As a teacher, my philosophy statement is that I believe that education is important for all. Children have many differences and each child has special characteristics that they can apply toward their individual education. As a teacher I will help guide my students so that they learn to express themselves, and learn acceptance of differences amongst others and themself. My role within the classroom will be to help each child learn their potential and abilities while developing their own personal learning style. Each and every classroom is unique and develops or forms a type of community within itself. I will include various learning styles within my curriculum and lessons, as well as relating the material to aspects of society that my students feel are important. My curriculum will include projects, partnering activities or cooperative learning, hands on learning, and individual work meeting the needs of all of my students while engaging and inspiring them to learn. With this being said a teacher holds many roles for her students including, but not limited to, role model, motivator in school and life, and most important in today's society dependable safety figure. It is very important to understand your students and know how they learn and what they need to learn successfully.
My belief is actually built off of the philosophies of several theories. I feel that they all have some good points, however by combining them you can develop a great teaching philosophy.
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Lev Vygotsky had a sociocultural theory view in that human development as a socially mediated process in which children acquire their cultural values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society (McLeod, 1). The classroom being its own community connects his theory to education especially with his strong belief in that community plays a very important role in making meaning. His belief contradicted Piaget's belief that Vygotsky felt that learning was a necessary and universal aspect of the developmental process of culturally organized, especially human psychological function (McLeod, 1). In other words, he felt that students learned best when interacting with other children or adult individuals. He believed that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the process of cognitive learning. Vygotsky believed that cultural development occurred twice in a child's life, first on a social level and later on an individual level meaning first with another person and then within the child themself. Vygotsky believed that in all situations there is an expert and beginner. When connecting to the classroom the expert would be the teacher and the beginner would be the student because they are actually the person learning something new. The student is striving to climb the ladder to become an expert. This is his goal to move the student from beginner to expert. This transition in Vygotsky’s theory occurs in the ZPD or zone of proximal development. In the ‘4 Learning Theories’ article from learningtheories.com, the ZPD is the distance between a student's ability to perform a task under adult supervision with peer collaboration and the child’s ability to solve the problem independently. In Sam McLeod’s article ‘Lev Vygotsky’, he refers to Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development as “the area where the most sensitive instruction or guidance should be given, allowing the child to develop skills they will use on their own, developing higher mental functions” (McLeod. 2020, pg. 5). With all this being said, it can be stated that Vygotsky believed it was important to teach students different skills they can learn on their own in different settings including inside and outside the classroom. This also proved that he believed there was a specific time frame that instruction should occur for students to understand the skills being introduced and taught so long it is done in a meaningful time frame. I agree with his theory and belief because students need to learn things that apply to life situations outside the school setting. This also time helps for engagement time. This theory and its connection to time framed learning and social learning is definitely something that will be included with my future classroom.
Howard Gardener’s is the next theory that I based my educational philosophy off of. Gardener’s belief is that no classroom of students will learn the same way as one another. This is the basis of my personal philosophy. Each person has a unique combination or profile. Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences was proposed in 1983 in his book ‘Frames of Mind’. Visual intelligence is the first theory and is where a student learns visually through charts, graphs, or videos. Linguistic intelligence is the second theory. Marenous, in her article ‘Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences’, defines this theory as dealing with sensitivity to spoken and written language, ability to learn languages, and capacity to use language to accomplish certain goals. Oral presentations, books, and speeches work best for this student. Logical-mathematical intelligence is the third theory and refers to analyzing problems logically, investigating scientific issues, and carrying out mathematical operations (Marenous, 3). This is for philosophers and scientists. Spatial intelligence is the fourth theory and is defined as the potential to recognize and manipulate patterns of wide space as well as confined areas (Marenous, 3). This is for surgeons, artists, and architects. Body-kinesthetic intelligence is the fifth theory and is defined as the potential of using one’s body or parts of the body to solve problems (Marenous, 3). These students can use their bodies to create products, perform skills, or solve problems through mind-body union. Examples would be Michael Jordan and Simone Biles also mechanics and carpenters. These students will learn hands on and by acting things out. They also will have good hand-eye coordination. Musical intelligence is the fifth theory defined as having the ability to recognize and create musical pitch, rhythm, and tone (Marenous, 3). These students have the ability to memorize lyrics and rhythms and also facts. For example, math facts, states and capitals, or preamble songs helps these students learn. The next two intelligences are reflective off of each other and are complete opposite types of students. Intrapersonal intelligence is the sixth theory and is defined as the capacity to understand intentions, motivations, and desires of other people and consequently to work effectively with others (Marenous, 4). These students do well with group projects. These people are usually work teachers, managers, or public relations. Intrapersonal intelligence is the seventh theory and is defined as having the capacity to understand oneself including desires, fears, and capacities regulating one’s own life (Marenous, 4). This child recognizes their own moods and understands what life goals are important and knows how to achieve them. This student works best independently and self reflects a lot. They need to know their strengths and weaknesses. This usually follows through into their personal life as they use the models to make life decisions. Howard Gardner calls the next intelligence ‘naturalist’. This intelligence is defined as expertise in the recognition and classification of the numerous species of his environment. They are able to identify plants, animals and weather information that is found in the natural world. The students are most in tune with nature and are most used by scientists. As I stated earlier, Gardner believes that all students learn in different manners which is why it is so important to know and understand your individual students. By learning about your students, you can know what type of learning works best for them. Gathering data on an Interest Inventory is one way to learn what your students are interested in and how they prefer to learn. After looking at the needs of my students I would then be able to incorporate the different intelligences and the ways each one learns to help my students learn and be successful.
