Teaching Philosophy
"Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you will help them to become what they are capable of being."
*Johan Wolfgang von Goethe
*Johan Wolfgang von Goethe
A teacher should understand best practices in teaching and learning. Learning is a process that involves inquiry, investigation, and application. This process is collaborative in nature and happens naturally. Teaching and learning have no endpoint and are constantly evolving to apply information to the changing world. A teacher must be quick to adapt to different student responses and needs when teaching any subject. It is the teacher’s responsibility to keep order in the classroom and make sure students feel comfortable and safe. A teacher must be a role model in the classroom and in the community. An effective teacher spends time reflecting on his lessons and the successes or failures in the classroom. A teacher must be consistent, but not become predictable. A teacher must demonstrate professionalism in and out the school building.
Who are my students?
An effective teacher must answer this question: Who are my students?
As a teacher my main objective is to understand my students and understand how I can best help them achieve academic growth. This relationship piece is often overlooked, but it is crucial for creating relevant and engaging lessons. Building relationships and building the trust of students takes time. The strength of these relationships can eliminate a majority of potential classroom management issues. Great teachers spend time getting to know their students. This includes attending extracurricular events and school activities. Teachers must treat all students with respect and acceptance. A teacher must use many different teaching strategies in order to reach a wide range of students. Developing positive relationships allows students, parents, and teachers to be on the same page in terms of student growth goals and assessment results. Technology can play an important role in bridging this gap between teachers and students seamlessly, such as through class websites and online communication technology. Students and teachers may communicate professionally and interact with content outside the walls of a classroom in new and different ways due to the use of technology. Lastly, a teacher must make the content relevant to students’ lives and motivate students to learn. One thing specific to social studies teachers is the unique ability to bring in student interests by relating it to content
As a teacher my main objective is to understand my students and understand how I can best help them achieve academic growth. This relationship piece is often overlooked, but it is crucial for creating relevant and engaging lessons. Building relationships and building the trust of students takes time. The strength of these relationships can eliminate a majority of potential classroom management issues. Great teachers spend time getting to know their students. This includes attending extracurricular events and school activities. Teachers must treat all students with respect and acceptance. A teacher must use many different teaching strategies in order to reach a wide range of students. Developing positive relationships allows students, parents, and teachers to be on the same page in terms of student growth goals and assessment results. Technology can play an important role in bridging this gap between teachers and students seamlessly, such as through class websites and online communication technology. Students and teachers may communicate professionally and interact with content outside the walls of a classroom in new and different ways due to the use of technology. Lastly, a teacher must make the content relevant to students’ lives and motivate students to learn. One thing specific to social studies teachers is the unique ability to bring in student interests by relating it to content
What do I want them to know? And Why?
A teacher must have an answer to the question: What do I want my students to know? And Why?
I want to equip my students with 21st century skills that prepare them for success in their future. A good teacher must teach the content with engaging methods and facilitate learning to create autonomous learners. I want my students to become expert learners, not just experts in Social Studies content. Students should be improving their literacy (reading and writing) skills and digital literacy skills. I want to equip students with the technology skills and critical thinking skills to interrogate text, notice meaningful patterns and apply information to different settings. Effective teachers actively scaffold research skills and integrate different technology tools to get students prepared for exploring and mastering the “how to find” information. Teachers and students must craft questions that lead to more inquiry, discovery, and exploration of phenomena. We need to re-consider “Bloom’s Taxonomy” in technology age to help us create a more meaningful and personalized curriculum.
Specific to Social Studies: A social studies teacher’s main responsibility is to equip students with the skills and knowledge to be a well informed and educated citizen. Social studies play a key role in shaping our individual character and how we perceive others. Social studies allow us to actively engage in discussion about the questions of “why things are the way that they are” and “how they got this way”. A social studies teacher must present multiple sources and avoid biases. Social studies teachers must use prior student knowledge to make for a more meaningful learning experience. Students can be a valuable resource in the classroom and can offer a multitude of experiences and unique skill-sets. Social studies is a unique subject in that it is all around us. Unlike most subjects, it is comprehensive and interdisciplinary by nature. Teachers must take advantage of this and interject different aspects of student interests and student life into the content. A social studies classroom should be an area of discussion and discourse; not of total agreement. The classroom and procedures must be clear to students and consistent with all students.
I want to equip my students with 21st century skills that prepare them for success in their future. A good teacher must teach the content with engaging methods and facilitate learning to create autonomous learners. I want my students to become expert learners, not just experts in Social Studies content. Students should be improving their literacy (reading and writing) skills and digital literacy skills. I want to equip students with the technology skills and critical thinking skills to interrogate text, notice meaningful patterns and apply information to different settings. Effective teachers actively scaffold research skills and integrate different technology tools to get students prepared for exploring and mastering the “how to find” information. Teachers and students must craft questions that lead to more inquiry, discovery, and exploration of phenomena. We need to re-consider “Bloom’s Taxonomy” in technology age to help us create a more meaningful and personalized curriculum.
