This I Believe: Choosing a School to Being My Career

For each item, circle the number that best represents your belief. use the following scale as a guide:
4 = I strongly believe the statement is true.
3 = I believe the statement is true.
2 = I believe the statement is false.
1 = I strongly believe the statement is false.

1. My school principal is the person who will have the ultimate responsibility for the successful operation of my school. 4

2. If I decide to teach in an elementary school, I'll have to choose between promoting my students' social and emotional development versus preparing them for standardized tests. 1

3. Middle and junior high schools are essentially the same but are given different labels. 2

4. Larger schools generally provide students with better educations, because they have better facilities and can provide a wider variety of programs. 3

5. If some of students fail to master the content at the grade level I'm teaching, retaining the students in that grade is the best way to ensure that they will acquire the knowledge and skills needed to succeed at the next grade level. 2

My Philosophy of Education

People are naturally inquisitive.  Learning is an inherent tendency that all people possess in order to answer their inquiries. This is done through basic acquisition of knowledge and the more complicated process of relating new knowledge to what is already known in order to create meaning and construct a new understanding of objects, events, and ideas in their environments.

My job as a teacher is to impart new knowledge and then facilitate an encouraging and nourishing environment in which students’ learning will flourish. This will be done by providing students with methods that promote analyzing, interpreting, and retaining new information and giving students real-world examples and applications that they can relate to.

This process will help focus learning around the individual and promote critical thinking and problem solving skills. The ability to apply knowledge to everyday life is a critical skill needed to function fully in today’s world. Reason and intellect will be obtained naturally if these goals are carried out, leading to students who are well-prepared for life outside of school and the responsibilities and decision making that accompany it.

To implement these goals, students will be given problems to solve or think about that occur in their lives. A nurturing atmosphere that encourages questions, discussion, and exchange of ideas will be encouraged and maintained. Projects that incorporate the practical use of class content will be outlined in the curriculum and will include interdisciplinary subject matter. All teaching will be done based on the students’ level of cognitive development to ensure the best retainment and understanding.

I will know that my students have successfully acquired and retained the content when they can demonstrate its use and/or processes through formal or project-based assessment. As I continue to grow as a teacher, I hope to find more and more realistic and illustrative ways to connect content with my students to best prepare them for their lives after school.

Language Diversity

2.1 What has been the government's response to language diversity in our nation's schools?

• 1968 - Congress passed the Bilingual Education Act, which provided funds for educating non-native English learners through bilingual approaches intending to maintain the first language while learning English.
• 1998 - California passed Proposition 227 to replace bilingual education programs with one year immersion programs. Students were then transferred into mainstream English-only classrooms.
• 29 states have also passed legislation making English the official state language.
• Under public pressure, the government has changed gears, advocating for schools to teach English with little emphasis on preserving minority languages. The federal Office of Bilingual Education has become the Office of English Language Acquisition (OELA). The government's goal is to teach ELs English as fast as possible.

Teaching Students Who Are at Risk

1. Classroom management is a perennial concern for beginning teachers. Which approach to classroom management makes the most sense? What about instruction?

• I think Emma's approach makes the most sense. Allowing students to move around the room, get into groups, interact with the teacher, and take some responsibility in their own education leads to more successful students who retain more of what they've learned. They also learn valuable skills in working with others and expressing their own thoughts and ideas. It's important for them to be treated like people and not lined up in quiet, little rows by an authoritarian teacher, and it's also important for them to know that you're a human being too. So, like, smile and provide feedback. Don't tell them what to do and what to think at every turn. (: