My Philosophy
Teaching is my PASSION!!! I have longed to be a teacher ever since second grade. Now that I have taught school for eleven years, I still feel that teaching is absolutely wonderful. I feel truly fortunate to spend my life in the educational field, to guide young children as they think, wonder, and explore. I especially appreciate the curiosity and enthusiasm for learning that children instinctively present at a young age.
My teaching philosophy is one that includes the body, mind and soul. I believe in a constructivist hands-on, minds-on method of teaching. The Nobel Prize winner playwright, George Bernard Shaw said, “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” This is indeed true. My students actually learn best if they are intricately involved in the learning process. I understand that each child is an individual, so I strive to differentiate my lessons to meet the needs of each child. For example, during centers I might have a group using magnetic letters to spell three letter words and another group spelling four letter words. I would then have each of them write sentences using the words they created. I believe in setting high expectations. These kids would also have a writing rubric to check if their sentences had a capital letter, spaces between the words and a period at the end. The writing rubric would have been created by the class, which would give my students more of a “buy in” for them to take responsibility for their own learning. This lesson also incorporates one of Marzano’s Nine Instructional strategies, which I keep in mind while planning lessons. I honor all learners by being sensitive to the child’s feelings, needs, and desires. My role is to provide students with the skills and confidence to creatively achieve their highest potential.
My teaching philosophy is one that includes the body, mind and soul. I believe in a constructivist hands-on, minds-on method of teaching. The Nobel Prize winner playwright, George Bernard Shaw said, “Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.” This is indeed true. My students actually learn best if they are intricately involved in the learning process. I understand that each child is an individual, so I strive to differentiate my lessons to meet the needs of each child. For example, during centers I might have a group using magnetic letters to spell three letter words and another group spelling four letter words. I would then have each of them write sentences using the words they created. I believe in setting high expectations. These kids would also have a writing rubric to check if their sentences had a capital letter, spaces between the words and a period at the end. The writing rubric would have been created by the class, which would give my students more of a “buy in” for them to take responsibility for their own learning. This lesson also incorporates one of Marzano’s Nine Instructional strategies, which I keep in mind while planning lessons. I honor all learners by being sensitive to the child’s feelings, needs, and desires. My role is to provide students with the skills and confidence to creatively achieve their highest potential.
I believe it is important to motivate my students to develop a thirst for learning. In return, I expect them to think “outside the box.” I encourage them to think critically, and learn from each other as they use several methods to solve problems. One way I do this is by having the children take sides in debates. I give my students opportunities to create positive, quality, meaningful learning experiences that lend themselves to improving their own communication and collaboration skills. In my current classroom, I am giving my children more responsibility by having them set their own reading target goals, which they will evaluate and revise each quarter. Last week during guided reading, one of my kids said, “Hey, I just used the flip strategy, that’s my goal!” Their face lit up with excitement. It was a moment I will not soon forget. By giving them ownership of their own learning, by setting goals, reflecting and giving choice I have empowered their individual voices allowing them to be responsible members of our collective classroom.
I am an excellent teacher with high expectations for my students as well as myself. Learning never stops even as an adult. I know this because my love of reading has resulted in a lifelong passion for the written word. I address my growth as a teacher by attending conferences and staff development courses throughout the year. My personal goal is to help children realize that learning is a blast, and if they have a positive attitude and work hard they can do ANYTHING!
My basal foundation for the development of my philosophies came from my early role models, my parents. Mom and Dad raised me to have the philosophy to “Be whatever you want to be, but be a good one.” They also instilled in me the benefit of living by “The Golden Rule,” which I strive to implement in my classroom every day. Love and respect goes both ways. If I respect the students, they will respect me.
My basal foundation for the development of my philosophies came from my early role models, my parents. Mom and Dad raised me to have the philosophy to “Be whatever you want to be, but be a good one.” They also instilled in me the benefit of living by “The Golden Rule,” which I strive to implement in my classroom every day. Love and respect goes both ways. If I respect the students, they will respect me.
Throughout the years, I have witnessed how technology has expanded and infiltrated the classrooms. It’s amazing how much technology is a part of a 21st century classroom. For example, my students complete an animal research project each year. It is a tall order, but my Kindergarteners rise to the task. They research an animal of their choice on a website I created. They then created a flip book, and transfer that information into an online organizer Popplet. The kids then teach each other about their animal. Using technology helped my students discover facts about animals on their own, rather than me reading a book and them being passive listeners. They went home and showed their parents and even grandparents in different states their Popplet creations, which were shared through my classroom website.
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I have discovered that students thrive and tend to learn more in a technologically advanced classroom. Students are using Blooms higher level thinking skills like creating and synthesizing when they are creating multimedia projects. I can use applications like Little Bird Tales and Puppet Pals to teach about storytelling elements such as sequence of events and the beginning, middle and end. Learning becomes a unique experience in my room when technology is used to enhance my lessons. My children are more engaged and excited to learn. I’ve also found that using technology has extended my children’s attention span allowing them to spend more class time focused and engaged on the content I am teaching. I feel excited every time I walk into my classroom. Keeping my focus on TPCK only makes my teaching more pleasurable.
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