My Philosophy
Teaching is not about the material you display in front of the class, rather the connections you make with your students. I believe that people often enter the career of teaching not truly understanding what their job description entails. When I began thinking about pursuing this career I thought of what I would value most in my classroom. I believe that the most important aspect of teaching is the relationships you build with your students. Often, people out of the education field think that teaching is about the materials, tests, and how well your students perform on all of these little aspects. However, if you work to build strong relationships with your students, teach to all diversities, and build a safe learning environment, these small things are bound to fall into place.
When it comes to teaching I believe that it is my job to cater to all types of learners. A classroom is composed of many students that may include those who are independent, dependent, or find themselves somewhere in the middle. As a teacher it is important to determine who falls into each category so that I can develop strategies to help each learn. I believe the best way to do this is by including many different teaching styles in one, single lesson plan. This can be accomplished by always including: modeling, checking for comprehension, guided practice, and independent practice. Then, within each of these teaching methods I will address the different learning styles such as auditory, kinesthetic, and visual. With these styles combined I will be able to distinguish where individual students are with their understanding of the material. This will also give me different opportunities to connect with students during their individual assignments and see how they are coming along socially while in-group settings. I believe that group work is a very important technique to teaching, because often students learn more when they are teaching each other. This helps develop knowledge as well as social skills.
In today’s society students’ learning is very dependent on the individuals that surround them. I believe, as a teacher, it is my duty to teach students the things that are not being demonstrated in their home lives. More often than you would hope, students walk into classrooms broken, scared, or depressed. These are all issues that will distract them from reaching their highest academic potential. I believe it is my job to free these children from their hurts. Often, you hear the analogy of students walking in with a full “invisible backpack.” This being a backpack that teachers are unable to see, yet it is filled with all the burdens that average students carry around. My goal is to empty my students’ invisible backpacks everyday so that they will be able to concentrate on their learning.
Once I am able to empty my student’s “backpacks,” I believe it is my job to refill them with knowledge and an excitement for learning. The knowledge we give to our students should go beyond the content and curriculum we are expected to teach them. There are skills that all students are expected to know when going out into the world on their own. I will prepare them with knowledge of simple math and writing skills, as well as social skills that are the norms in everyday society. Knowledge is a very important aspect to education because it is always growing and developing, just like our students. Beyond this knowledge I believe it is becoming increasingly important to teach our students the impact they can have on the world. My goal as a teacher is to fill them with contextual knowledge, life long learning habits, and an understanding of the mark they will leave on the world.
Although all students will learn these skills in different ways, I believe students will learn the most when they take control of their own learning. This will occur by having them actively involved in each lesson. I will do this by always keeping my students up and moving in my classroom and by including activities that connect to each of their lives. I believe that concepts finally click once a student can connect the subject to something that relates to their personal life.
The best classroom environment is a place where students feel comfortable and are excited to learn in. My classroom will be a safe zone for students. My goal as a teacher will be to make sure each student feels comfortable and welcomed. If a student, colleague or parent were to walk into my room they would see a colorful, organized place that is welcoming to all students. My classroom environment will be built through a community process. Each student will have jobs that they most complete that will hold them accountable to our classroom community. I will build this community at the beginning of the year through team building activities. These activities will enhance the peer to peer and peer to teach trust that is needed to form a comfortable classroom environment.
Relationships formed from teaching also go beyond the classroom. It is important for me as a teacher to form connections with my colleagues, parents, and the community. First, it is important for me to use my colleagues as a resource and a critic. Teachers are always giving students feedback but we never receive feedback on our teaching. This makes it important to ask colleagues for critical feedback. It is also important to me to form relationships with my students’ parents. Parents are often the individuals that can give teachers the most issues. I will do this by sharing my classroom website with parents and creating a classroom twitter account. I will post pictures and videos of what we are doing in class to help parents feel involved in their child’s learning. By forming relationships with parents and including them in the classroom early on I hope to avoid the extra stress that parents may cause. The final group that it is important to have connections with is the community. The community can often provide classrooms with resources the school cannot. This makes it important to bring community members into the classroom to grow that support. Teaching is not a career that one can be successful in on their own. It is important to form relationships with those around you to achieve the most success in the classroom.
