Personal Teaching Philosophy
Thinking back on my personal educational journey, the experiences that stand out the most to me all have one thing in common--the excitement of the teacher. My favorite class of all time was my high school physics class. I hated math and was not good at science but I found myself never wanting to miss class because it was so engaging. Every class, whether there was a lesson or not, there was always a demonstration of something relating to the unit of physics that we were working on. He would sometimes even have students come up and participate in the demonstrations. The best part was that with each year, he learned new things, because each class of students he taught always had different ideas. The reason that his class was so impactful to me was because his engagement with the subject was contagious. He tried everything in his power to involve us students and make it relevant to our own lives and because of this, we were able to connect better. That is one of the things that I want to primarily focus on as a future teacher--student engagement. I believe that the key to being a good teacher is all about connection. The connections that you have with your students, coworkers, the parents, your connection with the subject and the outside world. The real world is all about establishing connections and experiencing things to their fullest extent, so to be a good teacher you must mimic these situations in ways that apply to the students personally and academically. This is why I like the theory of social cognitive learning. I think that this idea of learning, involving interactions between the learner and the social environment, allows the student to understand the material better because it is given to them in a context they can understand. Since I plan to be a very involved teacher, I am hoping to know a good amount about the lives of my students and from there, I can use examples that are relevant to their lives in the lessons. I want to assign projects that they can apply to their own lives in relation to the topic, and by doing such things as this the children will be getting a deeper understanding of the material. I think this theory is at play in our lives always because there are many different people (parents, peers, idols) that affect the intellectual development our minds. This theory also serves as a reminder to myself that I am also a role model to the children in their lives, and to teach is to make a statement about how you would like to improve the mentality of the future generations. I believe that students learn through the internal mental processing of their own experiences. I do not want to be one of those teachers that just teaches out of the book. I want to incorporate lots of group activities, projects and hands on demonstrations. When the students are active participants in activities like these, I believe they will be able to internalize the information better because they are in control of how they experience it, thereby specifically catering the information to their own learning styles. I also believe that this type of learning fosters independence and is more rewarding for the students because there is a more clear marker of learning. As a person who has test anxiety, I have often asked myself how I, as a teacher, can assess where my students are at without causing them them the unnecessary stress of a test or final that will make or break their grade. I do believe that quizzes and tests are helpful to both the teacher and the students because it lets the teacher know what they need to improve while also teaching the student responsibility and time management. I do, however, believe that because tests are generally worth so much more than other assignments, it propels students to just blindly memorize the information they know is going to be on the test, instead of actually committing the information into memory. I want to offset this idea surrounding tests by awarding more points for assignments and participation in class. For me participation in class is huge; that is the real assessment of whether or not they are learning the material. This way, they have to take what I am teaching them and process it to apply it to the things we are doing in class as well. The main goal that I have as a teacher is to give my students an experience that they will be engaged in and look forward to coming to class. I do not want to discourage them with too many tests, I want my classroom to be an environment where you can make healthy mistakes and learn from them without jeopardizing your grade. Even if the course material gets boring, I want to contradict that with fun activities so that there is always something interesting going on. Most of all, I want my students to see me as a role model, and know that I am there as a fellow human to help them grow into the new generation of adults that this society needs. |
Classroom Management Philosophy
Having been an active volunteer in so many different types of classrooms, the way the class is managed is very important to me. As a future teacher, here are the ways I plan to implement my own classroom management. Setting High Expectations The most important part of classroom management is clearly communicating expectations and regularly enforcing them. In my class I would like to establish rules in the form of a contract. To further make sure the rules are understood, I will ask the students what the rules are in their own words and to make it official, have them sign the paper before putting it up on the wall for all to see. This not only lets the students feel like they are establishing their "own" set of rules, but it helps commit my expectations into their memory. Putting the rules up on the wall also makes it an easy access point to address it if the students need reminding. Positive Feedback Life is about learning from your mistakes; if you don't fail how will you know if you've succeeded? Instead of reprimanding a child for getting the wrong answer, I like to point out the things they did well and how to make it even better next time. This way I can communicate the things that I want to see from them without being negative or discouraging. When you positively reinforce a student even if they don't get the right answer the first time, you help build their confidence and give them the incentive to work towards getting the desired outcome. In most cases, children that are struggling or don't want to do work just need someone that believes in them and seems like they care about their education. As a future teacher, I strive to be that role model. Interactive Organization Kids are most engaged when they get to interact with their peers. That is why I will layout my classroom so that it encourages social cognitive learning. The traditional classroom setting is outdated and I feel like it takes away the classrooms sense of community. I will organize desks in a group-like pattern. The way I teach the curriculum will reflect this layout as I will move at a brisk pace with lots of time for lesson activities. This not only keeps the students brains actively participating, but it also allows for me to implement different types of learning styles. Group activities pertain to both visual learning and practical application in addition to hearing me speak the information. Classroom Behavior I am a firm believer that the best way to fix a problem is to go straight to its source. This is why when it comes to behavioral issues I like to focus on the problem rather than the punishment. In most severe cases where a child is acting out, it is simply because their brain has not developed the information it needs to function normally. The child should not be punished for something that they might not even be able to do. Instead, my role as a teacher is to identify when this is happening and work with the child to give them tools to practice for self-control. School is supposed to be an educational environment, not just for curriculum, but also for skills on how to function in reality. |