Goal 1: Philosophy
- Demonstrates deep understanding of basic relationships and dependencies among curricular content and processes of elementary education, behavioral guidance and effective instruction.
- Reflects a commitment to the professional codes of ethical conduct.
- Includes citations of references that place it in a larger educational context.
Philosophy of Education:
My philosophy of education has changed some over the past nine years as I have learned more about teaching and about my students. Still, 4 key components have remained constant: creating a safe and encouraging learning environment, constructing meaning through individual and collaborative work, engaging students, and differentiating instruction based on data and assessments.
Creating a safe and encouraging learning environment:
Fostering a relationship with each of my students is one way I try to help my students be successful inside and outside of the classroom. Children are more willing to take an active role in the classroom when teachers take time to get to know them. According to Zehm and Kottler (1993), “students will never trust us or open themselves up to hear what we have to say unless they sense that we value and respect them,” (as cited by Boynton, Mark & Christine, 2005).
Getting to know your students also means establishing relationships with their parents and supporting them as well. During the course of my teaching career I have learned how important it is to take the time to learn about my students and their families. As I worked on my master’s degree in mathematics I spent a great deal of time getting to know my parents and understanding how they learned best. By involving my parents in their child’s math education I was able to improve my students’ academic achievement in math and their overall attitudes towards mathematics. Additionally, my parents felt more confident helping their children because they were able to see what was going on in the classroom. Parents were able to access videos of me modeling how I taught during school; then parents were able to help their own child if he/she needed support at home.
Parental Involvement and Mathematics Achievement and Experience
Constructing Meaning:
Another key component of my philosophy is that children should be able to construct meaning as they learn individually and in collaborative settings. When I began teaching nine years ago I felt that teachers should act more as facilitators, making sure that students had the tools to be successful on their own. Today, I still believe that teachers should facilitate their students by helping them construct meaning as they learn; however, this should not always be done independently. Students can learn so much from their peers. In today’s 21st century, students can collaborate in ways they never could before. I like to create learning experiences for my students that enable them to work collaboratively solving problems and thinking critically.
During the course of my master's program I also learned how community based problems could help my students construct meaning. My students were able to make connections with their community through real world math and science problems. My students really enjoyed demonstrating their math skills as they worked on figuring out the accumulated thermal units for our salmon tank, for example.
Engaging Students:
The third key element of my teaching philosophy goes hand-in-hand with collaboration and that is, engaging students. According to Judy Willis M.D., M.Ed, “allowing students to collaborate interactively with classmates to achieve common goals resulted in our becoming more invested and engaged in our learning,” (2009). Additionally Willis found that, “When students participate in engaging learning activities in well-designed, supportive cooperative groups, …their brain scans show facilitated passage of information from the intake areas into the memory storage regions of the brain,” (2009).
In my classroom I work hard to keep students engaged. During math my students are actively engaged by using the Smart Board or by solving problems on white boards. Students in my classroom will often do assignments using the Kagan Strategy Rally Coach or Mix-Pair-Share. Students also work in groups to solve and act out word problems and then choose a speaker to explain how they solved these problems.
Data and Assessments:
The fourth key element of my teaching philosophy is the use of data collected through formal and informal assessments to inform my instruction. Students should be able to move at a pace that is comfortable for them; to promote children to do this I modify my lessons based on data I have collected through formal and informal assessments. Looking back at an article I read during the course of my master’s program, Informing Practices and Improving Results with Data-Driven Decisions, the article states that data-driven decision making is “about learning continuously and applying what is learned to improve continuously,” (Informing Practices and Improving Results with Data-Driven Decision, August 2000). In my classroom I am constantly collecting and analyzing data whether that means observing students as they solve problems on white boards during math, or listening to a group of students discuss how to solve a word problem. Then I take data gained through these experiences to provide differentiated instruction for my students. For example, students who excel in a specific subject matter may be given more challenging assignments, extensions on assignments, or may be asked to be a peer tutor. Students who struggle academically may receive before or after school support, small group instruction, or help from peers.
In conclusion, my goal as an educator is to instill in students a lifelong love for learning in a safe, challenging, and comfortable environment. I hope my students will leave my classroom confident they can be successful learners in the future.
Works Cited
Boynton, Mark & Boynton, Christine. (2005). Educators Guide To Preventing and Solving Discipline
Problems. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Informing Practices and Improving Results with Data-Driven Decisions. (August 2000). ECS. Retrieved
on May 29, 2014 from http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/24/02/2402.htm
Willis, Judy M.D., M.Ed. (2009). Cooperative Learning is a Brain Turn-On. Kagan Online Magazine.