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Holding a student's attention is very important and at times rather difficult that is why it is so important for teachers to change their techniques throughout their lessons. Philosopher John Dewey believed in having a constructivist classroom. This means having the students involved in the lesson interacting with others. Students can and will lose their focus sitting and listening to a lecture for a long period of time. Dewey believed that the traditional classroom was beyond the scope of young learners (Williams, 91). In the article titled ‘John Dewey in the 21st Century’ written by Morgan K. Williams states that Dewey is probably the most influential philosopher to impact education. He believed in a progressive education and that education was a “crucial ingredient in social and moral development” (Williams, 92). Over the years Dewey’s philosophies and theories have impacted many educators through constructivism, experimental knowledge, learned center theory, and progressive education. Progressive education according to Dewey was “a product of discontent with traditional education” and should include socially engaging learning experiences that are appropriate for young children developmentally. He feels that the hands-on approach in classrooms is best because students are learning by seeing how things are and why they are that way. Dewey believed that each student through real life situations should build themselves while socially interacting with others. He founded constructivism which are still used in many classrooms today. Although the push of the Common Core Standards in education today totally goes against some of Dewey’s beliefs, I still plan to use them in my classroom as much as possible. Classrooms of the 21st century are engaging students through technology such as cell phones, texting, instant messaging, chat rooms, and wikis. Using these tools that students of today’s world are familiar with to put out academic information is meeting the social needs of students by aligning standards to technology. This places Dewey’s social learning theory in classrooms today. I will be doing hands-on projects with my students to keep them actively involved in class. By engaging my future students this way, I would be showing them that there is more than one way or solution to solve a problem. This project-based learning will not only keep them engaged in the classroom but also will help prepare them for challenges that they will encounter in the real world.
B.F. Skinner is the theorist I will be implementing as my behavior management plan, following the operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is a method of learning that occurs through rewards and punishments for behavior. Through operant conditioning, an individual makes associations between particular behavior and a consequence (McLeod, 1). So, students' behaviors will either increase or decrease based on the consequences it receives. When following this plan different types of reinforcers are implemented including positive and negative punishments and reinforcers that are believed to affect the behavior of the students. An example of positive reinforcers would be a homework pass. These positive reinforcers are added and used to increase the behaviors that you would want to see repeated in your classroom. By receiving the reward, the student is more likely to repeat this behavior therefore strengthening the positive and appropriate behaviors. Positive punishment on the other hand is when the teacher adds something to the situation to decrease a behavior that she does not want repeated in the classroom. Phone call to a parent would be an example of a positive punishment. It is added to the environment or situation to help do away with inappropriate behaviors. Removing an unpleasant reinforcer is negative reinforcement and can strengthen behaviors. At school, a negative reinforcement could be the child no longer having to sit next to the teacher because they are staying on task and completing in class assignments. Negative punishment is the last type of operant. This is when something is removed to decrease the behavior that follows. Examples of this could be lunch detention or being thrown off the school bus because of inappropriate behaviors that the student is having during these times. By removing these things, you are increasing the chance that the behaviors are less likely to occur again. I believe that Skinner’s behavior modification plan off operant conditioning is a very good plan to set up in the classroom and use to manage classroom behaviors. Both positive and negative reinforcers are used and provide different options which could vary by student especially since no two children are the same.
I feel that professionalism is another factor that is very important in the classroom. Being strong willed and confident of your personal knowledge of the content is good, however a teacher should never give up on learning themself. It is important to be comfortable but it is also very important to challenge yourself and stay up to date with new standards and methods that could benefit your students. Belonging to organizations in the education field can help with this. I also plan to attend graduate school immediately after I graduate so that I can gain more knowledge in the field of special education. By attending graduate school and studying special education I will learn more about these students' specific needs, behaviors, circumstances that could have helped push them to this point all of which would help me understand what I need to do to help them and their psychological needs. Another important factor for professionalism is having a good rapport with your co-workers. Working well with your team and giving and accepting help when needed shows strength. No one expects educators to be perfect and to be the best at everything that is why it is important to work well with others. What you do not know someone else very well may and can help by giving you suggestions.
The last and most important in my eyes for professionalism is having a strong student teacher relationship. By developing this relationship, you gain the respect and trust of your students. This allows for your students to be comfortable in your presence and in the classroom environment. Once the students understand your expectations, rules, and beliefs they will follow your lead and great things will happen within the classroom. A healthy student teacher relationship provides the students with a comfort level they need in the event that something is wrong they know that they can turn to you for help and it also provides them with the constant that so many students in today’s school desperately need. You as the teacher could quit frankly be the most dependable and reliable person in their life. With this being said, it is also very important to set boundaries and not ever take advantage of the student teacher relationship. A welcoming and comfortable environment should always greet the student.
In conclusion, my future classroom will work off of many different theories. As I stated before by combining them the classroom will be great. The most important to follow is Gardner with his multiple intelligence theory. All children are different and all children learn in different ways. Being able to provide multiple ways to learn is important and by knowing your students this can be done. When children learn and are successful, they want to gain more knowledge this will lead them to a bright future. I will use Vygotsky’s and Dewey’s theories connecting learning to interacting and socializing with others. By having students work together they not only develop educational skills they develop social skills that are needed to function in the real world. This also sets them up for 21st century requirements of working well with others. Teachers and their classrooms have a huge impact on students and should always be preparing them for the best and brightest future, while developing their skills. My main focal point as an educator will be to ensure that I am meeting the needs of my students as I provide them with the means to gain an education, while providing a safe, comfortable, and healthy environment. If I can reach this goal with my students then I would believe that I was a successful educator.
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