Educational Philospy

The Foundational Educational Philosophy

Of a Growing Teacher

By

Kevin Eagleton

Janis Brandenburg

EDSS 531

February 22, 2012

            The bell rings and class begins. Well, technically class has begun, yet students are still filling into the room talking loudly as they do so. Some of them acknowledge the teacher with a happy "hello", while others ignore the fact that a teacher is even in the room. The teacher shuffles papers on his cluttered desk looking for his lesson plan and the flash drive that contains his Prezi and the quick write the students are supposed to do first thing everyday. One student says, "Can't find your stuff again Mr. X? Does that mean we don't have to do that writing thing, what is the point of that thing anyways?" Mr. X replies, "I know I am so unorganized, anyway how was your weekend in the mountains?" At the same time down the hall, students are walking into a science class where a lab has been set up with each table set up in a very orderly fashion with all of the needed materials in set location. Students walk in without talking and immediately sit down and get out their journals. They read the board that has the agenda for the day and begin to complete the first part of the day's lesson. One of the students begins to talk about something unrelated to the class and is quickly told by another student at the table not to talk. The student quickly quiets and get back to work. While this is happening, the teacher is talking to individual students about yesterday's lesson checking for learning by asking them to tell her one thing they learned from the lesson.  Both of these scenes are things that I have seen in my observations. From these brief scenes we can deduce a few things about not only the classes but about the classroom management styles of these teachers. To take this one step further, we can also make some assumptions about the educational philosophies of these teachers to some degree. Why is this? Simple, the way a teacher manages, organizes, instructs, and even relates to their students can all be tied into their educational philosophy.

Physical, Social, and Emotional factors

            I think it is safe to say that there is no other time in a person's life when they will have to deal with so many changes related to physical, social and emotional change and conflict. It is this confluence of so many changes, issues and conflicts that can make this time in anyone's life very challenging. They are developing in physical ways that they may not yet be ready to handle or are ashamed of, they may have not found a social setting that is comfortable and accepting of who they really are, and let's face it, this age can make anyone an emotional wreck. Can you say hormones?  Yet, as teachers we often expect our students to put aside all of these factors. Why, so that I can teach them that Pizarro conquered the Incas in 1532 and that it is important enough for them to remember! What is important for us to remember is that they are going through all of these things, some of them simultaneously and this can make high school a very tough time for many students.

            What does it all mean for me as a teacher? It means that I have a lot more to worry about than just teaching them about Pizarro. It means I need to be in tune with my students' needs in these areas. I need to be able to spot students that are struggling to handle the changes that they are going though and I need make sure that I take what I know about them and use it to direct my actions and my lessons. For example, last semester I had a student named "Joey", and he came into class about six weeks before the semester ended. He had not attended school for two years. He was sent to our school by court order, if he did not attend he was going to go to juvenile hall. When he came to class he flat refused to do anything. Even when I had the students doing some really fun things and they were having a good time he refused to interact with me or anyone else. He was emotionally a mess, removed from his home, forced into a group home with ten people he had never seen before. He had family issues no kid should have to deal with; learning about the stock market crash was not on his list of priorities. The only thing I could offer that was relevant to his life was to be a voice of caring. So everyday, during his intervention class, I sat with him and talked about whatever lame thing I could come up with. Sometimes the conversations moved, other times they died slow silent deaths. However, after about three weeks of this, he cracked. By that I mean he actually participated in class as part of a think-pair-share. From there he made very small steps toward participation. Did he ever fully participate, no, might he if had he more time? Maybe. Was it because of me or the students around him? I think both, as Baldwin, Keating and Bachman used the phrase, "No person is an Island". I sat "Joey" next to those students I thought he could most relate to based on his history and personality. Again, as Baldwin, Keating and Bachman state, that at this point in the adolescents life contact with peers is very important to them. So I made sure he had contact with students that I felt would help him to feel the most comfortable. The point is that one thing I have learned is that at this age in this time, our students need us to meet them where they are and lead them from there. We cannot expect them to meet us where we are and move forward. They have not reached that level of maturity and cannot be expected to act in a manner that is beyond them.

Learning environment

            The learning environment is a key factor in the success of any student. Which is why it is important for a teacher to ensure that while the students are in the class or simply on campus they have a safe learning environment that is conducive to education? What is the learning environment? It is no longer confined to the classroom, halls and library of the school  With today's media and connectivity at the fingertips of most of our students the learning environment can be almost anywhere they are. For us as educator, we can have the most impact on the learning environment within the campus and further impact in our classrooms.

            One of the most important and effective things that we can do to create a positive learning environment is to make our students feel safe and accepted. This needs to be a practice that is preached and enforced in class and in the halls or wherever our students are on campus. Our failure in this area will certainly have a negative impact on our success as educators. Some of the most obvious ways to make students feel safe is to protect those that are traditionally marginalized including minorities, girls and LGBT. If we are vigilant in the protection of these groups, and we must be, the effect will spread to others and help to create an overall feeling of protection and acceptance.

