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COMMITMENT TO STUDENTS AND STUDENT LEARNING:PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
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The Need To Learn The philosophical basis to my teaching practice is that all people need to learn. Here, learning is not limited to the sense of acquiring skills and knowledge, but rather is meant as a spiritual imperative in and of itself. How then, does one learn? I believe - as they do in kindergarten - that for learning to occur, the fun, the small, the big, and respect must be addressed. Fun Educators
need to utilize the fountain of receptivity that fun creates, and to channel it
for learning to occur. Being indicators of understanding and acceptance of the
self and others, humor and laughter are important tools in the classroom. There
is also the business of childhood to attend to: energy, intensity, hands-on
play, and great gestures. Finally, as we are all multi-faceted beings, utilizing
the multiple intelligences theory not only provides nourishment to all areas of
a student’s life, but frankly, makes classes more varied, and interesting: in
short, fun. Small and Big The
key to learning is in the pacing and sequencing of classroom events. Discrete
units and large ideas must be taught in a logical way, providing scaffolding for
the next stages. Yet, the reality that there is a distance between the recorded
and potential development of a child reminds us that we cannot underestimate our
students?abilities to see a bigger picture. Connecting these two mental
worlds can be difficult, but by grounding the curriculum through integration,
and continually swinging between the concrete, the representational, and the
symbolic, we can ensure that our students have practice with the small tasks,
and guidance with the difficult, or counter intuitive big ideas. Respect A major goal of any classroom should be for students to develop a respectful perspective of our multi-cultural world. Respect can be fostered by content - with equitable representation of groups. It can also be fostered by form - group work. Aside from the cognitive benefits, group work, cooperation, talking, discussing, and expressing with others also gives our students the exposure and contact that they need to become tolerant human beings. Respect for groups, of course, needs to be balanced by respect for the individual. Student self-esteem is related to learning, and self-esteem is related to seeing oneself represented and respected in a positive way. Further, as it is the job of educators to meet the needs of each and every student, so, we turn to the importance of differentiation and assessment. We must relate learning to the lives of the students; in the smallest sense, by integrating curriculum, guiding students, and scaffolding learning, which - as it fosters competency and understanding - will relate children to school. But on a deeper level, we need to actually tie the curriculum to the personality, lives, and interests of our students. This requires the assessment of each child’s needs, and the differentiation of content. In this “reflected?classroom, all students express their voices, and see themselves mirrored in their studies. An open, caring, fun, and respectful classroom will encourage learning in the best sense: as nourishment for the soul.
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