My Teaching Philosophy

How should teachers view their role in the classroom?

As a teacher I believe it is my responsibility to nurture, guide and empower my students to succeed. I want to establish an environment that encourages children to learn by exploration. I want to be a facilitator for growth and experimentation. I believe that one of my primary responsibilities is to create an atmosphere where children feel free to explore, speak their minds and take ownership of the learning experience. I intend to serve as a facilitator of that experience. I hope to impart the knowledge and skills necessary for students to become contributing members of society and be the enforcer of the rules by which they learn. I hope to become a master of my content area, always seeking more knowledge and continuing to educate myself. I feel that it is my responsibility to work closely with parents and my colleagues to always do what is in the best interest of the child. It is vital to have a working relationship with the parents of my students. I am firm believer that collaboration among teachers is essential to achieving the best result for the child.

         

What are the rights and responsibilities of students?

My educational philosophy is based on the fact that students should have the opportunity to develop naturally. I believe they should employ the scientific method when solving problems. They should be provided the environment and tools to develop theories and test their own conclusions. I feel strongly that in order for teachers to get to truly know their students, the students have to be allowed to express themselves. I want the children that I teach to be able to communicate with me and one another freely to discover and test theories related to the educational research. The students should have the right to manage and control the direction the learning takes. For example, if one group of students decides that unifix cubes should be used to solve math problems they should be allowed to use the tool as part of their experimentation. However, students should understand that they have control within the context of the learning environment and within the boundaries of a set of rules. It then becomes my job to act as the facilitator and the referee.

 

What curriculum should be taught?

I believe that needs of the student should come first when deciding on a curriculum and the material that is being taught should be determined jointly by the school, the teachers and the students. I feel strongly that the twenty-first century student must learn to function in a technologically advanced world and that critical thinking, problem solving, and the ability to effectively collaborate are vital. There is much debate about the common core curriculum, but I believe that it is necessary to develop a standardized system that insures that students across the country are being taught core knowledge. Without this type of baseline, some school districts and therefore, students, might be left behind in this increasingly global economy.

 

How should the curriculum be taught?As a teacher, I want to be able to utilize opportunities to motivate my students by connecting their instruction to life experiences. I believe students who are able to make those connections are more likely to be successful than those who do not. My goal would be to teach the required material while simultaneously making connections to the student’s prior knowledge. I also believe it is important to keep in mind the maturity of the students and their ability to comprehend the material. It is important for teachers to teach to their audience. An eighth grade student is going to have a completely different capacity for learning about history than a second grade student, and they should be taught to their level. As students learn and grow, all of their life experiences influence every other aspect of their lives. I would also employ the flexible planning model as my lesson plan template. In this type of model, children control the social environment while being given various tasks to complete. These task come with a set of rules and guidelines that the students must follow. In addition, I believe that schools should take into consideration the physical needs of the student. The relationship between a healthy body and a healthy mind is clear. Students who exercise and eat a well-balanced diet perform better in school than those that do not. Students should be given opportunities during the school day for physical activity.

How should the classroom be organized?

I believe that classroom environments should be experimentation centers that provide opportunities for collaboration among students and teaching professionals alike. They should contain hands-on equipment that encourages experimentation. I feel the classroom should be physically and socially stimulating. Children should be given the opportunity to get out of their seats and explore. I will establish rules and guidelines for my students but at the same time free expression and experimentation are encouraged. I plan on setting up the classroom with 3 or 4 desks placed together, where students can work in small groups. I plan to put learning centers throughout different areas of the classroom, where students can use manipulatives and various resources for testing theories. I want my classroom to be cheerful and welcoming yet not overwhelming.

                                                                        My Personal Learning Network

I found all of the PLN tools to be useful but I found a couple of the tools easier to use than others.  I also found that I favored three of the tools over the others for various reasons such as, ease of use accessibilty and desired outcome.  My favorite tools were Evernote, Twitter and Classroom 2.0 because I see all of these tools as being vital to my teaching career.  Evernote is my note-taking storage and organization site.  Twitter is my quick link to other educators and resources.  Classroom 2.0 is the site I will seek out when I want to get ideas from other educators or seek professional learning opportunities or collaboration.   All of these tools promote my ability to uphold Virginia Technology Standard (F. ) Instructional personnel shall be able to use educational technologies for data collection, information management, problem solving, decision making, communication, and presentation within the curriculum and International Technology Standard #3 Model digital age work and learning.

I use Evernote to take class notes and store information in the same way one might use a notebook or post-it notes.  I found it to be easy to navigate and essential to keeping my class notesand thoughts organized.  The tags help me organize my materials by content.  I can see myself using Evernote in the future to take notes during meetings and collaborations.

https://twitter.com/

Twitter is an excellent site to share tidbits of information and motivation.  I linked myself to other educators on the site as well as educational companies, lobbies and special interest groups involved with education.  I often retweeted educational resources and many of the inspirational quotes.  I believe that by connecting with the right groups and resources that Twitter can be an excellent collaborative tool.

 

Classroom 2.0 is an excellent tool that links educators with opportunities for collaboration and professional learning. It is also a useful question and answer forum where members can ask advice of other educators. I found myself visiting these forums most often and was able to see many of the issues that teachers are facing today.  I was encouraged by the willingness of other educators to help out.

Feedly was useful in organizing all of my education related news and information blogs.  I feel it is important to stay informed on the latest developments in education and this site collates all of the latest information in one place.

https://delicious.com/#cindy91

Delicious provides the user the capability to organize online resources by bookmarking and then tagging the sites.  This is an excellent way for teachers to organize and access the tools.  I plan to keep the Delicious link on my desktop for easy access to all of my web resources.

LinkedIn is  a networking site that connects professionals with other professionals. I see it as a valuable site that provides an opportunity for educators to showcase their resume and talents to potential employers.