Teaching Philosophy Manifesto
Each year of university, I learn so many things that alter my teaching philosophy. I am currently in my third year, my “I believe” statements haven’t changed, they’ve only become deeper and more descriptive.
Pedagogy:
I believe that every student, regardless of who they are or where they come from — deserves equal education. I will strive to continuously adjust my teaching pedagogy based on the needs of my students with each given year.
In my classroom, I will use alternative teaching strategies and using differentiation when needed is a crucial step to achieve this goal. One of many teaching resources I’d like to include in order to provide equal education, is by using Natural Curiosity: The Four Branches & Indigenous Lenses. This resource uses four branches of teaching and learning, including: Inquiry & Engagement, Experiential Learning, Integrated Learning, and Moving Towards Sustainability. With this method of teaching, I can then build teacher-student relationships, gain trust from my students, and provide support for each of my students to be successful.
Assessment:
I believe assessment is about development and growth rather than a percentage on a test.
In my classroom, I will prioritize formative assessments to assess student development. Teachers must move past the simplicities of giving exams to assess students on content they can’t necessarily fully understand or comprehend. Approaching assessment differently can be beneficial to ensure student understanding in each context. For example, using student‐centered assessments. With this strategy, students can reflect on their own learning achievements through portfolios, peer-assessments, or self-assessments. This allows student to act as an active participant in their own assessment process and can help engage their curiosity on how they learn and what they know.
Social justice:
I believe in fostering a classroom community of conscience to support equality. This will allow the fostering of empathy, understanding, and a sense of social responsibility to various perspectives.
In my classroom, I will influence my students to critically think about dominant perspectives in order to understand how social injustices are link to systems of oppression and privilege, as well as learn to recognize their own position and biases towards these systems. I will do this by using inclusive literature, inviting guest speakers from various cultural backgrounds, and discussing current social injustice events. By allowing students to reflect on different races, genders, religions, sexuality, income level, and disabilities; this will allow students to recognize their own privilege, and will in turn create more empathy and equality in the classroom.
Lifelong learning:
I believe that lifelong learning implies that learning never ends, and is linked to every action I take in my life both personally and professionally.
In my classroom, I will revise and update my approaches to teaching and learning. By continuously adapting my own teaching strategies, I will allow myself as a teacher to connect with the students (and other people) that I am surrounded by. I strongly believe that students learn greatly based on modelled-behaviour. As a teacher, I can set an excellent example by showing them that I am also learning while teaching them. Students will recognize that I am working hard alongside them, which will in turn create a positive mindset to allow the students to feel safe in making mistakes, and hopefully will encourage the students to also develop into lifelong learners.