Teaching is one of the many professions that a person cannot just wake up one morning and decide to do. It takes a lot of training and a clear set of personal values. These values are expressed as a philosophy of education. My philosophy is based on my beliefs that all children deserve a quality education, the importance of appropriate communication, and appropriate interaction with others. It is also my belief that I conduct myself as a professional and as a role model for my students. In addition, my philosophy describes how I envision myself as a teacher.
As a future teacher, I believe that all children deserve the right to be educated. All children are seeking knowledge, and they should expect a teacher to be capable of providing the knowledge they desire in an understandable manner. Teachers, on that other hand, should expect their students to come to class ready to learn, ready to be challenged, open minded, and willing to accept new things. Children learn best through hands-on activities, experiences that provide new information in a safe, positive, and encouraging environment. As stated in Susan Jindrich article, How Children Develop. The purpose of education is to provide the opportunity for all people to learn the skills that are necessary to live a productive life. In a safe learning environment, children are able to master the basics skills of reading, writing, mathematics, history, and science. The public schools should be able to assist children if they are having other types of problems in school and/or at home, because such problems can have a negative impact on their learning process.
Being a teacher requires that I communicate and interact well with my students, their parents, and my colleagues. I must feel comfortable talking with the students as a group as well as speaking with my students individually. In order to feel comfortable doing these things, I will practice speaking aloud while teaching a large number of people who will give me formal feedback on my performance. As a teacher, I must also communicate with my students’ parents whether via telephone, e-mail, direct mail, or personal conferences in order to inform them of their children’s performance. In order to do this I will send out a letter at the beginning of the year asking parents what method of communication they prefer. I should also be able to communicate and interact with other teachers, administrators, and other school district employees in a professional manner during staff meetings, workshops, and other education related events.
The importance of an educator’s level of professionalism cannot be understated. I will be well behaved and act in a professional matter at all times. My attitude and behavior set the tone for a positive atmosphere and provides a model for student behavior. In order to maintain a positive tone, I will refrain from allowing any personal matters to interfere with students’ learning. I will not share my personal affairs with my students or speak negatively about my colleagues, administrators, other students, or other school/district employees while students are in my presence. Being a model of self-restraint for my students is another role that I will perform as a teacher. In order to make sure that I am being a positive role model, I will always make sure that I am doing what I expect of my students.
Being a good teacher differs from being an effective teacher. Effective teachers are the ones who know their subject areas, and they take the time to have that one-on-one connection with their students. Effective teachers are the ones who inspire students to eagerly learn and hopefully continue to further their education. I envision myself to be that effective teacher. In order to be that effective teacher, I will take that time to have a personal connection with my students, making myself available to assist them in anyway that I can. Personal integrity is a value that I will bring into my classroom. Children have enough people in their lives already lying and breaking promises to them everyday. Since school is supposed to be a safe “get-away” place for children to look forward to, I will be honest to my students and keep the promises that I make to them.
Teaching is not a profession that a person can wake up one morning and decide to do. A clear set of personal values that are expressed as a philosophy of education lays the foundation. My own philosophy is centered on my beliefs that all children deserve an education, importance of appropriate communication and interaction with others, professionalism and personal behavior sets the tone, and effective teacher matters. My philosophy is just a start and is subject to change as I continue my training from people who know the education profession well.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Teacher's Behavior
Discipline in Elementary Classroom: Eight Teacher Behaviors
1) Withitness. The teacher communicates to the pupils that he/she knows what is going on-“has eyes in the back of his/her head.” The withit teacher picks up the first sign of disruption and directs appropriate attention toward the right pupil. In addition, the withit teacher is also good at timing his/her reaction to disruption: neither acting too quickly, nor waiting until a minor matter becomes major.
2) Overlapping. The teacher is able to deal with more than one classroom event at once. For example, if a student approaches the teacher while the teacher working with a reading group, the teacher will attend both the reading group and to the student. As another example, a teacher working with a reading group sees two students in another part of the room fooling around. The teacher keeps her reading group reading while she goes over to the two students.
3) Smoothness. The teacher is able to keep the lesson flowing. It means that the teacher does not interrupt the flow of the lesson by turning attention to irrelevant events, bursting in on students who are at work with orders, statements, and questions. Nor does the teacher leave a lesson hanging in midair-changing the topic before reaching closure, or by starting a topic, changing to another, and then returning to the first.
4) Momentum. The teacher maintains an appropriate “momentum.” The teacher does not slow the lesson down by overemphasizing a student’s behavior, a subpoint in the lesson, or the materials of the lesson rather than the substance. The teacher does not deal with the class in fragmented groups, nor does the teacher needlessly repeat instructions.
