My Philosophy of Education in the Classroom

When I envision my future classroom, I see an organized mess: I see lots of plants, bright colors, student work on display, tables that are easily moved to accommodate different groupings of students for collaborative learning, and shelves full of books and resources for student use and enjoyment.  I believe that the classroom should show signs of life, learning, and positivity.  The classroom should be set up in a flexible manner so that students can maneuver and rearrange as is necessary for their learning goals, and resources and materials should be easily accessible for all students.  The teacher’s desk should not be in the front and center of the room, but in the back and off to side, assuming that the teacher will not spend much time at her desk but rather moving about the classroom and working directly with students.  Students should also have a role in designing the classroom, including the expectations that are put in place to keep it running smoothly and to foster an environment of respect.

It is above all else that I want my classroom climate to be one of respect.  I want my students to feel comfortable expressing who they are, what they think, and how they feel without fear of getting ridiculed.  If my students are supposed to be making meaning out of their lives and learning to become authentic human beings, they need to be able to do so in a safe and comfortable environment.  Furthermore, if they are going to be taking educational risks by challenging themselves and applying knowledge to real-world situations, as a pragmatic philosophy of education implies, then they need to have the confidence to do so.  As the teacher, it will be my job to act as a role model that practices ongoing respect for all students.  I will treat each of my students equally (even I develop “favorites”) and show genuine interest in each of their lives.  Whether that means having detailed discussions about my student’s extracurricular involvements (whether it’s a discussion about track and field or World of Warcraft, I will do my best to approach each conversation with equal enthusiasm) or simply offering them compliments for their personal achievements, I will make it part of my daily routine to show respect in the classroom, hoping that my students will learn to follow suit.  Furthermore, I hope to incorporate some team-building activities into to curriculum, particularly in the beginning of the year, and I will have my students engage in collaborative learning activities on a regular--if not daily--basis.  By the end of the year, I want my students to leave my classroom feeling like they have become part of a family that they know will “have their backs” throughout the rest of their educational journey.  After all, each student is just as vulnerable as the next; they all have their fears and insecurities, and I want my classroom to be a place where those fears and insecurities can vanish, so that they can have a chance to be free as their genuine selves while focusing on learning instead of social anxiety.

I want my students to be intrinsicly motivated individuals, and I believe that this type of motivation is best developed when a student is able to participate in an adequate level of self-directed and student-centered learning.  In order to create an environment that is conducive to this kind of learning, I must give my students freedom and choice as much as possible.  For example, I may have students help design units based on their interests and questions about the world, have them select their own books to read, design their own assignments and assessments and the criteria by which they are to be graded, and to give them plenty of time to reflect and self-evaluate.  I understand that my students won’t be able to choose everything that happens in the classroom all of the time, and that a certain degree of structure will be necessary, but I want to make sure that I do my best to provide them with opportunities to take ownership over their learning.

Fortunately, English, as with most subjects in the humanities, offers endless possibilities for students to learn more about who they are as individuals while also mastering content standards.  When I teach a work of literature, or a poem, for example, I will continuously be looking for ways to help my students connect with the text and find their own meaning within it.  In English, there is no “right or wrong” answer, so I will challenge my students to think outside the box, and encourage them to approach a text with an open mind, for they never know what they might discover about themselves in the process.  In my personal educational experience, I stumbled across books and poems that touched places in my heart without my even entirely understanding why or how.  My inner existentialist probed me to figure this out, and I made some valuable personal discoveries.  Who would have known that Emerson and Thoreau would have helped me find the inner peace I so craved as an adolescent, or that Isak Dineson’s Out of Africa would spark a desire to possibly join the Peace Corps later in life?  I want my students to take their understanding of certain works of literature and poetry to this next level--I want something to move inside of them, perhaps opening a door that allows them to see deeper inside themselves.  Of course, the best way to do this will be by giving them the freedom to explore texts that interest them.  Along similar lines, I hope to use writing as a way to help my students develop more insightful relationship with themselves, and to use it as a means of reflection and comfort.  I understand that not all students will see writing in this way, but it will be my goal to create prompts and assignments that will capture their attention enough to get them to gradually discover how valuable writing can be.

Each lesson taught within my classroom will have an underlying goal (besides content-related goals) of allowing my students to draw some level of meaning from their own lives while also practicing applying their knowledge and to the “real world.”  Essentially, I want to teach content in ways that require students to take their own values into consideration while looking at the “big picture”, whether that involves them analyzing overarching themes within a work of literature, or even better, considering how those themes are played out in the real world and how they can relate to those themes.  The themes found within literature and poetry often focus on the human condition, i.e., what it means to be human and how humans cope with and react to the events in their lives.  The human condition is, in many ways, the cornerstone of existentialism, and therefore will be a great topic of discussion and exploration within my classroom and learning focuses.  I want my students to further explore their own “human conditions” through not only analyzing texts, but also by writing their own.  Finally, I hope that once my students have had ongoing opportunities to understand themselves on a deeper level, they will be better suited to become active problem solvers in a changing world, particularly through a gained ability to empathize with other humans.  This pragmatic application of understanding will hopefully inspire my students to take what they have discovered about the human condition and go out and “do good” in the world as lifelong learners.

