Educational Philosophy Statement

Assignment 2B

Philosophy Statement

Being a teacher is one thing, but being a good teacher is something different. Teachers have great influence on young minds and it is very important. Some students may lack parent guidance and therefore they turn to teachers to guide them in the right path. Teachers spend many hours with students and day in and day out can have a huge impact them when the school year is done. If a teacher is putting forth their best work it is almost certain students will remember their teacher’s way.

Also, school is a great way for students to be themselves. A school in itself is a learning experience. Students need to learn how to get along with other people and work together in groups or as a class. Going to school with a diverse population I think allows for more growth as a child. Since they are around different people and different customs it allows for them to branch out. Students are able to make new friends that they thought that they might never be able to by going to school in a diverse area. At the high school level students are able to experience the most simply because there are more students attending the school. Nevertheless, something like this is started at a young age in elementary school. By doing so it permits students to learn tolerance of others which will go far in life.

Testing is a great way to see how much someone way know, but it may not be the only way of knowing that you are truly getting smarter as a person. Tests are helpful indicators, but that is not the only way of knowing. I feel students learn best by doing hands on projects and giving them real life experiences to relate to. I would rather have my students be well rounded individuals with great social and collaborative working skills. I think that preparing my students for the real world where someday they will be living and striving to succeed is a very helpful skill. They need to be prepared and by bringing up everyday issues, and teaching them to become intelligent problem solvers. I would like to have my students study all aspects of life and have the academics integrated around them. Being able to relate the materials in class to real world experience gives students better understanding of what they are learning.

I believe that students learn best from meaningful experiences. As a teacher, I do not want to spoon feeding the students information. It should be done by the students but the teacher can help guide them in the right direction. I like to have students work hard to get answers. I want to get their brain to think of what they answers could be. I know that everyone would be able to do the problems; it is just a matter of will power. When students are working on problems that were shown in class during the lesson, as a teacher, I would help guide them to the answer. By giving answers to them they are not learning to their fullest abilities. Also, during a few of my observation hours whenever students finished a practice worksheet they would go around the room to help others that were struggling. I think that this is a great system because it is teaching teamwork too. It is also helpful when a student that is struggling have another peer explaining how to do the steps to find an answer. The peer that is explaining also benefits from it from teaching it again to their friends in the class.

As a teacher I would like to try and draw the shyer kids out of their shell’s and help them become an eager participant. I remember when I was younger when I was very shy and timid in the classroom. I was very afraid to make contributions to the class. I will work hard as a teacher to get all my students to contribute equally in the class. I would like my students to be actively participating in the class to help get and keep the discussion going. I think something like this can be done by having a good attitude and enthusiastic as a teacher. Having good lessons plans that are engaging the students from start to finish will make for a fun class for students. A way that I saw work very well was in a 7^th grade math class when I was observing. Whenever the teacher was looking for the answer students raised their hands. When she felt there were not enough participating she said with embarrassment, “only six people know the answer?” By doing this more students raised their hands and the teacher waited until majority of the class had their hands raised ready to answer. Seeing something like this done in class was a great experience. Asking questions like that to the class makes for more student involvement. Having the patience to do something like that will pay off in the end. I believe if the students participate and add the class discussion, everyone will learn a great deal from the experience. You never want to have kids in class as a virtual dropout although more than likely you will have your share of them. Something like this might upset the teacher and they will let the student do as they please. On the other hand, I personally think that as a teacher it is your job to try and inspire them to contribute to the class. If you need to reach down into your bag of tricks so be it. Getting through to a virtual drop out in class might make all the difference. And if you are able to get through to them it might be one of the most satisfying things to see as a teacher. Someday I hope to be doing just that in my classes that I teach.

I would also like to get to know my students so I may reach out to them. By doing that I will have a better understanding of where they are coming from and what they like and dislike as the year goes on. Many students have a false stereotype of teachers where their lives are just teachers and they are not humans outside of the class. As a teacher I think that my best teacher that I had got to know us on personal levels because she would always come in bringing stories into class about her life. This is something that would be great to mimic in my class. I think that the students will benefit from it and feel more comfortable. I will strive to make the students feel comfortable in a safe atmosphere, hoping to get them to realize school is a great place to excel as a learner.

If I am able to obtain these qualities in a classroom, I feel I will be able to help students a long way in life. Not only do I want them excelling in the classroom, I would love to see them excelling as a human being. Sometimes school is not everyone’s strong suit but I think teachers can try and bring what they have capable out of them. After being with many of the students for more than a year, watching them grow up is something that will definitely keep me coming back to the teaching profession. By using hands on learning approach, students will be able to relate it to their life which in turn should assist in achieving success.

Reflective Summary 2

Assignment 1

Group C

Their has been many schools wavering back and forth on the issue if they should teach students for education or teach student more learning of social skills. Research is being done to see which system is more appropriate and gives students a better understanding of knowledge. Teachers can do quite a lot to provide appropriate learning opportunities and good learning environments for children. Many teachers are being asked to teach learning in both educational knowledge and society skills.

Learning is developmental, social, and cultural approach has been going on for awhile, it is not a new concept. It started in 1896 with philosopher John Dewey when he wrote an essay called “My Pedagogic Creed.” In his essay he touches on the learning concept of learning to the social context in which they learn. Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky devoted themselves to understanding how children develop cognitively. According to Piaget, “children think in fundamentally different ways from adults and that their thinking develops as they make sense of experiences” (Oakes and Lipton 171). Teachers need to try and bring in as many social experiences as they can for the students to learn from. Just like Dewey, Vygotsky “placed great importance on the teacher’s role of arranging activities and social groupings that keep students stretching within their zone” (Oakes and Lipton 171). Today, schools are trying to find the line that they can include in their social learning. Many public schools are asking more from the teachers to teach their students social norms that are in this country.

As for my personal experiences with this issue I have been on both sides of it. In the fifth grade I clearly remember having “the talk” as a whole grade. The school had separated the genders into separate room for the subject matter making it more comfortable learning experience. The teachers played a video about puberty that we would all be soon experiencing in the years to come. For me in my situation this was my first time learning about it. My parents relied on the public school system to teach the social part too. Also, another experience that I had in high school was in biology class. We were learning about the theory of evolution. Our teacher had a hands off approach trying not to offend the beliefs of others in the classroom. This is a good example of the public school teacher letting the students learn about both sides. Without being basis, my teacher let us believe whatever one we wanted. This was something that was taught in the public schools that could go over very badly with many students. By having the right teachers to teach the subject it was a great topic to be taught and it did not cross the line of where the teacher influenced the student’s decisions. They left it for the students to believe what they wanted. I feel that both of these examples display how public schools play an important role for teaching social change agent.

For me personally, I feel that this is an important issue. By having public school teachers try to do both is a great idea. For example, “teachers enact these theories in their classrooms profoundly influences students’ willingness and ability to apply their natural learning processes to formal school learning and makes a critical difference in allowing all students in a diverse society to succeed at school” (Oakes and Lipton 202). By trying to include both social and educational ways of learning it gives students a better understanding of what they are learning. Also, it helps them become more of a well rounded student since they will have the social skills for real world experiences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwyLP6KKPKE

Well I wanted to put my assingment on here but blogger won't let me copy and paste for some reason. Here are some videos and pictures I was talking about during my article though.

First Post

So far I am really enjoying this class already. I am really into learning more about becoming a teacher and it's something that interests me. I cant wait to see what is instore for us for the rest of the semster. The chalk video was pretty funny in class today. I'll have to check the rest of the video out and see if it's any good.