Teaching Philosophy

I believe that every child is able to learn, grow and succeed.  It is my job to help the students be able to achieve their goals.  A word that comes to my mind when I think of learning is growth.  In order to grow, you need to be alright with making mistakes.  I want my future students to know that making mistakes brings you one step closer to getting it right.  My classes with celebrate our shortcoming because that means there is room for growth, improvement and learning.

I believe that education needs to be social.  I agree with the ideas of Vygotsky.  I think that people should be able to collaborate in order to gain understanding.  Therefore, my classroom will have various opportunities for collaboration and learning through action.  I think that being able to explore and experience learning first-hand will have a more lasting impression than being lectured to.  I strongly believe in having an inclusive classroom.  I want my students to have the opportunity to learn at their developmental level.  I will differentiate my instructions to fit the different needs of many of my students.

In terms of assessment, I believe that students should have the option to choose how they want to be assessed.  Since I already plan on differentiating lessons, it only seems natural to give kids opportunities to use their strength when they show what they know.  I think that it is important to hear about the opinions and feelings the students had when working on projects.  Being able to hear the thoughts of the students can help me become a more reflective teacher on what could and should be changed in future lessons.