I believe in the power of the classroom where curiosity and inquiry drive instruction and study; in the relationship between teacher and student and text as a catalyst for new knowledge construction; in the possibilities inherent in teaching my students the world and the word; in the social, emotional and political complexities of teaching and schooling; in the creative and collaborative power of small groups of thoughtful, driven and dedicated people; in simplicity, beauty, poetry, music, and Nature.
As an invitation to start crafting your actual educational philosophy text, here is one I wrote based on the prompt that I've used for a title this week. Try it! Try sitting down and starting with "This I believe..."
You'll be surprised at how this allows you to access all those things you didn't think you knew about yourself. What's at the core of what you do as a teacher and a person on the planet? (Hint: a teaching philosophy is also a life philosophy is also a worldview).
Here's how we can check each other's blurbs once they are posted: Can you recognize the person in the statement they wrote? Does their persona shine through the verbiage?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
This I believe...
ReplyDeleteI believe in striving for something more - what more can we get out of literary texts? What can we learn about ourselves from the characters' words and actions? I believe in students having intellectual and meaningful discussions about literary texts and working on supplementary independent and group activities that promote active learning and a sense of community and allow students to connect to the texts through personal experiences and identifying with the characters. I want the students to not only understand the events and other elements of literary texts but also to make deep connections, a skill that they can transfer to other texts and to the world around them. Now, more than ever, it is important to be able to connect to the global society, an ability that can emerge from the classroom community in which students work and learn cooperatively with each other and the teacher.
Laura--I like this very much. A question to push you further: What needs to happen before students can begin to delve into literary texts with a purpose? What is the teacher's role in what the students are able to do? How do you set the tone in the classroom for what you have written above?
ReplyDeleteThis I believe…
ReplyDeleteI believe in happiness, laughter, and fun. I believe in school as a safe, consistent place to escape from whatever else is going on in the world. I believe in the classroom as a place to feel welcome with both the teacher and other students and in the English classroom as a place to see yourself, your family, your living situation, and your problems represented in literature. High school students occupy such a ridiculous time of life – it’s so awkward and uncomfortable and difficult to cope with issues because they’re not yet equipped with the tools to deal with the type of adult problems they’re beginning to face. I believe that high school should no longer be a place to feel like you don’t belong but to be welcomed into the arms of books, songs, and movies to realize that you’re not alone and that you DO belong. English language arts is such a wonderful subject to show kids that other people have been through the same things and have managed to make it through. I have students in my class who have drug-addicted parents, have been bounced around foster care, have dealt with addiction themselves, and have had to live completely on their own and I want them to be inspired and motivated by literature to make the most of their lives despite the challenging circumstances they have had to go through. I believe in respecting students’ lives by giving them meaningful literature and assignments that mean something outside of the classroom and the walls of the school. I believe in showing kids that school actually means something and has a purpose other than getting good grades and getting into college.
Laura- I think what you’ve written so far is so YOU! I can definitely hear your voice in your philosophy and can picture all of these ideas going into your teaching.
Katherine--I like what you've written. It's funny to see how yours and Laura's compliment each other--she's the yin to your yang. I like it.
ReplyDeleteYour statement has life in it. When I read it I get a sense of how you understand how kids learn. You are a Vygotskyian all the way, Katherine. He believed that learning begins when new information bumps into our present ways of knowing, our misconceptions, our prior knowledge and/or our personal mythologies. Vygotsky wrote about the need for language teachers to connect what they are doing in the classroom to what the students in front of them are bringing to the table. If you don't know what they know, how do you know where to go with them or what to do? And, if students are not starting from what they know and building on what you're giving them, what are they supposed to use as a foundation for their learning?
You can't construct a building on thin air or on a cloud--it needs concrete and steel as a foundation, a base from which to build higher.
Thanks for being the brave ones to go first.
This I believe...
ReplyDeleteI believe in laughter, respect, acceptance and safe havens. I believe that students have the right to laugh and have fun while learning. I believe that students have the right to be respected, to be accepted and to be heard. I believe that students should be allowed to speak their mind and I believe that they should feel safe in my classroom to do so. I believe in listening when others are speaking, and also in hearing what others say. I believe in accepting each student for who he or she is, and also in not changing to fit someone else's ideals. I believe in speaking one's mind. I believe in open-minds. I believe in telling it like it is. I believe in academic language, and I believe in "slang;" I believe that both have a place in the classroom. I believe in being free of arbitrary censorship.
I believe that all these beliefs are possible in a classroom that is filled with respect--respect for the teacher, respect for the students, respect for each other.
This I believe….
ReplyDeleteThat all students learn in their own ways, and that each student comes to school with a different physical, emotional, academic, social, and psychological readiness to learn. I believe that all students deserve to learn regardless of their readiness. I believe that the ELA classroom is a place for my students to learn WHO and HOW they want to be in their worlds. I believe they can discover this through the study of literature that reflects the world that they struggle to live in each day and by writing to learn and understand more about the world and about themselves. I believe that my students need to be prepared for a world that is less than ideal without losing the hope that they can overcome the problems the world faces them with. I believe that my classroom must be a place where we practice the letting go of idealistic visions of perfection and rather rise to the challenge of making imperfection into something incredible! I believe that success lies somewhere between the ideal and the real. And I believe in reaching for the stars with feet firmly planted on the ground.
I believe in the power of words and the power of knowing how to use words effectively. I believe in laughter and I believe in hard work. I believe in teaching the students how to use language to succeed in a world which is unfair in the way it assesses and distributes power. I believe in uncovering this legacy of power so my students can be cognizant of the challenges or advantages ahead of them and aim to change the power dynamic for future generations. I believe in expecting the best from my students and teaching my students to expect the best of themselves. I believe in teaching my students to take advantage of the opportunity to learn from everyone and everything. I believe in learning through reflection and I want my students to believe in this too. I believe in empowering my students to claim their growing ability to use and understand the versitility of language and critical though as a catalyst for understanding and affecting their worlds.
I believe that students need an ELA classroom where they can safely explore learning in an environment where they feel support and belonging. I believe it is my job to provide that environment through an understanding of the mutual importance of preparation and flexibility. I believe in providing a constant for my students, through modeling patience and consistency, regardless of anything that is happening outside of or within my classroom doors.
OMG--I am so proud of the words written here! Thank you so much for making me see that YOUR classrooms are where I want my children to learn.
ReplyDeleteT-Bird: This is my favorite line of all--"I believe in teaching the students how to use language to succeed in a world which is unfair in the way it assesses and distributes power."
Thank you, all of you (well, Laura, Katherine, Jill & Tracy, so far) for articulating these beliefs to us (and for us). I love how each of your personalities is represented above in the words you chose, in the stances you've taken, and in the power you've asserted.
YOU MAKE ME SO PROUD!
I believe in the power of choice. It's important to understand that even within the most limiting circumstance, a student chooses personal success or failure - but I also believe a student must define personal success in order to achieve it. I believe in wiggling around within the standards while you meet them. I believe in a classroom culture of compassionate guidance. I believe that every student has valuable insights into every literary text, and every student deserves the opportunity to explore and share these insights, to make this knowledge real and relevant.
ReplyDeleteMy ideas are still forming. I will admit that I am feeling more challenged by this experience than I had anticipated and it's been work to reconnect with this enthusiasm - this optimistic, student-centered approach (which I know in my heart is crucial for effective student learning, but am having trouble putting into practice - knowing how much them and how much me is the right formula). As always, I find all your words inspiring not only as a developing professional, but as an improving student...taking these into account gives me serious brain munchies and I believe will help me better approach this assignment from both ends - as student and teacher.