TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

A Little About Me

Education Beliefs

Being an educator is purposeful. I believe it is a much greater role than simply teaching someone to read or multiply. It is about developing a confidence in another person to accept information and how to apply it in one’s own life and helping that person become a life-long learner. It is about promoting exploration and a safe place to fail. It’s about feeding a person chunks of new information and allowing them to be curious about it in a way that is familiar to them. It is about knowing how and when to push an individual beyond their comfort zone because they are capable of more than they think.

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It was a conscience decision to work in a Title 1 district because I believe an educator’s role is to help develop the whole child and many of my students had needs beyond the classroom. I had been one of them and I know how important some of the relationships with my teachers have been in developing my motivation to be more. During hurricane Katrina, we were one of the only districts to remain open because our students needed a place to shower and meals to eat. Amidst the current pandemic crisis, I can’t help but think of the children who are missing two meals a day and left to their own device because supervision is not available. Education is about managing a person from their basic needs because hunger children don’t have the attention span to consider the importance of a parallelogram or the difference between a comma and a semi colon.  I believe in the theory developed by Maslow that basic human needs such as food, water and safety must be met before higher learning can occur.

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Instructional Practices

In the classroom, I work to create an environment that evokes curiosity and employs Inquiry-Based Learning by planting questions that lead to investigation and evaluation. This theory lends itself to a constructivism theory in that it promotes exploration, investigation and sharing of ideas from their experience and addresses multiple learning styles. By utilizing microlearning and presenting single information units, students can better digest and process new information. Instruction objectives reflect cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains.

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Classroom Management

My authoritarian style of classroom management has allowed me to offer structure and high expectations, while still allowing students the freedom to share their views. Maintaining consistent academic and behavioral goals sets expectations for students and offers structure sometimes not received outside the classroom. While structure is in place, however, my classroom offers visually motivating messages, music when appropriate, and relaxed reading areas. In a virtual classroom environment, I frequently share motivational content and media and constructive feedback.

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In summary, my classroom philosophy comprises a warm, welcoming environment where students are encouraged to explore, experiment and collaborate. Students have opportunities to build on their own experiences by researching and reflecting on questions and comments from classmates. It is important to me to act as a role model, a mentor and a leader for students beyond merely academic instruction, but also to provide guidance to meet psychological and emotional needs. It is about an investment in the whole person and providing information about opportunities beyond what is currently known by the student. As the first person to complete college in my family, I am grateful a teacher invested in my well-being, shared encouragement and planted possibilities in my mind. As an instructor, I believe I have a responsibility to coach others by exposing them to information in creative ways and help them envision a life beyond what they know.