            The physical learning environment of the classroom can also have a large impact on the students. I envision my classrooms as being decorated with relevant and interesting themes and information regarding the topics I am teaching. Furthermore, I think the rooms need to have a certain level of up keep. Last semester I observed in a room that had plenty of interesting and relevant posters, images and quotes related to U.S. government, however, the items on the walls were in disrepair and looked to have been there for a great deal of years. So instead of adding positively to the environment it was a negative in that it made the room look dreary and uninviting. Another seemingly benign aspect of a classroom is the seating arrangement. According to Baldwin, Keating and Bachman in Teaching in Secondary Schools, this can have as much impact as the established rules and routines. In most of the classes I have observed, the seating has been very teacher oriented, whereby all of the students face into the middle of the class in neat rows of 3-5. In many of these classes this is done out of necessity due to a lack of space, however, I feel that there is a better arrangement even with limited space. Because I want to create an environment of shared learning I would create student pairs and move the desks so that each row has a partner row that is right next to them so that they can easily collaborate on the content. This seating arrangement will also play a role in the routines of my class which I will discuss later under theme of classroom management.  

Expectations

            Academic expectations can make or break a classroom and a student. As a teacher I want I want my students to know two things regarding this subject. First, my classroom is an academic setting. Second, I expect them to succeed in my class. I feel that it is important for students to recognize earlier on, as in the moment they enter my class for the first time, that they are in class to learn and that they have the capacity to learn. Obviously, not all students have the same capacity to learn. That is why I expect them to succeed; this approach leaves the outcome open ended. For student "X" success may be earning an "A" while student "Z" may have been successful in attaining a "C+". I feel that this approach is in line with L.C Clark's (2007) in her article "Expectations and At-Risk Children" where she asserts that students labeled or perceived to be at risk are held to a lower standard than their counterparts. This should not be the case; all students should be held to the same level of expectation based on their abilities.

            As a teacher there are many ways to go about ensuring that these two beliefs are transmitted to the students. The first step is to be explicit with them and layout the expectations. For some this maybe the first time that they are told in no uncertain terms that a teacher expects them to be successful without question. Furthermore, in establishing the academic culture I will start immediately. The first thing my students do everyday while I take role is a quick write. I will have them do this on day one and establish the idea that when they enter the class they should be thinking about content material and be ready to move forward. In general, setting clear expectations for students contributes "in some degree to the relative success of that student's performance" as stated by Baldwin, Keating and Bachman in Teaching in Secondary Schools.

 Classroom Management

            In many ways, classroom management is much like setting academic expectations. The expectations must be explicit and enforced on a consistent basis. As far as my classroom management style I myself have few rules. The most important being that of respect. I feel that respect can be applied to pretty much everything in the class. If you respect yourself you will act in an appropriate manner, if you respect your peers you will act in an appropriate manner, and if you respect me you will act in an appropriate manner. Those are pretty much my rules and explanations for them. I feel that the specific rules of the class can be determined by the students. I would also use parts of the Cooperative Discipline method developed by Linda Albert. I feel that she has a number of techniques that are effective and fit my personality. For example, I love the idea of catching them being good. So often some of our challenging students are simply never praised and for them to be recognized when they are doing the right thing can be a valuable moment in their day. I am also a big fan of giving the "eye". This is a great non-verbal message to the student that you are aware of what they are doing and that they need to get on task. Another great strategy in this model is the target-stop-do. It is explicit, which students need and want, in that it targets the student, identified the action to be stopped and redirects them to the appropriate action.
          Bearing all of these in mind I have come to the conclusion that classroom management is an area where equity can be lost. Many teachers have a set of rules and a system for application. For example, one of the teachers on campus last semester had a steadfast rule for tardiness, 3 tardies and you were written up. While this seems fair, in some situations it can do more harm than good. I had a student in my first period class that had some very extenuating circumstances that often caused him to be late. The last thing this student needed was to be punished for taking care of his family and making sure his brothers and sisters were on their way to school. So as with everything in education we need to apply the equity over equality rule of judgment. The final piece of my management plan is to create relevant and fun lessons. As any teacher will tell you, students that are engaged are not misbehaving because they are too busy learning.

Meeting the needs of all students

            One word: differentiation. I feel the best way to meet the needs of all students is to differentiate. It is a mainstay of our program. When we do our lesson plans we have a specific section devoted to differentiation. Essentially the areas of differentiation are content, process and product. Within each of those you can address readiness, learning profile and or interest. Without planning for differentiation it is simply not possible to be sure that you are meeting the needs of everyone. For my lessons I tend to use a lot of scaffolding, specifically modeling, bridging and building background knowledge.  In the social sciences, the technique of bridging seems to be particularly effective as stated in Teaching in Secondary Schools because "it provides opportunities for students to use comparative and contrastive situations from their personal experiences to connect with new information". As described by Marzano, Pickering and Pollock in Classroom Instruction that Works using comparative methods in the social science fields in one of the most effective ways to improve student achievement.

Conclusion

            There are many things that go into an educational philosophy and what I have covered is really only the tip of the iceberg. This is really quite fitting, because at this point in my career my educational philosophy is still really underdevelopment. I have ideas and beliefs about what I want to do and what I think is equitable, but they are the beliefs of someone with little to no real experience. It is my hope that in a few years I can look back at this paper and say "wow", how I have grown. It is an even greater hope that in 15-20 years I can look back and say "wow" how I have continued to grow.