To be a teacher is to be an model. A teacher is an adult in a student’s life that represents the immense values of education: independence, freedom of thought and expression, and the ability to create and make a difference in one’s local and global community. As a teacher, I embody those values, and project them outwards in order to show students that what they seek can be found in a solid education.
Simply put, a classroom is a family. All students are on an equal playing field; they are all there because they need to be. I strive to create an environment of mutual respect and of openness in my classroom, qualities that come naturally if one treats the classroom the same way one would treat their family members. I want every student to walk into the classroom and feel like they can speak their mind. I want the students to feel like their point of view is important, because it is. This is extremely important in being a part of a community, and is especially important in an English class, where the right answers are never objective.
English and Language Arts has fallen somewhat out of favor in the eyes of many students in today’s classroom because of this lack of objectivity. In the age of STEM, it has become harder to demonstrate the empirical values of ELA. This is why I believe in teaching English to students in a way that’s relatable to them, and in a way that progresses naturally, with each unit building on the last. Jerome Bruner, a cognitive psychologist, focused on what he called “constructivist theory” in the majority of his research. This theory holds that humans learn by constructing new ideas and concepts from the concepts and ideas that they currently know. Based on my own educational experience, I also hold this to be true, and I believe it is the most effective way in not only teaching a subject to students, but also in conveying said subject’s importance.
In my classroom, students are taught through a spiral curriculum, another term coined by Bruner that means a curriculum in which each new concept taught is a synthesis of the previous ones. Students will be taught the basic knowledge that they need to know at the beginning of the school year, and we will progress together into more complex and nuanced concepts as the school year goes on. Assessments will be cumulative, as in order to demonstrate true proficiency in the subject the student will need to demonstrate that they can apply all the concepts they have learned over the course of the year from the basic to the advanced.
The very core of my teaching philosophy is kindness. Students will get the individual encouragement that they need, and I will be an available resource to them for any extra help. With the administration and faculty I will collaborate and compromise, because my classroom is just one part of the whole. With parents I will be open and honest, because they have a burning passion for their child’s future, and we can work together to ensure that their child reaches his or her full potential. All of these things stem from simply being kind, and doing what’s best for the students. They’re what it’s all about, after all.
Simply put, a classroom is a family. All students are on an equal playing field; they are all there because they need to be. I strive to create an environment of mutual respect and of openness in my classroom, qualities that come naturally if one treats the classroom the same way one would treat their family members. I want every student to walk into the classroom and feel like they can speak their mind. I want the students to feel like their point of view is important, because it is. This is extremely important in being a part of a community, and is especially important in an English class, where the right answers are never objective.
English and Language Arts has fallen somewhat out of favor in the eyes of many students in today’s classroom because of this lack of objectivity. In the age of STEM, it has become harder to demonstrate the empirical values of ELA. This is why I believe in teaching English to students in a way that’s relatable to them, and in a way that progresses naturally, with each unit building on the last. Jerome Bruner, a cognitive psychologist, focused on what he called “constructivist theory” in the majority of his research. This theory holds that humans learn by constructing new ideas and concepts from the concepts and ideas that they currently know. Based on my own educational experience, I also hold this to be true, and I believe it is the most effective way in not only teaching a subject to students, but also in conveying said subject’s importance.
In my classroom, students are taught through a spiral curriculum, another term coined by Bruner that means a curriculum in which each new concept taught is a synthesis of the previous ones. Students will be taught the basic knowledge that they need to know at the beginning of the school year, and we will progress together into more complex and nuanced concepts as the school year goes on. Assessments will be cumulative, as in order to demonstrate true proficiency in the subject the student will need to demonstrate that they can apply all the concepts they have learned over the course of the year from the basic to the advanced.
The very core of my teaching philosophy is kindness. Students will get the individual encouragement that they need, and I will be an available resource to them for any extra help. With the administration and faculty I will collaborate and compromise, because my classroom is just one part of the whole. With parents I will be open and honest, because they have a burning passion for their child’s future, and we can work together to ensure that their child reaches his or her full potential. All of these things stem from simply being kind, and doing what’s best for the students. They’re what it’s all about, after all.