Teaching Statement: I believe that as the teacher I play a large role in a student’s life; therefore it is my job to make education fun, show the students I have their wellbeing and learning experience at heart, and to be the best influence I can be.
My teaching philosophy is that I will develop my students into having healthy learning habits, teach students as a whole (socially, emotionally, and educationally), and foster their adaptation to the environment they are in. It is important to help my students develop healthy learning habits and skills to help students to better understand my lesson plans and present better opportunities to gain knowledge more efficiently in the future. In order to do this, I will use differentiated instruction and study my students individually and discover each of their preferred learning styles and their weakest learning styles. It may be challenging for me as the teacher, but it is important to look at how each child can develop in weaker learning styles to create a balance for the student. This way the student will be able to learn from any teaching style in the future. I will allow options for assignments with the different learning styles in my class for learning vigorous lessons and allow the students to use their preferred learning style for the more difficult lessons. But, when I am teaching lessons that aren’t so vigorous and are rather easy to catch on to, I will require kids to use their weakened learning style to show and teach students ways to improve that specific learning style. I will also assign projects to my students based on things important and relevant to their lives so that it is more interesting to them. It is important to make things in my classroom interesting to the students so that they learn more from that lesson. I will also give them options so they feel less required to do an assignment and more like they are choosing to do it. By doing projects, or using project based learning, I will also foster deep processing to occur in my students brains allowing them a better chance of remembering the lessons in the future and learning the information clearly with no gaps or confusion. The first reason I believe in teaching the child as a whole is because my students are whole people. Children don’t always receive the necessary social skills at home, that they require in order to bond and create relationships with peers. As a teacher I need to be aware of my students life struggles to know what aspect of social skills they need to learn. It is important to gain these social skills because students will need it in my classroom but also in future classes and jobs. I will teach these in my classroom by allowing students to work together on projects, get them to the point where they feel comfortable and confident when doing partner discussions, or even classroom discussions. It is important to feel comfortable and confident around classmates when participating in discussions because students will be able to use their full potential in learning the material and will also learn from their peers. They will be able to communicate efficiently together and build relationships with one another that will enhance their experience and education in my class. It will also help my students in future classes, all through high school and hopefully even college to build relationships and succeed in partner assignments and discussions. Social skills are important because students will need to be able to interact with people from all walks of life. Knowing why they will need to develop these social skills is one thing, and incorporating them in my class is another. Acquiring these skills will take time, it doesn’t happen overnight. It will be my goal to incorporate social time, group projects, and group discussions throughout the year. I will provide ample opportunities for group assignments in class and partner work, this way students interact and work with each other. I will allow students to choose partners but I will also assign them that way students get to know the entire class. It is also extremely important to foster student’s adaptation to the environment they are placed in. This gives students a chance to be more comfortable in multiple situations, which will enhance their learning habits/skills as well. When students feel more comfortable in the classroom, they are more likely going to ask questions or give their input in discussions. Asking questions when the student doesn’t understand is vey crucial in the classroom because usually other kids in the class will be confused on the same thing and simply be too scared to ask about it. This will clearly help students in my classroom but also help my students in future classrooms allowing them to grow all through their schooling. I will implement this by differentiated instruction, by providing opportunities for students to speak in font of the class, and by implementing a variety of environments to teach in. An example is when teaching students how to observe, take them on a nature walk. As you can see, all three of the components of my teaching philosophy intertwine together to achieve one goal: allow the students development in all areas and to help students learn as efficiently as possible and continuously grow in education.