I understand the importance of regular, ongoing authentic assessment as a way to keep track of student understanding.  I plan to use a balance of both formative and summative assessments within my classroom so that I can adjust my teaching methods accordingly.  I will be sure to make the learning goals for each assessment clear from the beginning, so that my students will be able to know why they are performing each task, and I will provide them with a scoring criteria at the same time I introduce the assessment (i.e., rubric, analytic grading sheet, etc.).  I would like to allow my students to determine how they will be assessed as much as possible.  For example, I may as them a question such as “how do you think you can best show me that you have learned this material?” and then facilitate a class-wide brainstorming session.  If for whatever reason students can’t design their own assessment format (as I realize some structure and guidance may be necessary), I might provide them with a handful of different options and allow them to choose from the list with the hope that it will allow for some differentiation and that each student has the opportunity to demonstrate their understanding in a way that is most conducive to their individual strength or learning style.  Finally, with each assessment, I will offer prompt teacher feedback as well as opportunities for peer feedback and self-reflection, and students will more often than not have the chance to re-do any work that they are unsatisfied with for full-credit.  I believe that learning is a process of reflection of improvement, and would rather give my students the time and option to improve their work than to expect “perfection” on the first attempt, as this will only make the learning process that much stronger.

Fortunately, my time as an undergraduate student in the field of education has made me more confident in my abilities to use technology in the classroom in meaningful ways.  When I first started out as a teacher in training, I was a bit doubtful of the positive impact that technology can have on a classroom, particularly in the way of being a distraction and taking away from students’ connections to and appreciation for the “natural” world.  However, I have since some to believe that technology can be a very valuable tool in the classroom when used in balance with other teaching tools and methods.  For example, I can easily envision myself having my students use laptops and other forms of technology as vehicles for bringing the outside world into the classroom.  Since I want my students to be able to look at “the big picture” and apply their knowledge to the world as a whole, I think that it is important that they have the means to further explore the world that exists outside the walls of the classroom, school, community, state, and even country.  There are so many excellent Web 2.0 tools that students can use for communicating, sharing, collaborating, designing, creating, exploring, etc. that I feel it would be a shame to overlook them.  Furthermore, it is clear that we are entering a digital age, and it is my responsibility to prepare my students to be competent and well-informed digital citizens for this reason.  If I want them to be able to apply their skills in a changing world, technology integration will be a necessity in the classroom.

I believe that my most significant role as a teacher will be that of a positive role model and facilitator of learning.  Aforementioned, as a role model, it is my job to demonstrate empathy and respect on a regular basis.  In terms of teaching methods, I do not believe in the teacher as a “giver of knowledge”; instead, I feel that the teacher’s role is to bring to the forefront the questions that students will explore in their learning.  As a proponent of student-centered learning rather than of teacher-centered learning, it is only right in my mind that the teacher opens the doors to the questions that will motivate students to learn more about themselves, the world, and their role as lifelong learners in the grand scheme of things.  In my mind, it is less likely that my students will become intrinsicly motivated learners if I am handing them all the “answers”; after all it, it is more important that they develop the skills necessary to become active thinkers and problem solvers throughout the continuation of their lives.  If they aren’t given the opportunity to think for themselves as adolescents, how else are they going to move forward as dynamic, innovative, and self-motivated individuals?  Lastly, I envision my leadership style in the classroom to resemble that of a coach as well as a facilitator.  The best coach I ever had in eight years of competitive running used methods that closely modeled a quote by Olympic athlete Wilma Rudolph: “Everything you need is already inside.”  He brought me to believe that I was capable of achieving everything I always dreamed of on the track, and never pinned my success to be a result of his coaching; he simply believed that his coaching had the ability to bring out the best in me, not turn me into someone or something that I already wasn’t.  Instead, he gave me my workouts, watched closely as I ran them, provided feedback and made adjustments accordingly, and when it came time for me to race, I always knew where to find him: standing alone on the final 100-meter stretch of track where he knew I was most likely to die out, giving me words of encouragement that he knew I would respond to because he took the time to get to know me as an athlete.  I hope to practice similar strategies as a teacher by “coaching” my students to success in an individualized, responsive manner that keeps the power, drive, and credit in the student’s hands.

My biggest goal as a future educator is to inspire and bring out the best in others, whether they be my students or colleagues.  I hope to be able to promote student-centered learning through success within my own classroom, and to be an active member in the school community and district by attending meetings and events where I can learn from other teachers as well as share my own ideas and practices.  I hope to bring positivity, optimism, and a progress-oriented vision to my school and district.