My Evolving Philosophy of Education
Introduction
As an educator, I believe that every child, regardless of who they are or where they are from have the potential within themselves to learn. My role as a teacher is crucial as I must be the facilitator who will help them access the ultimate potential that resides within each of them. I also believe that every child is unique and as an educator it is my responsibility to understand each child’s physical, emotional, social and intellectual need. My understanding of their need will inform my tailored instruction thereby opening pathways to learning. I have learned from my own diverse experiences that the foundation of learning should be a desire that is intrinsically motivated, borne out of the pure pleasure it brings to the learner and not because of an extrinsic reward that the learner awaits for.
Thus, my belief in the potential of the student, their unique learning style, and learning based on intrinsic motivation informs my teaching as elaborated below.
Equity and Diversity
To me, equity means having access to the necessary resources to allow each child to thrive. I strive to make my classroom equitable. I will achieve this by understanding and knowing each of my students' needs and making sure I provide them with the best possible environment and instruction they need to grow as learners and as citizens. Some ways in which I will learn about my students is by getting to know their families and their cultural backgrounds. I will achieve this by creating a space for parents to feel free and safe to come to in our classroom and be able to talk to me openly. At the beginning of the year I will arrange a picnic for families to meet and for me to meet them. This will be the first step to building a community of learners. In the first few weeks, I will also have students share with the class “All About Me”. This will allow me to understand my students' background which I will then incorporate in my lessons making learning relevant for my students rather than rote text book learning.
As a daily routine in my classroom, I will make time each morning for Morning Meeting, a time and space for my students and I to get to know each other better. During that time, we will share our likes and dislikes - how we spend our weekends; we will listen to each other’s opinions about choices we make - answering would you rather questions; extend our learning to making real life connections - using vocabulary words when sharing; and compose, remind, and reinforce rules - solving issues as they come up. Additionally, I will incorporate both in my teaching as well as in my classroom, library books that represent diverse cultures. As an example, for read-aloud I will read Judy Schachner’s Skippyjon Jones a story about a hyperactive cat who has a vivid imagination of sometimes being a bird or a Chihuahua, an imagination too intense for her mother who sends her to her room to reflect on being a Siamese cat. Similarly, Nora Dooley’s Everybody Cooks Rice, is a book that allows my students to see diversity in a bowl of rice, while valuing their own bowl as unique and different, imparting lessons in unity in diversity. Lastly, my book collection will be balanced with fiction and non-fiction books. The non-fiction books will be the window through which my students will be able to see the lives of people that have overcome strife and tribulations to succeed; read and learn about creatures with whom we share this planet; read about time and places that used to be and how they have changed. My students will learn from the past what they can do differently to make an even better world to live in.
Beyond books, I will create a safe space for my students to be able to challenge and discuss social issues that pervade us, issues that get hidden under the covers of namesake equality. I will do so by making available to my students primary sources such as what really is Thanks Giving? Why do we get a day off on Memorial Day? Who was Cesar Chavez and what did he do? Has slavery been abolished? By taking these simple steps, I will create an equitable and diverse classroom space for my students.
Pedagogy
As a teacher I strive to engage my students through teaching and learning, encouraging them to inquire what they learn, and challenge them to question their doubts. I believe that all students are capable and have the potential to reach heights as high as they desire and my goal is to facilitate their journey to reaching their highest potential. I have discovered this in my own personal experience when raising my own two daughters and while engaging with students in the classroom. As an example, I have used the inquiry based learning approach when teaching science and math in a third grade classroom in which more than seventy-five percent of the students were English Language Learners. Inquiry based learning creates a space for learners to engage in a dialogue with their peers, inquiring and trying to understand the phenomenon occurring around them and challenging themselves to be critical thinkers that question and make sense of the world around them. In science, third graders wondered:
- “Does the sun move or the earth?” they said the sun because in the morning the sun shines through their bedroom but when they get home in the evening it is shining in their family room; hence the sun moves.
- Some challenged this view and asked, “When my mom drives me home after school, I feel like the trees are moving but really I am moving. So maybe the earth is moving and not the sun; we just think it is the sun.”
- “How is the rhombus similar to the kite or is a square a rectangle?”
- “What will happen if I add more sides to my triangle?”
- “Is the area of a shape equal to the perimeter?”
Technology
Technology has become an integral part of learning today. I believe in using technology effectively in the classroom to enhance the learning for all my students. Keeping up with the changes in and around us plays an important role in the overall advancement of not only my students but myself too. As an example, students must learn how to type, as such actively teaching students how to type is beneficial to their learning in general. Secondly, students must learn how to access information online. For this, it is important they not only learn how to access information but also learn how to sift through massive amounts of information that comes towards them. Thirdly, technology can be used to aid students with certain disabilities that are not otherwise able to communicate effectively. As an example, my third grader who has significant learning disabilities is able to utilize math software that reinforces place value which then guides him to the relationship between addition and subtraction and eventually multiplication and division. Another example that drives the importance of technology integration is a student in my first grade class. This student was still developing his fine motor skills of holding the pencil and writing in a comprehensible script, and thus I allowed him to complete his work using the computer while he developed his handwriting skills. Making use of technology to meet his academic goal had a direct impact on him socially and emotionally. For him to be able to complete an assignment meant he could participate in the class discussion and he was at par with his peers rather than being ‘othered’.
Furthermore, I will integrate technology into the curriculum making it transparent and routine, and not something that is separate. Technology integration allows:
- Active interaction within the group without barring any learner types
- Participation that is non-threatening; a student who lacks language is able to move a word during a phonics lesson without requiring him to say anything but allowing him to learn a new word
- Students to be current with their peers and the world they will go into
- Technology is a tool that I use to collaborate with the students in our teaching and learning journey; a tool that will allow us to communicate with each other
In conclusion, my belief in the potential of each and every student, catering to their individual learning styles, and bringing out in my students the intrinsic desire to learn, is the driving force behind my teaching philosophy. Propelled by my own zeal for learning, I will teach with empathy and sincere enthusiasm which will ultimately help my students realize their own passion for lifelong learning.