MY EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

By Jessica P. Nunes

        The main purpose of school is to provide a safe and fun learning environment so students can learn and grow. School is a way people get prepared for the real world and helps students to learn what their interests are; whether they like art, play a sport, or what subjects they like, and so students can learn their strengths and weaknesses. Another more standard purpose of school is for students to develop their academic and social skills. Students build off of their prior knowledge in order to learn certain things; the first place they learn this knowledge is in school. Students learn how to interact with others and it is also one of the first places they can make friends. It is so important for students to be ready and well prepared for the real world because if they aren't, there is a higher chance they are going to live a difficult life where they may not be aware of or well prepared for the hardships they may face later down the road. We all hit hardships in life, but it is important that we learn from our mistakes early on so we don't make the same mistakes again. Therefore, school is where students can make mistakes and learn from them so they are better prepared for the hardships they may face after school in the real world. 

          Learning is a way we process the information and activities we obtain and perform everyday. It is also the transfer of knowledge and skills (this includes the addition of social skills) through a learning environment. Children can learn both creatively and cognitively by using the information given to them and doing hands on projects. Some examples of hands on projects are posters, models, presentations, videos, experiments, and more. By doing hands on projects and activities students get to expand upwards with the information they are learning by showing it in a creative, fun, and engaging way. The more relevant the material is, the more engaged the students will be. By making relevant information fun the students will engage and help them to better understand the material. We can access if learning has occurred by performing some an evaluation or assessment. This does not only pertain to pencil and paper tests but you can evaluate a student by having them do a presentation or performance, working in a team to solve a problem, do a certain activity that uses the knowledge that was gained from the lesson, asking students questions during the lesson, or by having students do peer teaching by helping struggling learners understand the material.

        The role the learning environment plays in the overall instructional context is that it develops both caring relationships between the teachers and their students, and it makes the content they are learning engaging. Having a caring and nurturing environment in the classroom is exceptionally important because if the students don't feel safe, they will not take risks. If a student does not feel safe they will be too afraid to ask questions, express what they are having trouble understanding, and participate in class discussions. This will limit the teacher’s awareness of whether or not the students understood the material because they are too afraid to express what they didn't understand; which will later on lead to other issues where the students may not understand the new material when taught. 

         I will motivate and engage students by having them complete hands on activities and teach the material required by the curriculum in a fun and inspirational way. I want them to not only learn the material required in the curriculum, but teach them how to live in the real world and be able to make smart decisions when they encounter real life challenges. Students will be more engaged when they get to do fun activities related to the class material; Some things include nature walks, scavenger hunts, creating models, making powerpoint presentations, creating posters, going on field trips, and the list goes on. I also think that having them work in groups or creating group stations will help them become more engaged/interested and motivate them to work together as a team. This will not only help them learn the material in the lesson, but also motivate them to work together and build on their social skills. I also think it is so important for the parents to be engaged with their students both in the classroom and also at home. One idea is to create a classroom website for families to access at home. On the website I would post daily schedules, weekly/monthly calendars with events, classroom rules, and other important information. As stated in the textbook Home, School and Community Collaboration, “Families may find a classroom website more beneficial since it will have information specific to their child” (Grant & Ray 2019- p. 313). I can even make a contact section where parents/guardians can contact the teacher within seconds. There is an endless amount of ideas teachers can incorporate on their website; like a class blog, a newsletter, post articles, and so much more. According to the book, “The teacher, students, and families can all contribute to a class newsletter”(Grant & Ray 2019- p. 312). Therefore, there are so many possibilities where a class newsletter on a website can be incorporated into the classroom and be engaging to students and families.  

     Quality curriculum is a clear vision of developing a foundation of what will be taught or learned in a classroom.  What makes up a good curriculum is one that allows flexibility for students and teachers. It should give teachers a chance to monitor the students and evaluate them in a timely/flexible manner. It should allow the students to be flexible in terms of being able to do what they are interested in and show off what makes every single one of them unique. Some topics that could be taught in a quality curriculum would be having a required financial literacy course (learning taxes, home ec, how to fill out a W2), teach more script and cursive writing into the curriculum, incorporate into the curriculum a course that covers current events other fairly recent events like 9/11, more emphasis on learning math tables (subtraction, division, multiplication, addition), have a public speaking requirement, make gym mandatory that teaches lifelong fitness (weight lifting, healthy lifestyle, etc.), pro-student choice, and incorporate foreign language as a requirement in younger grade curriculums. These are the qualities of a good curriculum because I feel most students lack much of these topics and many are things I did not fully understand or not learn at all when I was in school. I wish I learned these subjects in school because it made some things much more difficult for me once I gained more responsibility and entered the real world. As stated in the text, "As an educator, your focus is on effective teaching and assessment strategies, classroom management skills, content expertise, and a myriad of other pedagogical skills and knowledge"(Grant and Ray, 2019), all of which I want to focus on incorporating into my classroom.