5) Group alerting. The teacher is skilled at involving “nonreciting children in the recitation task,” maintains their interest, and keeps them on their toes. This is done, for example, by creating suspense-suspense as to who is going to recite next, asking for a show of hands before choosing a reciter, letting nonreciter know that they might also become apart of the lesson, presenting new, novel, or alluring materials during the recitation.
6) Accountability. The teacher holds the class accountable during the lesson by, for example, asking the whole class to show their work by holding it up, getting the whole class to recite in unison, bringing other children into the recitation, asking the checking the work of nonreciters by circulating around the classroom.
7) Valence and challenge arousal. The teacher tries to get pupils enthusiastic and involved in the lesson by showing zest and enthusiasm him/herself, pointing out that the activity possesses positive aspects, showing that the activity has genuine intellectual challenge.
8) Variety. Finally, the teacher makes certain that the activities involved in the lesson are genuinely different from one another.
1) Withitness. The teacher communicates to the pupils that he/she knows what is going on-“has eyes in the back of his/her head.” The withit teacher picks up the first sign of disruption and directs appropriate attention toward the right pupil. In addition, the withit teacher is also good at timing his/her reaction to disruption: neither acting too quickly, nor waiting until a minor matter becomes major.
2) Overlapping. The teacher is able to deal with more than one classroom event at once. For example, if a student approaches the teacher while the teacher working with a reading group, the teacher will attend both the reading group and to the student. As another example, a teacher working with a reading group sees two students in another part of the room fooling around. The teacher keeps her reading group reading while she goes over to the two students.
3) Smoothness. The teacher is able to keep the lesson flowing. It means that the teacher does not interrupt the flow of the lesson by turning attention to irrelevant events, bursting in on students who are at work with orders, statements, and questions. Nor does the teacher leave a lesson hanging in midair-changing the topic before reaching closure, or by starting a topic, changing to another, and then returning to the first.
4) Momentum. The teacher maintains an appropriate “momentum.” The teacher does not slow the lesson down by overemphasizing a student’s behavior, a subpoint in the lesson, or the materials of the lesson rather than the substance. The teacher does not deal with the class in fragmented groups, nor does the teacher needlessly repeat instructions.
5) Group alerting. The teacher is skilled at involving “nonreciting children in the recitation task,” maintains their interest, and keeps them on their toes. This is done, for example, by creating suspense-suspense as to who is going to recite next, asking for a show of hands before choosing a reciter, letting nonreciter know that they might also become apart of the lesson, presenting new, novel, or alluring materials during the recitation.
6) Accountability. The teacher holds the class accountable during the lesson by, for example, asking the whole class to show their work by holding it up, getting the whole class to recite in unison, bringing other children into the recitation, asking the checking the work of nonreciters by circulating around the classroom.
7) Valence and challenge arousal. The teacher tries to get pupils enthusiastic and involved in the lesson by showing zest and enthusiasm him/herself, pointing out that the activity possesses positive aspects, showing that the activity has genuine intellectual challenge.
8) Variety. Finally, the teacher makes certain that the activities involved in the lesson are genuinely different from one another.
Classroom Management
A well-developed classroom management system is important, because it creates the learning environment. In a well-developed management system, students are motivated to learn to their full potential while allowing more time for the teacher to successfully teach a lesson without having to unnecessary behavioral distractions. Without a well-developed classroom management system, students would not get the appropriate education that they are entitled to get and students may not think of school as a safe environment.
A well-developed classroom management system should also talk about ways to increase social competence skills for students with and without disabilities. Adequate social competence skills can result in positive social outcomes such as gaining acceptance of peers, forming lasting relationships, and getting along with people in general. Without social competence skills, most students with disabilities will not get that appropriate education in a least restrictive environment that is stated in the federal law.
As a future teacher, I believe that all children deserve the right to be educated. All children are seeking knowledge, and they should expect a teacher to be capable of providing the knowledge they desire in an understandable manner. I know that explicit instruction is appropriate when teaching a task that is complex and works best for students who have problems learning, limited background knowledge about a particular topic, initial failure with learning the content, and limited intrinsic motivation to learn. I believe that it is important for one to know the difference between adaptations and accommodation. Adaptations changes the difficulty level where as modifications keeps the difficulty level only reduce the amount of content or way something is taught. Accommodations are changes to delivery of instruction, method of student performance, or method of assessment that do not significantly change the content or conceptual difficulty level of the curriculum. When teaching students with mild disabilities it is important for one to remember that:
· Maintaining active engagement and sustained focus on the content, largely through good organization and management
· Using tasks and questions that are sufficiently clear and easy that a brisk pace may be maintained, with high success rates
· Providing frequent opportunities for reading and responding to questions
· Providing clear and frequent feedback concerning correctness
· Mastering skills to overlearning
· Closely monitoring progress and providing whatever instruction is required for learning.