Specific to Social Studies: A social studies teacher’s main responsibility is to equip students with the skills and knowledge to be a well informed and educated citizen. Social studies play a key role in shaping our individual character and how we perceive others. Social studies allow us to actively engage in discussion about the questions of “why things are the way that they are” and “how they got this way”. A social studies teacher must present multiple sources and avoid biases. Social studies teachers must use prior student knowledge to make for a more meaningful learning experience. Students can be a valuable resource in the classroom and can offer a multitude of experiences and unique skill-sets. Social studies is a unique subject in that it is all around us. Unlike most subjects, it is comprehensive and interdisciplinary by nature. Teachers must take advantage of this and interject different aspects of student interests and student life into the content. A social studies classroom should be an area of discussion and discourse; not of total agreement. The classroom and procedures must be clear to students and consistent with all students.
How will I know if they know it?
A teacher must know how he will answer this question: How will I know if my students know what I want them to know?
I believe this is one of the most overlooked and least thought of questions in education. Many teachers spend a great deal of time focused on what do I want my students to know, but do not spend nearly enough time along the way to discover if students are actually learning. Effective teachers have a plan. A teacher must create an authentic assessment opportunities for students. Teachers must use formative and summative assessment in their method. An effective teacher must do many formative assessments leading up to the summative assessment so he is aware of how to pace his lessons. Some methods include random calling of students to ask one question, but this method fails to grasp the level of understanding on a class level. A teacher can provide brief exit quizzes or take advantage of new technology to collect this valuable information. Some technology tools that I use include: Polleverywhere, Quizizz, and Plickers.
I believe this is one of the most overlooked and least thought of questions in education. Many teachers spend a great deal of time focused on what do I want my students to know, but do not spend nearly enough time along the way to discover if students are actually learning. Effective teachers have a plan. A teacher must create an authentic assessment opportunities for students. Teachers must use formative and summative assessment in their method. An effective teacher must do many formative assessments leading up to the summative assessment so he is aware of how to pace his lessons. Some methods include random calling of students to ask one question, but this method fails to grasp the level of understanding on a class level. A teacher can provide brief exit quizzes or take advantage of new technology to collect this valuable information. Some technology tools that I use include: Polleverywhere, Quizizz, and Plickers.
- Polleverywhere allows students to take a poll using their cell phones. This is anonymous data, but does provide some data on whether or not the class is understanding the lesson objective.
- Quizizz is an interactive game that requires laptops or tablets and internet connection. Students take quiz questions and compete with one another for points based on timing and correct responses. At the end, teachers are provided with data on each question and how individual students did.
- Plickers is a simple tool to collect real-time formative data. Students do not use technology, but rather a piece of paper with a code on it. The way students hold the card determines their response. The teacher uses a smartphone camera and collects the data in a sweeping shot. This app provides on the fly formative checks and also saves detailed data for individual students.
What will I do if they don't?
Finally after a series of assessments, a teacher must have a plan for answering this question: What will I do if my students don’t know what I want them to know? This speaks to re-teaching and connecting current content with prior lessons.
As technology continues to offer us new opportunities to individualize learning, teaching, assessing, and re-teaching will likely become more practical on a large scale. Technology also offers unique collaborative opportunities where students can help each other learn concepts that were maybe unclear in class. Students helping other students using different examples and different language can sometimes solve this problem.
An effective teacher must consider different ways information was presented: what worked? Where did students get lost? Is there a better way to teach this? This complex question must be answered through collaboration with fellow teachers. A great teacher must be actively involved in a Personal Learning Network (PLN). Asking questions and sharing best practices in instruction is crucial to improving as an educator. In the past, teachers were limited in how large their PLN’s might be based on teachers in the district or personal friends outside the district. Now, with social media and the Internet, a teacher can ask questions and learn from some of the best educators in the world. Highly effective teachers share successes and ask others about challenges they may be facing.
A teacher must always continue learning and critiquing his craft and philosophy. An effective teacher must be a student of the subject, a student of the craft of teaching, and most importantly, a student of students.
As technology continues to offer us new opportunities to individualize learning, teaching, assessing, and re-teaching will likely become more practical on a large scale. Technology also offers unique collaborative opportunities where students can help each other learn concepts that were maybe unclear in class. Students helping other students using different examples and different language can sometimes solve this problem.
An effective teacher must consider different ways information was presented: what worked? Where did students get lost? Is there a better way to teach this? This complex question must be answered through collaboration with fellow teachers. A great teacher must be actively involved in a Personal Learning Network (PLN). Asking questions and sharing best practices in instruction is crucial to improving as an educator. In the past, teachers were limited in how large their PLN’s might be based on teachers in the district or personal friends outside the district. Now, with social media and the Internet, a teacher can ask questions and learn from some of the best educators in the world. Highly effective teachers share successes and ask others about challenges they may be facing.
A teacher must always continue learning and critiquing his craft and philosophy. An effective teacher must be a student of the subject, a student of the craft of teaching, and most importantly, a student of students.