresses their moral, physical, psychological, social, and academic needs. The school is the best social institution for children to learn to be good citizens. John Dewey believed that “if schools were anchored in the whole child, in the social, intellectual, emotional and physical development of a child, teaching would be different”. The technique this teaching requires involves “learning by doing, exercising a child’s body as well as their mind, and venturing out of the classroom to explore the world around them”. I completely agree with Johns philosophy and believe I would do this in my classroom as well.

What is knowledge and what is worth knowing?

Knowledge is everything.  Knowledge is facts, information, and skills acquired by a student through experience or education. Knowledge is the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. Knowledge is also awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation. I don’t think one type of knowledge is better than another. Education helps children learn to lead healthy, happy, successful lives. I believe that education should help children develop and internalize concepts that will help them to survive in the rapidly changing world of the present and future. I believe that education provides meaningful experiences that help children think, solve problems, communicate ideas, and develop an interest in improving themselves. I also believe that moral character is very important and worth knowing. This moral character would include Awareness, Values, Reasoning, Decision-making, Self-knowledge, Self-esteem, Empathy, Loving the good, Self-control, Citizenship, Good discipline, and good learning habits.  I believe that anything a child leans and can benefit from is worth knowing.  

What is the purpose of education?

I believe the goals of education should emphasize not only academic achievement, but also to develop and create character education, which is necessary in order to be good and responsible citizens. The book ‘Wasting Minds’ by Ronald  Wolk states “Education should be one system, seamless and integrated, and this way a student would progress through it without the jarring transitions.” I believe this means the purpose of education is to interlock everything together including, parents, coaches, councilors, community and for everyone in the child’s life to work together collaboratively.  I believe education should prepare students to succeed in the classroom and later in the workplace. I believe education should help students become well-informed and thoughtful citizens, and allow them to participate and appreciate a broad spectrum of cultural activities. I  believe “To help students prepare to be successful and productive adults and lifelong learners, they need to develop good habits of mind and behavior. Students of today need to learn how to reason, gather information, organize it logically, evaluate it and use it effectively.”(Wolk) Education has to engage students in meaningful work, helping the student seek answers to THEIR questions. The purpose of education is to teach children how to become adults who lead interesting, responsible, and productive lives, and that involves everyone!

Where do content and skills fit in?

I believe the hidden curriculum is as much, if not more, important to children’s futures as the stated, written curriculum. I completely agree with the quote in the book 'Wasting Minds' by Ronald Wolk, where he says, “Schools provide individual learning plans for special needs students because they are ‘different’; well every student is different and deserves an individual learning plan.” I believe content and curriculum should be personalized for each student depending on their unique skills and motivations.

    

                                   

Insturctional Methods

Instructional methods

What methods line up with my teaching philosophy?

I believe Teaching strategies and materials are less important than good teaching. I believe in character education which provides a foundation for students in a democracy to be able to improve their life and their ability to respect, be responsible, care, and work for happiness.  I agree a lot with progressivism. I believe teachers have to help students help themselves when it comes to learning and taking an active role in their education. I also believe that teachers should be a guide to students helping them find their passions and interests and expanding on them. Because progressivism relies a lot on interpersonal relationships, I believe these skills need to be strengthened in the classroom because it helps to transition students to the real world when they are out of school. I also believe in social Reconstructionist, and agree that society’s hope for a better future lies with how and what our children are learning. From reading the book ‘School’, I learned about democratic education, which is another philosophy I agree with. When we involve students in how and what they learn, it brings rich values to their educational life such as self-determination within a community of equals, justice, respect, and trust. We are teaching without force, by appealing to a child’s natural curiosity, which gets them interested in school and the world around them. Democratic education is teaching our children to learn through experience and to help them make the most of the opportunities they have in life right now. Democratic teaching also helps children explore their changing world, as well as helping them to express and cultivate their individuality by giving them choices, not demands.  

 

 

Classroom Managment

Beliefs on Classroom management

What are my perspectives on management and discipline?
I want my classroom to be a learning process for everyone, parents, community, colleagues and the children. When it comes to discipline, my philosophy is closer to  perennialism. I believe students have to have rules and guidelines to be successful in the classroom. I believe in respect, obedience and hard work, but I believe that everyone involved should come up with classroom rules and guidelines.   I would like to be a fun teacher, I would like my students to know that we can have fun and play but I also want them to know I have rules that need to be followed. Respect is also a big issue for me in the classroom; I believe that students need to not only respect me as the teacher but themselves and their classmates as well. In the classroom, I believe there needs to be hands on activities, which helps children retain information better, technology, which is always changing, cooperative learning, where children solve problems together, groups, group discussions, nature walk and outside learning and class meetings. I also want to teach children responsibility by giving them little chores around the classroom. In real life society learns from each other and I believe we should bring that cooperation and those skills in to the classroom. I believe the more like society we make our classroom, the easier transition it will be when students leave the classroom.  I believe all children learn at different rates and we as teachers need to make room for that as well as accommodations and tweaks to our curriculum. I believe children need to learn in an environment that every child’s voice is heard and they feel free to express themselves. The teaching and learning environment has to be secure, stimulating, fun and safe. I believe children need a curriculum that interests them, that is relevant to their lives and that they are an active part of their learning process.  With an interesting curriculum, it enhances children’s motivation, want and need to learn. Lastly I want to talk about a nice quote I found from the book ‘Wasting Minds’, It says “Today’s students come from different income levels, cultures, learn in different ways and at different speeds and have different aspirations, talents and problems.” I believe students are not cookie cutter copies of each other, and cannot be educated with this ‘cookie cutter' approach. I believe we need to take each child in to consideration when creating a curriculum tailored to them. For students to learn in real life situations, they need to be in those situations. With no traditional core curriculum, students, parents and children are able to work collaboratively to design the students’ curriculum.

How will my classroom be set up to support this belief?
I believe the more nature brought in to the classroom the better. I believe in wooden furniture, natural toys and as much real life tools and objects you can get to fit a child’s small hands and feet.  I would like to set up my classroom with stations where the children can go from one activity to another depending on what interests them. I will set up my classroom where everyone has a voice which will be heard.