Our teaching philosophy is a very important part of not only our resumes, but also gives us a why towards the question, ‘why do we do what we do?’. Learning is a large field of study and there are many aspects to cover when talking about education. I believe our curriculum is important, but there needs to be an established community around the curriculum. In order to create the best learning environment for all my students, I plan on using my authority and place in the classroom to make each student feel safe, comfortable and important.
On the topic of religion, my philosophy is to accept, respect, and treat each religion as unique and important. I will not, however, require any led prayers in my classroom. I have decided that there are too many complications that come with even non-denominational prayer, and students may find mandatory religious practices offensive or uncomfortable. In the case of Engel v. Vitale, the Court decided almost unanimously that required prayer in public schools violates the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment. When considering the priorities of making students feel safe, comfortable, and important, requiring prayer or other religious activities would not only be unconstitutional, but could make some students feel unsafe, uncomfortable, and unimportant.
For understanding the differences between groups of people, I want to use the techniques learned in culturally responsive teaching. So much of teaching to me is made of social-emotional connections with students, and this is especially important in culturally responsive teaching. I plan to take students' backgrounds and learned behaviors, and use them as learning opportunities for curriculum and classroom community. This will give students a better understanding of one another, and help to recognize that different is not bad. Building a classroom community will help my big three targets of making students feel safe, comfortable, and important.
When understanding the achievement gap and white privilege, I as a teacher must make sure to apply the same tactics I do for my philosophy on different groups of people. Studies show that black students are three times more likely to be suspended or expelled than their white peers, and in southern states can make up to 50% of suspensions in a school. One African American student said: “I stopped loving myself because I realized the community did not love who I actually was” (NBC News). So many students of color fall into this pit where their fellow students, teachers, and broader community doesn’t support them the way they should, and as a result grow to foster negative images of themselves or embrace the personality everyone expects them to be. I am a strong believer in rubrics, and these will help to serve as a way to standardize the academic and grading process for students of different ethnicities. In day-to-day class, I’ll be sure to include the diverse students in conversation and even have certain lessons dedicated to different cultures to make them feel safe, comfortable, and important.
My philosophy of keeping students in a healthy environment relates a surprising amount to brain-based teaching. The brain naturally seeks to minimize social threats and maximize opportunities to connect with others. The brain also relies on positive relationships to keep its safety-threat detection system in check. Essentially, when students feel safe and cared for, the learning process is much smoother, since they aren’t worried about being attacked or threatened. Along with this, I plan on using other brain-based techniques. For example, our brains rely on patterns to create meaningful organization and categories of information. Listing new terms by categories, or playing matching games with vocabulary can help students tremendously. Another technique relates to the brain’s reliance on learning based on previous information. If my students are learning a new vowel blend, I will start with words they can already pronounce and show them how the vowel blend sounds in that word, and go from there.
In the respect of the Western canon, I believe that it still holds a lot of value. However, I don’t believe the Western canon is the only thing that matters in literature. I’m getting my licensure in Elementary Education, so I won’t be using these books directly as often as my AYA peers, but when referencing these books, I want to also include stories and writings of diverse backgrounds. Whether that is from younger authors, authors of color, or authors of different socioeconomic status, I want to present ideas in a wide variety of ways for my students. If the Western canon makes a point I want to make well, then I will use it. But if I find a point that pushes back on the Western canon, I want to include that in the discussion as well.
I was privileged to have a lot of these things as a student. I was a white male and so my culture and background were well represented in the classroom. As a result, I felt safe, comfortable, and important. More and more I learn about students who don’t feel the same and how school is a fierce landscape for many to traverse. The reason I want to be a teacher is to help students discover some of the same things I did, and if I can include each student in the process I went through, I think that they’ll come to feel the same way about school that I did.