School is the place for students to grow and develop into confident individuals that will, in the end, make an impact on the world. School is often the place where young children dream of what they want to be and the place where that dream begins to develop into a possible reality. Teachers provide students with opportunities to develop the skills they need to socialize properly with other individuals. When you look at life in a larger picture, our schools are the place where students begin to develop the skills and understanding of the impact they can have on our world. This makes me realize the reality of the career I am pursuing; my job is to help mold the future of our society.
When it comes to teaching I believe that it is my job to cater to all types of learners. A classroom is composed of many students that may include those who are independent, dependent, or find themselves somewhere in the middle. As a teacher it is important to determine who falls into each category so that I can develop strategies to help each learn. I believe the best way to do this is by including many different teaching styles in one, single lesson plan. This can be accomplished by always including: modeling, checking for comprehension, guided practice, and independent practice. Then, within each of these teaching methods I will address the different learning styles such as auditory, kinesthetic, and visual. With these styles combined I will be able to distinguish where individual students are with their understanding of the material. This will also give me different opportunities to connect with students during their individual assignments and see how they are coming along socially while in-group settings. I believe that group work is a very important technique to teaching, because often students learn more when they are teaching each other. This helps develop knowledge as well as social skills.
In today’s society students’ learning is very dependent on the individuals that surround them. I believe, as a teacher, it is my duty to teach students the things that are not being demonstrated in their home lives. More often than you would hope, students walk into classrooms broken, scared, or depressed. These are all issues that will distract them from reaching their highest academic potential. I believe it is my job to free these children from their hurts. Often, you hear the analogy of students walking in with a full “invisible backpack.” This being a backpack that teachers are unable to see, yet it is filled with all the burdens that average students carry around. My goal is to empty my students’ invisible backpacks everyday so that they will be able to concentrate on their learning.
Once I am able to empty my student’s “backpacks,” I believe it is my job to refill them with knowledge and an excitement for learning. The knowledge we give to our students should go beyond the content and curriculum we are expected to teach them. There are skills that all students are expected to know when going out into the world on their own. I will prepare them with knowledge of simple math and writing skills, as well as social skills that are the norms in everyday society. Knowledge is a very important aspect to education because it is always growing and developing, just like our students. Beyond this knowledge I believe it is becoming increasingly important to teach our students the impact they can have on the world. My goal as a teacher is to fill them with contextual knowledge, life long learning habits, and an understanding of the mark they will leave on the world.
Although all students will learn these skills in different ways, I believe students will learn the most when they take control of their own learning. This will occur by having them actively involved in each lesson. I will do this by always keeping my students up and moving in my classroom and by including activities that connect to each of their lives. I believe that concepts finally click once a student can connect the subject to something that relates to their personal life.
The best classroom environment is a place where students feel comfortable and are excited to learn in. My classroom will be a safe zone for students. My goal as a teacher will be to make sure each student feels comfortable and welcomed. If a student, colleague or parent were to walk into my room they would see a colorful, organized place that is welcoming to all students. My classroom environment will be built through a community process. Each student will have jobs that they most complete that will hold them accountable to our classroom community. I will build this community at the beginning of the year through team building activities. These activities will enhance the peer to peer and peer to teach trust that is needed to form a comfortable classroom environment.
Relationships formed from teaching also go beyond the classroom. It is important for me as a teacher to form connections with my colleagues, parents, and the community. First, it is important for me to use my colleagues as a resource and a critic. Teachers are always giving students feedback but we never receive feedback on our teaching. This makes it important to ask colleagues for critical feedback. It is also important to me to form relationships with my students’ parents. Parents are often the individuals that can give teachers the most issues. I will do this by sharing my classroom website with parents and creating a classroom twitter account. I will post pictures and videos of what we are doing in class to help parents feel involved in their child’s learning. By forming relationships with parents and including them in the classroom early on I hope to avoid the extra stress that parents may cause. The final group that it is important to have connections with is the community. The community can often provide classrooms with resources the school cannot. This makes it important to bring community members into the classroom to grow that support. Teaching is not a career that one can be successful in on their own. It is important to form relationships with those around you to achieve the most success in the classroom.
School is the place for students to grow and develop into confident individuals that will, in the end, make an impact on the world. School is often the place where young children dream of what they want to be and the place where that dream begins to develop into a possible reality. Teachers provide students with opportunities to develop the skills they need to socialize properly with other individuals. When you look at life in a larger picture, our schools are the place where students begin to develop the skills and understanding of the impact they can have on our world. This makes me realize the reality of the career I am pursuing; my job is to help mold the future of our society.