Within my personal teaching philosophy, I recognize that I come from a place of privilege by being a heteronormative, able-bodied, middle class, cis-woman. I recognize that many of my privileges derive from my ancestors settling on stolen land, and with this I recognize my place in this country as a settler Canadian. I will recognize the diversity amongst my students and meet them with empathy to create a safe, all-inclusive learning environment where every student feels equally valued and accepted for who they are, or whoever they want to be.
“Every time you hear yourself say that kid is attention-seeking, try to replace that phrase with that kid is connection seeking and see what happens.” (Carrington. 2020, pg.61-62)
To create my ideal environment that aligns with my personal vision for education, I will replace the mentality of students being disruptive for no reason and search for the reasons behind why they are acting out. I will use this mentality to create meaningful relationships with my students, and adapt their learning needs to their personal lives. I believe that creating authentic meaningful relationships sets a strong foundation for academic and teaching success.
“When I teach like myself, I am saying NO to teaching like someone else. I am saying NO to mandates that do not work for my students, to choices that are not aligned with my beliefs, and to showing up as anything less than my most authentic self.” (Goldberg, 2018, pg. 131-132)
My teaching philosophy will revolve around being professional, but authentic. I will allow my students to get to know the real me, and understand my personality as I will theirs. I will be admitting if I am unsure of the answer to a question, while actively working towards teaching myself around what they are learning so I can provide them with the best knowledge I know. By admitting that I am not an expert in all fields will help my students relate to the idea that we are all still developing as learners, and it is okay to not understand but it is expected to put in the work and try their best. This quote supports my philosophy that I will not be teaching or implementing anything in my classroom that would not be in the best interest of my students.
The goal of education should be to connect intelligence with an emphasis on whole systems and the long range with cleverness, which involves being smart about details. (Orr, 2011)
My teaching style will work to connect the students’ learnings to real world scenarios. My guidance to this style will encourage students to think critically about the information they are learning, and how it will affect themselves, others around them, and society outside of the classroom. I will challenge my students to relate their learnings as building blocks to their educational future, and to help answer the questions as to why the content is of importance to understand and internalize.
Amongst the previously stated, I will work towards becoming the best teacher I can be by:
- Differentiating my lessons to meet individual student needs.
- Providing equal academic help to my students.
- Encouraging my students to express their individuality.
- Creating an environment that allows my students to grow physically, mentally, spiritually, and socially.
- Taking student feedback into consideration when planning my lessons.
- Providing multiple methods of assessment through options such as writing, art, dramatics ect.
- Expanding my teaching philosophy and styles, and to continue updating them to match the current times and educational trends.
References
Carrington, J. PhD (2020). Kids These Days: A Game Plan for (Re)Connecting with Those We Teach, (pp. 61-62) Lead & Love. Impress.
Goldberg, G. (2019). TEACH LIKE YOURSELF MANIFESTO. In Teach like yourself: How authentic teaching transforms our students and ourselves (pp. 131–132). essay, Corwin, a SAGE company.
Orr D.W. (2011) What Is Education For? (1990). In: Hope is an Imperative. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi-org.libproxy.uregina.ca/10.5822/978-1-61091-017-0_24