Fiona Worcester

Educational Philosophy

ED631 - Educational Psychology

Karen Macklin

July 30, 2010

An effective educator is a life-long learner. She takes advantage of the inherent opportunities in the educational process for teachers and students to exchange ideas, to experience mutual revelations and to expand their knowledge together. To attain these ends, she creates and promotes a positive classroom community while at the same time working to connect her classroom with the broader community, especially parents, through the contents of her curriculum, field trips, and projects. Both she and the students should gain a sense of personal growth and accomplishment from being a part of the classroom community, and the community at large.

 

In creating this classroom community, this successful educator is aware that her students are often different from her in many critical ways. For example, a student may have a different profile of strengths or weaknesses, a different cultural background, a different notion of gender roles, and/or a different history of school experiences. Along the same vein, she notes each student’s emotional, social, and intellectual maturity levels. It is crucial that she is aware of these differences in creating her curriculum, implementing classroom management, and, most importantly, in relating to her students, so that she can differentiate her instructional behaviors and curriculum to teach each student to his or her individual needs.

 

Classroom management is the most basic element of education: Without effective classroom procedures and respect for the rules of the classroom (written and unwritten), there can be no learning. A good teacher bases her rules on the idea that the students want to learn to be successful and that it is the teacher’s role to teach them these skills. In her rules, she recognizes the teacher’s right to teach and the students’ right to learn. There are no “punishments” for behaviors, merely consequences, a perspective that puts the responsibility on her students’ shoulders, and allows for positive consequences as well. However, while it is important to have effective classroom procedures, prevention, and intervention strategies, it is equally important to remember that the best defense is a good offense!

 

Many kids are not intrinsically motivated to learn, and teachers cannot force students to learn. A good educator develops, uses, and modifies strategies to entice and convince students to learn. We must bring the proverbial horse to the water and then, make the act of drinking water look – if not fun and exciting – like the only sensible thing to do. Students learn best when they are excited about learning. An effective educator develops engaging lessons, with built in breaks and active roles for the kids. In addition to knowing and addressing her students by name, she is also aware of her students’ interests, individually and as a class, and keeps up as best she can with popular culture. Using references and examples that feel exciting and relevant to the kids is not only appreciated, but also helps them to learn. Similarly, the educator needs to be genuinely excited about her lessons – either by design or by attitude – it makes the kids curious, and the excitement is contagious!

 

Furthermore, assessment should be informed by behavioral research. It should be seldom punitive, as students learn very little when told something is “incorrect”. In that situation, in the whole universe of possibilities, anything that isn’t marked with red pen might be “correct” – how can students know where to explore next? When a teacher explains the correct answer or process in her corrections, the students have a clear idea about what they should be doing. It is important to note that some students may require more feedback than others. Students benefit most from assessment when we show them examples from which to model their behavior, and provide positive reinforcement when possible and constructive feedback when necessary. Also, as with B.F. Skinner’s mice, students learn much more if they receive feedback promptly – the teacher’s grade is then related to their recent action, and they know what to change in their minds. If students receive feedback weeks later, the event is already in their emotional past, and they may have already internalized improper information.

 

As an educator, there are certain principles that apply to most, if not all teachers and subjects. However, lest it is misleading, I find it important to speak to my additional personal pedagogical goals here in the first person.

 

When teachers create exciting curriculum and have high expectations of their students, it helps students think of themselves as individually important, and part of a caring community. As noted by psychologist Erik Erikson, teens are in a stage of development in which they are trying to figure out who they are. They regularly experience confusion and frustration centered on their individual values, priorities and roles in society. In my English classes, I not only want to teach my students to be more effective writers and more passionate readers, I also want them to learn to be more imaginative, about their lives and the lives of those around them; to become more empathetic about the people in their world, and less cynical during a time in their development where apathy is a high risk. If they feel that I am personally invested in them; if my lesson plans address questions that they themselves are curious about in exploring their roles in society; if I express interest in pop culture, and notice their individual efforts; they will hopefully want to learn from me.

 

In my curriculum and my demeanor, I want to aid my students directly in forming and navigating their roles in society. I want my students to understand the English language not simply as letters on a page, but as the way we communicate, read and written, and spoken and listened. Ultimately, I hope to emphasize the development of the language and social skills necessary to help them connect with and relate to whomever they wish to in the community, to take on whatever role and put on whatever shoes they would like and be able to walk around in them comfortably.

 

This is a monumental challenge for any teacher, because each student has a unique background, a unique set of challenges, prior beliefs, misconceptions, and misgivings about the information being taught. We can (probably) all define alligator, but, as cognitive theorists will note, none of us experience alligators in the same way. We each have individual definitions (my alligator is smaller than my mother’s, less scary, and grayer) and we have to build on prior knowledge – or deconstruct prior knowledge – in order to learn anything new (just as you require knowledge of English vocabulary to tabulate the words I am writing to you now, and are even now slightly altering the way you remember alligator). In the constructivist style, I believe that each learner has their own experience and unique understanding, and I aim to build a detectable amount of new knowledge as best I can on top of that already existing in the minds of each of my students.

 

 

            As is the case for any new teacher, my views are changing rapidly, and will undoubtedly continue to change, even drastically, over time. In this process, the effective teacher must choose her battles and may not have the requisite lesson plans, time, or skills implement her philosophy, except on a timescale of years.

 

However, what is most important for any teacher is her motivation, her earnest efforts. She wants to be a successful educator, and therefore actively addresses problems and seeks out constructive criticism to improve her curriculum and classroom management. She works with other teachers, both when she is struggling, and as a professional habit. She asks other teachers to look over her curriculum and finds out what works for them, in terms of curriculum and classroom management. She reads educational journals, goes to workshops, and allows herself to learn from her mistakes as well as her more positive teaching experiences. As a new and idealistic teacher, she is patient, recognizing that brilliant teachers often bloom on the timescale of years.