Teaching Philosophy

My teaching identity has been created long before I became a teacher. When I consider where my teaching philosophies have started, I think of my children. I am a single mother of 5 amazing children. Some of my children that have been diagnosed adhd, autism, and ocd. I have two children that have needed speech therapy services. I have two children with 504 plans at their schools. I have had to advocate for them and collaborate with their teachers for many years. I believe that my experience as a mother has given me a unique experience as a teacher that came into the profession later in life.

I didn't become an educator until I was 40 years old. While in the midst of raising my kids, I realized that I wanted to be on their schedule instead of requiring them to work around mine. I went back to grad school, switched professions, and now here I am. As I go into the classroom, it easy for me to see what students need and how I might accommodate them because I have a trained "eye" thanks to watching my own children go through these same grades with struggles of their own. This perspective gives me an advantage to be able to recognize and accommodate when needed. I understand the importance of the equity needed for all students. As such, I make sure to read the IEPs of all of my students as they are given and updated.

Even though I can see what accommodations students might need, my philosophy is still very much to hold high expectations for all of my students. Students need someone to believe that not only can they pass their classes, but they can succeed and do very well. Offering scaffolds and breaking down steps for students who need them, is just another form of access. Along with those expectations, I always try to think about how I can make my lessons more interactive and more fun. I believe that students will always learn better if they are enjoying themselves. While we are not able to accomplish this all of the time and for every student, using a variety of teaching methods so that all of our students can enjoy what they are learning, is important.

One of the most important philosophies that I hold as an educator is that of having good relationships with your students. This is something that I saw very clearly during my teaching residency and now within my own classroom. During my graduate teaching courses, they stressed heavily on how important it was to learn every student's name. I am someone that has always struggled remembering people's names. However, during my residency, I did my best and as I watched as the kids realized I knew who they were, listened to what they had to say, and wanted to genuinely help them; I saw what a huge difference it made. I had students coming to say good morning to me before they headed off to their other classes, students would want to participate and answer questions, students would tell me jokes because they knew I would laugh. Those relationships are the foundation to learning. Nothing will ever change my mind that having a good relationship with your students will make or break a class. As my teaching residency came to a close, I had so many students asking me where I was going next. I told them I wasn't sure yet and they all would tell me to get a job at that school so that I could still be their teacher. I was so happy that I had built those relationships and that they were excited to learn with me.

Now that I am in my own classroom teaching full time, I am building relationships with the students in my school much the same way. It all begins with learning their names and being able to connect with them and talk with them as we all learn together.
My teaching philosophy itself has remained the same through my residency and into my teaching career in the fact that I still believe that relationships are vital to teaching and learning. I still believe that students have a difficult time learning from people they don’t like and furthermore, students will most likely pick up on the fact if you do not enjoy your job or do not enjoy being around the students. Maintaining and growing those relationships is vital to being able to teach effectively.

As I focus on understanding my teaching philosophy, I have realized that my teaching position has expanded exponentially. Previously, I was thinking of my teaching position in terms of my students and my classroom. Now, I understand that my teaching position is my classroom, my students, my school, our community, and extensions beyond that with conferences, networking, and continued learning. Beyond that we also have research for grants, proposals, and curriculum writing. There are so many aspects to teaching that I was peripherally aware of but had no personal experience in and therefore didn’t understand how they were really connected and vital to my role.  

During this school year, I have come to develop a clearer understanding of the importance of a good curriculum as well. At the school that I am currently employed at, we are able to create our own curriculums as long as we are teaching the state standards. This has given me a lot of freedom to create curriculums that I believe my students might enjoy. However, this has proven a more involved endeavor than I originally anticipated. I have been creating the curriculum for four different classes this year and I don’t want to just throw information together. I want it to be well thought out, interactive and engaging for students, and still be able to teach our standards well.

I have realized that I want to build a curriculum that provides active learning for my students so that they do not feel as if I am simply lecturing at them but instead that they get to become active participants in their education. This idea has become profoundly important to me as I navigate my first year of teaching full time. I value hands on experiences and strive to find a way to provide differentiated learning opportunities to my students on a weekly basis.

While I have been realizing how important that curriculum is to my teaching philosophy, I have also learned that creativity is equally important. Whether I am teaching art, English, or science, creativity and using artistic methods to communicate and learn is a valuable tool, especially for my middle school demographic. When we are able to add artistic and creative portions to assignments, it helps to spark my students’ curiosity and encourages involvement. While I always knew that the arts were important to me personally; it has been extremely fun to watch my students connect the dots to information while creating.

Ultimately, my teaching philosophy is that I believe relationships are just as important as grades or test scores. I believe that every student has a right to access their education and actively participate in it. I believe that every student should have equitable access to not only succeed but excel. I believe that connection, creativity, and curiosity are non-negotiables in education. If students can walk out of my classroom happy with what they have learned, excited to learn more, (and perhaps pass the exams as well), I know I have done my job well.

As I rewrote my philosophy statement, I realized that I agreed with my previous statement. However, my philosophy of teaching has expanded exponentially and grown to a level that I did not anticipate in such a short amount of time. I realized how I was looking at the small picture before and now how wide my view has become. I understand that my philosophy does not just encompass my classroom and my students but it expands to my school, our families, our community, our politics, our state, and on and on. Education is a vast network that we have to engage in and actively pursue dreams for a better next generation. Education isn’t only preparing the generation that is learning but it is making sure that our world is such that these students can get the best out of life. We are the frontlines of the next generations literacy, critical thinking skills, and even empathy. We connect our young generation to the arts, to literature, to the scientific process. Teachers are carrying the load that no one should have to carry. I did not realize how heavy that load was until I became a teacher myself. Just like every other teacher who loves their students, I am happy to carry it.