I wrote this for my Foundations of Education class. I'm sure it will be modified and added to as I progress, but I think it's a good starting point for now. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
"The world in which I will be teaching is plagued by a variety of issues. Discrimination and racism fill the hallways; teachers teach to the test, handing out endless worksheets; and much of the staff is ill-equipped to handle children with special needs. I know that every challenge is a chance to grow, and I look forward to the way my education will shape me as a person and change the way I practice in the future. Being aware of the influences of historical, political and social issues, and the way they affect people, will hopefully cause me to approach situations in a positive manner and not in the negative, closed-minded manner in which I have seen demonstrated by parents, school officials, and other figures throughout history. It is really important to know what I believe and why so that I can defend myself and be an advocate for my students in the professional world. This opportunity to apply and contextualize my learning will connect everything I've learned and how I will apply it to my classroom. The student's educational background influences placement and assessment strategies, and their culture could affect their understanding of the school environment or the way they approach assignments. Regardless, the experiences that a student brings to a classroom can positively affect everyone and the students can learn from each other as well as learn to appreciate differences. Knowing the families that students come from is a big part of their background and communication with them is extremely important.I hope to incorporate the backgrounds of my students in everything that I do in order to create a culture of learning. By making instruction relevant to the student's background, he or she can contribute their prior experiences to the lesson and perhaps make connections that others who have not had the same socialization would not see.
Meaningful experiences help provide comprehensible input. One way to do this is to allow the students to create meaning for themselves. Doing things like having discussions or debates, letting them work on collaborative reading and writing in groups or partners, and creating content-rich independent activities will allow them to take ownership of their learning and therefore get more out of the experience. As teachers we should see ourselves more as a facilitator of learning. One way I want to do this is by creating lots of interaction between students in the classroom. Since research shows that when students are able to interact and converse with their peers, they are more capable of constructing meaning, setting up opportunities for group work is essentially placing my students on the road to success. It is important to include a variety of different groupings to keep students interested and maximize the potential of interaction. Large group discussions are easiest for teachers to monitor and implement functional assessment, constantly gaging the comprehension level of the students. Small groups can be very beneficial in the classroom since they allow multiple students to collaborate and combine their efforts to create a final product.
Students can take ownership of their learning by discovering their learning style, whether it be kinetic, cognitive, or metacognitive, and applying strategies meant for their learning style to the academic content. It is the role of the teacher to show the students these strategies and help them to understand how it is that they learn. Some examples of strategies like this might include flash cards, manipulatives, outlines, highlighting while reading, etc. If the student has the tools to succeed and the knowledge to use the tools, then chances of success in the classroom are significantly higher. I want to focus on the process of authentically assessing my students' learning, rather than just assigning them a letter grade. This will take place primarily in the form of specific feedback for my students. I want to tell them why they received the grade they did, what they did wrong and suggestions for improvement, and things that they did correctly as well.
I have critically reflected on my assumptions and perspectives throughout my education and learned the steps to properly do this all throughout my future. How has this knowledge evolved throughout my coursework and how have I contextualized this learning? I think that my perspectives have definitely changed throughout this journey, as I learned new theories, saw evidence from research, and had experiences that affected the way I think about education. I think the true test of effectiveness will be to evaluate how I have been able to use the theories I have learned and the research I have done in my classes in the professional world."