A well-developed classroom management system should also talk about ways to increase social competence skills for students with and without disabilities. Adequate social competence skills can result in positive social outcomes such as gaining acceptance of peers, forming lasting relationships, and getting along with people in general. Without social competence skills, most students with disabilities will not get that appropriate education in a least restrictive environment that is stated in the federal law.
As a future teacher, I believe that all children deserve the right to be educated. All children are seeking knowledge, and they should expect a teacher to be capable of providing the knowledge they desire in an understandable manner. I know that explicit instruction is appropriate when teaching a task that is complex and works best for students who have problems learning, limited background knowledge about a particular topic, initial failure with learning the content, and limited intrinsic motivation to learn. I believe that it is important for one to know the difference between adaptations and accommodation. Adaptations changes the difficulty level where as modifications keeps the difficulty level only reduce the amount of content or way something is taught. Accommodations are changes to delivery of instruction, method of student performance, or method of assessment that do not significantly change the content or conceptual difficulty level of the curriculum. When teaching students with mild disabilities it is important for one to remember that:
· Maintaining active engagement and sustained focus on the content, largely through good organization and management
· Using tasks and questions that are sufficiently clear and easy that a brisk pace may be maintained, with high success rates
· Providing frequent opportunities for reading and responding to questions
· Providing clear and frequent feedback concerning correctness
· Mastering skills to overlearning
· Closely monitoring progress and providing whatever instruction is required for learning.
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Student's Culture
Gullah is a language of cadence and accents, words and intonations. The Gullah "shout" is a rhythmic translation of forbidden drums and the oldest of plantation melodies. Old spirituals and songs spoke of storms and other events in the lives of the slaves and were used as codes for meeting times and places and as messages for freedom. Still standing are the Praise Houses, with a sacred past and present. The culture of the African elders met its people here, combining religious worship, consolation, and hope. This rich culture flourishes today; in their language, their music, their art, their skills and their foods. Storytellers spin their tales, entwining fun and wisdom. Choirs preserve the haunting songs and the old rhythms. This is the heritage of a Gullah.
As a future educator, I believe that it is very important to learn about the culture of your students whom are not of your culture. Doing this helps the educator create lessons that all students can fully participate and at the same time, it allows you to understand that child’s culture and learning styles. My personal philosophy of education is to provide the opportunity for all people to learn the skills that are necessary to live a productive life. The public schools should be able to assist children if they are having other types of problems in school and/or at home, because such problems can have a negative impact on their learning process. In order to do this, I must be able to understand fully the cultural learning process for all on my students.
After working with Gullah-speaking students on a one-on-one basis, I have notice those students do seem to have a harder time participating in languages art classes. Mainly, do to the teacher not being familiar with the Gullah language and does not allow it spoken in class. Secondly, because those students write the same way that they speak, and have a hard time spelling words or writing in Standard English.
As a future educator, I believe that it is very important to learn about the culture of your students whom are not of your culture. Doing this helps the educator create lessons that all students can fully participate and at the same time, it allows you to understand that child’s culture and learning styles. My personal philosophy of education is to provide the opportunity for all people to learn the skills that are necessary to live a productive life. The public schools should be able to assist children if they are having other types of problems in school and/or at home, because such problems can have a negative impact on their learning process. In order to do this, I must be able to understand fully the cultural learning process for all on my students.
After working with Gullah-speaking students on a one-on-one basis, I have notice those students do seem to have a harder time participating in languages art classes. Mainly, do to the teacher not being familiar with the Gullah language and does not allow it spoken in class. Secondly, because those students write the same way that they speak, and have a hard time spelling words or writing in Standard English.
Intro to Early Childhood Education
I am really glad that I chose to that this class, because I learned a lot of information that the Special Education did not have the time to teach us. Now after taking this class, I have decided to get a MAT in Early Childhood Education and hopefully work with "possible" special needs students (LD/ED) in the primary grades.
I want to give a special Thank You to Dr Bartel for allowing me to take this course.
I want to give a special Thank You to Dr Bartel for allowing me to take this course.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
My Brown Eyes
OMG, I loved this moive. Although the moive was only 18 minutes long, its message was very powerful. I can relate to the little boy in the moive, because I too am a minority student at an all white school and some times the only male in classes. I believe that the teacher did the correct thing, when she noticed that the little boy was responding. However, Dr. Robinson, the principal, should have been more interested in learning the teacher's problem before the situation gone out of control.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Tammy: The Hardworking Mother
OMG! I feel very sorry for this woman. She is doing this best that she can to provide for her family. I really respect Tammy, because she is willing work hard to provide for her family instead of taking government assistance.
However, I feel even sorrier for son because he doesn't value the hard work that his mother is doing to provide a life for him. He only sees the difference between his lifestyle and his friend's lifestyle.
However, I feel even sorrier for son because he doesn't value the hard work that his mother is doing to provide a life for him. He only sees the difference between his lifestyle and his friend's lifestyle.
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