MY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
engage the learnerI enjoy getting to know my students, and believe that by knowing their interests and styles I can create a learning experience that will resonate for them.
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keep it interesting
I know that no two learners are alike, which is why I believe in teaching and assessing in a variety of ways to assure success to all learners.
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communication is keyParents are essential stakeholders in the education of our students. I believe in keeping open communication and welcome your questions. By working together, we can best support your child's education.
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EXCERPT FROM "MY PRELIMINARY TEACHING PHILOSOPHY" regarding my work with an ELL student:
What I learned from MH I can apply to my next ELL student, if and when there is one, but I can also apply these lessons to my language arts teaching and teaching in general. Just as an ELL learns and acquires through contextualized content-based instruction, when I teach, I constantly strive to contextualize the material. If it doesn’t make sense in the world of my student, then how do I expect them to engage with it? Application of new knowledge deepens the learning of anything. In language arts class, I find that in every new story or book or informational text is an opportunity for a lesson in how to be a good person or a contributing citizen or a lifelong learner. This reminder to use content as the vehicle for broader understandings is something I will take with me into teaching all students, not just ELLs.
Similarly, organizing my instruction and my lessons by subject, theme and topic will help clarify material for all students. Using K-W-L charts and learning logs, as suggested by Peregoy and Boyle, will stimulate students’ meta-cognition in any subject. Helping language learners and all learners step back and thinking about how they are learning and thinking will help to engage them in the process. With hope that activities such as these might draw out students’ intrinsic motivation, I will employ them in my general education classroom and remember the specific applications for ELLs next time I am called upon to educate a student who is learning English.
Experiential learning is something that I will employ in my classroom whether or not I have ELL students. I used to teach an exploratory program created around several hands-on offerings to give students non-book learning experiences. This has immense value in the classroom, and I cannot wait to diversify my instruction away from worksheets and toward more tangible learning experiences. Scaffolding is yet another pedagogical technique that is applicable in either situation, and one which I will definitely be using. Whether scaffolding the language I use to meet the various language learning levels of my students or scaffolding a whole lesson to reach various abilities, being mindful of the varying levels in my classroom is of utmost importance. As a teacher, my job is to facilitate comprehension in general, not just of the English language, but of whatever subject or material I am teaching. Likewise, I see the value in using clear visuals and well laid-out print materials for all students, not just learners of English. As a former marketing and layout person, this week’s lecture’s mention of strong headings and subheadings with bold and italics to help break down language resonated with me. I hope to use these tools to help all students understand the materials I create for them.
To do this, I will need to know my students. Thinking back on this course as well as all of the coursework during my near-complete Masters program, this piece keeps resurfacing. Knowing my students will help me educate them well. If I am aware of their interests, their backgrounds, their abilities and challenges, their family situations, then I will be able to match them with the proper instruction. I will be able to ask the right questions to engage them in the subject matter. I will be able to greet each student as a resource instead of as a problem. Each student brings something unique and new to the class, and identifying and celebrating that unique person will help me diversify my instruction to educate him or her in the best way for each of them. Knowing that they are respected within the walls of my classroom will be my number one goal: to create a classroom environment where every student feels comfortable exploring and asking questions is the element of Danielson’s domains that rings most strongly for me.
...I appreciate the experience of teaching MH, and have learned many valuable lessons that I will apply to ELL students and all students in my future classroom.
What I learned from MH I can apply to my next ELL student, if and when there is one, but I can also apply these lessons to my language arts teaching and teaching in general. Just as an ELL learns and acquires through contextualized content-based instruction, when I teach, I constantly strive to contextualize the material. If it doesn’t make sense in the world of my student, then how do I expect them to engage with it? Application of new knowledge deepens the learning of anything. In language arts class, I find that in every new story or book or informational text is an opportunity for a lesson in how to be a good person or a contributing citizen or a lifelong learner. This reminder to use content as the vehicle for broader understandings is something I will take with me into teaching all students, not just ELLs.
Similarly, organizing my instruction and my lessons by subject, theme and topic will help clarify material for all students. Using K-W-L charts and learning logs, as suggested by Peregoy and Boyle, will stimulate students’ meta-cognition in any subject. Helping language learners and all learners step back and thinking about how they are learning and thinking will help to engage them in the process. With hope that activities such as these might draw out students’ intrinsic motivation, I will employ them in my general education classroom and remember the specific applications for ELLs next time I am called upon to educate a student who is learning English.
Experiential learning is something that I will employ in my classroom whether or not I have ELL students. I used to teach an exploratory program created around several hands-on offerings to give students non-book learning experiences. This has immense value in the classroom, and I cannot wait to diversify my instruction away from worksheets and toward more tangible learning experiences. Scaffolding is yet another pedagogical technique that is applicable in either situation, and one which I will definitely be using. Whether scaffolding the language I use to meet the various language learning levels of my students or scaffolding a whole lesson to reach various abilities, being mindful of the varying levels in my classroom is of utmost importance. As a teacher, my job is to facilitate comprehension in general, not just of the English language, but of whatever subject or material I am teaching. Likewise, I see the value in using clear visuals and well laid-out print materials for all students, not just learners of English. As a former marketing and layout person, this week’s lecture’s mention of strong headings and subheadings with bold and italics to help break down language resonated with me. I hope to use these tools to help all students understand the materials I create for them.
To do this, I will need to know my students. Thinking back on this course as well as all of the coursework during my near-complete Masters program, this piece keeps resurfacing. Knowing my students will help me educate them well. If I am aware of their interests, their backgrounds, their abilities and challenges, their family situations, then I will be able to match them with the proper instruction. I will be able to ask the right questions to engage them in the subject matter. I will be able to greet each student as a resource instead of as a problem. Each student brings something unique and new to the class, and identifying and celebrating that unique person will help me diversify my instruction to educate him or her in the best way for each of them. Knowing that they are respected within the walls of my classroom will be my number one goal: to create a classroom environment where every student feels comfortable exploring and asking questions is the element of Danielson’s domains that rings most strongly for me.
...I appreciate the experience of teaching MH, and have learned many valuable lessons that I will apply to ELL students and all students in my future classroom.
