Educational Philosophy

My Educational Philosophy Looking back at my experience in school, most of my classes were based on General Learner Outcome 1: Self Directed Learner. I was taught to take control of my own education and guide myself. I hardly did any group projects, but when I did, I did not enjoy them at all. I was taught to be independent, and doing group projects gave me so much anxiety. I hated relying on other people, and I always wanted to just do all the work myself. The content was boring, but I knew that I just needed to know it because the teacher said. When I got to college, it was exactly the same thing. The professor starts class, and doesn’t bother to get to know their students. I don’t know the name of anyone in my class, except maybe the person sitting right next to me. Everything was done individually, and I never really got to know my classmates. It was the same thing semester after semester, until I took the education courses at Leeward Community College. These courses really opened my eyes to effective and engaging teaching styles. I got to know my professors and they got to know me too. They had us work in groups, but it wasn’t as horrifying as it was in high school. It was these passionate professors who really showed me what an effective educator looks like. They were the ones who helped me develop my own philosophy about education. I believe that teachers should create relationships between the students, direct students to work effectively in groups, and contextualize the content. I believe that a teacher should be building relationships with and between the students because these bonds will strengthen their sense of community. When a student has good relationships with their peers and teacher, they have a strong support system that they can turn to in times of need. Learning is difficult, especially when you don’t understand the content. By building a strong sense of community in the classroom, students can ask each other questions and try to help out one another before they ask the teacher. In the future, this could lessen the amount of questions or help that students will be asking the teacher for. If the students get to know each other, they could also make friends and hang out outside of the classroom. When all the students get along and are friends, it makes the learning environment more safe and enjoyable. Students will respect each other and be more willing to work together. As a teacher, creating a strong bond with the students will create a safe space for them. I want my students to feel safe to share their thoughts and ideas in my classroom. I also want my students to know that I am here for them and that they can come to me to talk about anything. My door will always be open before school, during recess and lunch, and after school. In my classroom, I plan to do an activity called “Name Gestures.” I believe that learning someone’s name is the first step to building a relationship. First I will introduce myself to my students. I will tell them the importance building relationships with each other and how these relationships could benefit them. Then I will ask my students to introduce themselves to their tablemates. They will share some basic information about themselves, and get to know who

they’re sitting by. Next, I will ask my students to come up with a simple name gesture or hand gesture that matches their name. The hand gesture will only be using their hands, and it will not be an inappropriate. I will show them an example of my name gesture, which will be a shaka with my right hand. When everyone has chosen their name gesture, we will all stand up in a circle around the room. I will start by saying my name and showing my hand gesture. Then my students will repeat my name and hand gesture. Then the student to my left will say their name and show everyone their hand gesture. Everyone will repeat the names and gestures. The idea is to remember everyone’s name and their hand gestures. This activity includes all of the learning styles (visual, auditory, and kinesthetic) so that every child is capable of learning each other's names. Teachers should also incorporate and direct group discussions and assignments because it encourages the social aspect of school and learning. Group discussions get students talking to their classmates about ideas or suggestions that they want to share with everyone else. For example in English Language Arts class, a student may not have a topic for their essay, but they can get ideas from their peers through group discussions. Peers are often able to help each other out and give better suggestions than teachers. I believe that working in groups can be beneficial to students if handled correctly. If teachers plan to do group assignments, it must be a well managed. Each student should be assigned a role in the assignment. That way, if a portion of the assignment is not completed, a specific student is responsible instead of the rest of the team that actually did their work. A well managed group project/assignment breaks down the content into individual parts and makes the students responsible for bringing all the pieces together into one final product. A specific lesson I would do is called “Percent Presents.” The first question I would ask students is, “Where do we see percents in real life?” There will be a procedure in place called “Turn and Talk,” which means that students will turn to their tablemates and talk about the question. While the students Turn and Talk, I will be walking around the room to listen to some answers. After about thirty seconds to a minute, I will bring the students attention back to me and have some students share what they talked about. Some acceptable answers to the question would be when we go shopping, on our homework/quizzes/exams, and at a bank. Then I will do my lesson on percentages, periodically including Turn and Talk. The activity at the end of the lesson will be a small group assignment called “Percent Presents.” Each table has two to three students, and they will all be assigned roles in the assignment. I will ask, “Who has the most pets,” to determine which student will be the leader and reader. The leader makes sure that everyone does their part, gets a chance to share their ideas, and he/she will be reading the worksheet out loud to everyone. The person to the right of the leader is the note taker. Their job is to take notes on the worksheet and set up the problem. As a group, the students will work together to solve the problem and agree upon an answer. If there are three students, then the last

student will be assigned checker. They will make sure that all the questions were answered and that all the work is done correctly. The worksheet will be about buying presents for mom and dad. The group is given two choices, and they must decide which is the better deal. The options for mom will be a $100 necklace from Macy’s that is 20% off or a different $100 necklace from Zales that is $15 off. For the father, there will be a $60 jacket that is $10 off or a different $60 jacket that is 25% off. When the students have decided on which items are the better deal (which ones save them the most money), then I will come around and check their answers. The content being taught in school should be contextualized because it makes learning more meaningful for the children. Students are always wondering, “Why do we need to know this?” Sometimes, teachers will say that they need to know and learn this because they have to. Effective teachers will give the students a reason to learn the information. When you tell a student why they need to learn fractions, or why they need to learn how to write an essay, it makes them realize that there is a reason for learning this. If teachers don’t give students a reason, then the information will go in one ear and out the other. The information will not be relevant to them, making learning harder and boring. Sometimes the content can be related to general things like going shopping and getting the best deal, or specific things like needing this information for a certain job. Regardless, the children need to know why they are learning this information. Looking back at high school, I wish my teachers had told me why I was learning the content. Maybe then I would have understood and remembered more of the information. Contextualizing the lessons can be difficult, but it will be worth it for the children. A unique math lesson that I would do is one with ratios and rates, called “Better Buy.” This lesson involves comparing two rates to see which one is the better buy. I will start off the lesson by showing students two deals, for example “two shirts for $5.50 or three shirts for $7.80.” I will then ask the students which deal do they think is the better buy, meaning which one cost less for one unit (unit rate). I will allow students to discuss with their tablemates and then I will pick on some students to share their answers. Then I will figure out the problem on the board for everyone to see which one is the better buy. Then I will give students a worksheet with similar real life problems. I will have chosen items that the students would actually be interested in, such as video games, clothes, candy, etc. The students will complete the worksheet for class work, and their homework will be to look online or at the store for some rates in the real world. Then at the beginning of the next class, I will have them share the rates that they saw.