As an educator, I am an individual who is passionate about working with young children and assisting them in their learning. I believe that teaching is a demanding career that requires a large amount of patience, understanding, and preparedness in order for an individual to become a successful teacher. I believe that everyone can learn, and that learning is a continuous process that does not have an end. Even after an individual graduates from college and graduate school, he or she will still continue to learn new concepts and discover new ideas throughout his or her life. I think that these views will impact my approach to teaching through expressing my passion for teaching children and having my excitement spread to the children to get them excited to learn as well, providing me with a positive attitude, reminding me to be extremely patient with the children, assisting every student in their learning to the best of my ability, and believing that every child can learn new and challenging material if he or she puts his or her mind to it.
I still believe that everyone can learn, and I have witnessed this in the Village Project. There is a kindergarten boy who was illiterate at the beginning of the school year, and now he has progressed significantly where he is able to speak more words and is able to speak more clearly now. I remember that it was difficult for me to work with him in the fall because I could never understand what he was trying to say based on the noises he was communicating to me in place of words. This young boy has learned a large amount this year, especially how to communicate and speak more clearly.
I like some aspects from three of the five major teaching philosophies, and I like certain aspects from the essentialism philosophy, the perennialism philosophy, and the progressivism philosophy. From the essentialism philosophy, I like the idea of aiming to instill students with the essentials of academic knowledge, patriotism, and character development because I believe that it is extremely important for every student to have access to a high quality education, I think that it is important for students to appreciate the country they live in and have respect or it, and I also believe that it is important to teach children how to be kind, considerate, compassionate, and respectful of themselves and towards others. I like the idea of organizing schools around books, concepts, and ideas for the structure because students can learn a lot from textbooks if the teacher teaches them along with using the books and not just relying on the books to teach the students, but I do not like the idea of having the students read challenging books from Shakespeare or Darwin from the perennialism philosophy. Instead, I would want to teach students about meaningful events that happened in the past that are still relevant and impactful to today. I think that it is beneficial to focus on teaching values and character training because the school’s values will help shape my values as a teacher and combine them together to shape me into the teacher that I would like to become. Lastly, I like the idea of the students working in groups and having the teacher circle around the room rather than having students sitting in rows and having the teacher stand at the front of the room for the entire time because I think that the teacher is better able to help each group if he or she is nearby and actively listening in on each group’s conversations.
I definitely believe that it is important to teach children character development because I have witnessed children treating other children and adults poorly in the Village Project. Some of the children say hurtful things to other children and call them names. I have seen the same children repeatedly being disrespectful to adults and staff at the school, and the students continually talk back to the adults, refuse to listen to directions, and refuse to do the assigned task. When I notice children being disrespectful or unkind to other children, I tell them that if they do not have anything kind to say, then they should not say anything at all. I also ask them how they would feel if someone else treated them that way, and I tell the children that they must treat others in the sam way that they want to be treated.
I still believe that the essentialism philosophy is important because I think that textbooks can be a useful tool for a teacher to use along with teaching the material to the class. If I become a teacher, I want to have textbooks that the students will actually be able to learn from and reference when they don’t quite understand a question on the homework assignment. I would want a textbook that is relevant to what the students are learning with practice problems for them to try when they are stuck on a question after asking for help and steps to help them solve problems. The textbook that I have for the math class that I’m currently in is not helpful to me because it does not have the same method for learning how to solve the problems and explain them in the same manner that the professor wants us to solve and explain them. The professor only has us use the textbook for homework problems, but he does not want us to reference the practice problems when we are confused on how to solve a problem or when we are preparing for an exam.
I still think that it is better for the teacher to walk around the room and ensure that every student is on task because I noticed that when I walked around the room during academic time in the Village Project, the children were more willing to ask questions when they needed help.
I want my teaching style to be one that is welcoming, including, and able to be understood by all students. I want my students to be able to completely understand the material and effectively learn new concepts. In addition, I want to be a teacher who is calm, collected, organized, prepared, considerate, compassionate, and able to relate to my students.
I also want to be a teacher who is patient with all students and open to handle every situation that arises.
