My Teaching Philosophy

     The role of an educator is more than the lectures, lesson planning, projects, or grading. Educating students is about paving the way for students to succeed and flourish as individuals, regardless of how they act or think, or where they come from. Secondary students are engaged in the one of the most vulnerable and impactful parts of their lives, and may require assistance to find their way towards their respective futures. This assistance can start anywhere, especially in the classroom with educators like myself.

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     Freire noted in his work that students are subjects, not objects, and deserve the proper education to see themselves as such. It should be a top priority of any educator to teach students that they mean something; that their thoughts have meaning and that they are more than test scores and other statistics on a piece of paper. In the field, it is also important to show students the wide array of scientists and mathematicians that have embarked on the journey to explore and explain the wonders of the world, including those of different genders, races, socio-economic statuses, and backgrounds. As showcased by Singh, we educators need to provide the opportunity for all students to see themselves in the classroom and the material they learn. Regardless of who they are, all students deserve the right to the best education.

     

     In regards to how students learn, every teacher has their own unique perspective on how to convey their knowledge. Based on my time growing as a teacher, I have found a cooperative learning environment to be the most beneficial. In cooperative learning, students are put into groups to engage in subject-related interactions with their peers. This permits students to expand their understanding in a unique way, by building ideas off of one another and offering multiple new perspectives. These groups that students work in should be equal, meaning students of all academic levels should be able to feed off one another. As expressed in Boaler’s paper, allowing for the combination of kids in different academic levels provides “slower” students with the opportunity to learn from their peers from a more accessible point of view. Though this opens up the need for tracking, this ultimately provides students with an equal opportunity to build a solid foundation of knowledge. Granting all students of all ranges an equal chance to learn and grow will give them the confidence to achieve more. It will also encourage respect for one another as they engage more with their peers and activities inside and outside of the classroom.

     

     As for assessing student knowledge, the practice of responsive teaching as discussed in literature by Hammer and van Zee is the best approach to assessment that will not slow down or hinder the learning environment. Responsive teaching is, in my opinion, an ingenious way to attend and respond to the ideas of your students while checking in on their understanding of the topics at hand. Though it may be hard to incorporate all the levels of knowledge that each student is at into a lesson plan, being flexible and open to all the unique learning styles of students makes for a more personable and engaging experience in the classroom. Through practice, responsive teaching is a great “checkup” in the learning sequence of your students, allowing the teacher to assess student knowledge, acknowledge strong and weak sections of material, and adapt their way of teaching to strengthen the understanding of all.