Retrieved on May 29, 2014 from http://www.kaganonline.com/free_articles/research_and _rationale
/310/Cooperative-Learning-is-a-Brain-Turn-On
My philosophy of education has changed some over the past nine years as I have learned more about teaching and about my students. Still, 4 key components have remained constant: creating a safe and encouraging learning environment, constructing meaning through individual and collaborative work, engaging students, and differentiating instruction based on data and assessments.
Creating a safe and encouraging learning environment:
Fostering a relationship with each of my students is one way I try to help my students be successful inside and outside of the classroom. Children are more willing to take an active role in the classroom when teachers take time to get to know them. According to Zehm and Kottler (1993), “students will never trust us or open themselves up to hear what we have to say unless they sense that we value and respect them,” (as cited by Boynton, Mark & Christine, 2005).
Getting to know your students also means establishing relationships with their parents and supporting them as well. During the course of my teaching career I have learned how important it is to take the time to learn about my students and their families. As I worked on my master’s degree in mathematics I spent a great deal of time getting to know my parents and understanding how they learned best. By involving my parents in their child’s math education I was able to improve my students’ academic achievement in math and their overall attitudes towards mathematics. Additionally, my parents felt more confident helping their children because they were able to see what was going on in the classroom. Parents were able to access videos of me modeling how I taught during school; then parents were able to help their own child if he/she needed support at home.
Parental Involvement and Mathematics Achievement and Experience
Constructing Meaning:
Another key component of my philosophy is that children should be able to construct meaning as they learn individually and in collaborative settings. When I began teaching nine years ago I felt that teachers should act more as facilitators, making sure that students had the tools to be successful on their own. Today, I still believe that teachers should facilitate their students by helping them construct meaning as they learn; however, this should not always be done independently. Students can learn so much from their peers. In today’s 21st century, students can collaborate in ways they never could before. I like to create learning experiences for my students that enable them to work collaboratively solving problems and thinking critically.
During the course of my master's program I also learned how community based problems could help my students construct meaning. My students were able to make connections with their community through real world math and science problems. My students really enjoyed demonstrating their math skills as they worked on figuring out the accumulated thermal units for our salmon tank, for example.
Engaging Students:
The third key element of my teaching philosophy goes hand-in-hand with collaboration and that is, engaging students. According to Judy Willis M.D., M.Ed, “allowing students to collaborate interactively with classmates to achieve common goals resulted in our becoming more invested and engaged in our learning,” (2009). Additionally Willis found that, “When students participate in engaging learning activities in well-designed, supportive cooperative groups, …their brain scans show facilitated passage of information from the intake areas into the memory storage regions of the brain,” (2009).
In my classroom I work hard to keep students engaged. During math my students are actively engaged by using the Smart Board or by solving problems on white boards. Students in my classroom will often do assignments using the Kagan Strategy Rally Coach or Mix-Pair-Share. Students also work in groups to solve and act out word problems and then choose a speaker to explain how they solved these problems.
Data and Assessments:
The fourth key element of my teaching philosophy is the use of data collected through formal and informal assessments to inform my instruction. Students should be able to move at a pace that is comfortable for them; to promote children to do this I modify my lessons based on data I have collected through formal and informal assessments. Looking back at an article I read during the course of my master’s program, Informing Practices and Improving Results with Data-Driven Decisions, the article states that data-driven decision making is “about learning continuously and applying what is learned to improve continuously,” (Informing Practices and Improving Results with Data-Driven Decision, August 2000). In my classroom I am constantly collecting and analyzing data whether that means observing students as they solve problems on white boards during math, or listening to a group of students discuss how to solve a word problem. Then I take data gained through these experiences to provide differentiated instruction for my students. For example, students who excel in a specific subject matter may be given more challenging assignments, extensions on assignments, or may be asked to be a peer tutor. Students who struggle academically may receive before or after school support, small group instruction, or help from peers.
In conclusion, my goal as an educator is to instill in students a lifelong love for learning in a safe, challenging, and comfortable environment. I hope my students will leave my classroom confident they can be successful learners in the future.
Works Cited
Boynton, Mark & Boynton, Christine. (2005). Educators Guide To Preventing and Solving Discipline
Problems. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Informing Practices and Improving Results with Data-Driven Decisions. (August 2000). ECS. Retrieved
on May 29, 2014 from http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/24/02/2402.htm
Willis, Judy M.D., M.Ed. (2009). Cooperative Learning is a Brain Turn-On. Kagan Online Magazine.
Retrieved on May 29, 2014 from http://www.kaganonline.com/free_articles/research_and _rationale
/310/Cooperative-Learning-is-a-Brain-Turn-On