I want to build a welcoming community in my classroom where all students will feel welcome regardless of their race, gender, or ethnicity. I want to work to create an environment that is welcoming for students to learn, grow, and feel comfortable asking questions. I want my students to know that there is no wrong or silly answer, and I want them to know that their opinions and feelings matter and are appreciated. I want the culture of my classroom to be bright, vibrant, positive, cheerful, uplifting, creative, and inspiring. To accomplish this, I want to have inspirational quotes on the walls, posters with uplifting quotes, and multiple student-targeted decorations and wall hangings that promote learning, kindness, growth, and positivity.
For instructional methods, I want to teach my students in an engaging way that involves them for a majority of the class time and incorporates hands-on activities, especially for science lessons. In addition, I would like to teach the class by asking questions and determining what the students already know and what they need to improve on. I think it would be fun and engaging to take my class on educational field trips that relate to the topics we are covering in class. I remember going on field trips when I was in elementary school, and I enjoyed them. I would like to use strategies that focus on the students and their learning, as well as their individual success. If a student is struggling with a certain subject or topic, I think it would be beneficial for the student to work one-on-one with the teacher to get extra help and gain a better understanding of the material that he or she is struggling with. I would like to use effective strategies for teaching every subject, especially the more difficult ones.
I would like to be a teacher who accepts the cultures and beliefs of every individual student. In order to achieve this, I am going to strive to have a positive perspective on each students’ parents and families, and I will promote and encourage high expectations for every student regardless of his or her race or ethnicity. I think it would be beneficial to teach the students about other types of cultures around the world, as well as teach them about their own culture in the country they live in. I want the instruction and lessons to be student centered and to only focus on the students and their needs. I think it would be more beneficial for the students to learn about topics and concepts that they are interested in, rather than only learning the material that is required by the state. I want the curriculum to be free of bias and not target one race over another to promote a welcoming feeling for all students in the class. I would like to reshape the curriculum to what I believe that students would find interesting and engaging instead of only learning concepts that the state requires. Finally, I want to be able to clearly see and recognize my role as a teacher who strives to help every student learn and be successful.
I want to promote the idea that every student needs to have a growth mindset in order to learn and be successful. It is crucial for students to have this mindset and believe that they can learn new and challenging behavior. Even if a student does not understand the content at the moment, he or she needs to know that he or she will eventually understand the material with practice, patience, and persistence. Students need to have a growth mindset to help them avoid becoming frustrated with the material, along with themselves for not understanding it.
Through my experience in the Village Project, I have had quite a bit of experience with children becoming frustrated with math and telling time to the point where they want to give up. I can personally relate to the third grader who strongly dislikes math and refused to work on math problems during academic time because math has always been my worst subject, and I dislike math as well. I would continually tell these children that they will get better at these subjects with practice, and that they need to be patient with themselves. I also told them that they will eventually be able to understand how to solve their math problems and tell time on a clock. I had to remind myself of this when I would get frustrated doing my own math homework throughout the spring semester.
I want to be able to have control over my classroom and maintain a neat and organized classroom. It will be crucial to have some sort of system to get the students’ attention and to redirect them when they are misbehaving or when it is time to move onto the next topic. I will have to consider incorporating hand claps, raising a hand if the students can hear me, or communicating a cue to the students that it is time to quiet down and listen to directions. To keep the students engaged in their learning, I will only teach for a part of the class time and designate the rest of the time for asking questions, doing example problems, and having the students work in groups to encourage teamwork and collaboration.
My goals are to help every student learn and to get them excited about learning. I want the students to walk into the classroom and be excited to learn, rather than having the students dread going to school. I would like to promote positivity and that learning can be fun. I want to strive to engage the students and have them be excited to learn. For professional growth, I will communicate with the principal and other teachers for tips and advice on how to teach more effectively and better engage students in the learning process. I will attend meetings and professional development sessions for teachers to learn new systems and methods that I can incorporate into my lessons for engaging the students in their learning and encouraging their participation and involvement in the classroom.
-Mya LaFreniere
A very thoughtful extension/elaboration of your teaching philosophy, Mya.
Peace,
Dr. R