12-02-02

Essential to effective teaching is the understanding that learning is a continual growing experience in which students develop values and skills through meaningful experience.  Learning should be meaningful and pragmatic if educators intend students to remember and use that knowledge.  I plan on providing diverse learning opportunities for my students that will enable students to learn through the strategies that work best for them.  I believe in Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences, and plan on providing as many different learning opportunities and environments for my students as possible.  I recognize that all students approach learning experiences in different ways and with different amounts of knowledge.  It is my job as a teacher to apply to those different knowledge bases as best I can. Tied to the notion of meaningful learning is the importance of intrinsic motivation.  If learning is truly meaningful, then there is no need for extrinsic motivation. 

             I believe classrooms should be student-centered.  Too often educators forget the human aspect behind what they do.  I am not teaching inanimate sponges.  I am a middle and high school English teacher, but I do not teach English—I teach people.  My first priority will to be to engage and guide every student through the learning process.  I will not only help them to understand coursework as relating to their lives, but I will also design coursework to relate to their lives.  Relating to them as people, not objects, will affirm their connection to other people.  One of the most important things I can do for my students is affirm their humanity.

     I believe that school is a liberating force that alleviates social injustices, and students must be taught how to thoughtfully look at the world they live in.  When their prior knowledge and experiences are affirmed, students will begin to see themselves as relating to society.  This is important because when people see themselves as a part of society, they will become active in changing the things they see as unjust. 

 We live in a society where many cultures meet and we can learn so much from each other.  I believe that there is no one culture whose values and stories should be taught—so “Cultural Literacy” is an outdated notion.  Part of living in a multicultural world is learning about other cultures.  Students need to be exposed to literature and people from other cultures in order to best function in this society.  They need a strong foundation of knowledge to thoughtfully analyze their experiences in an ever-changing world. 

 I believe in the inner potential of all students to enjoy learning.  All students deserve the kind of teaching standards and expectations that cultivate enthusiasm in learning and knowledge.  Of all things students can learn, it is most important that students learn to enjoy learning—this is the quality that will serve them the most later in life. Students who are given the opportunity to grow and learn will do so.  My job as a teacher is to give every student I meet the best opportunities I can.

Above all, I believe in the innate potential of all students. Students who are given the opportunity to grow and learn will do so. My job as a teacher is to give every student I meet the best opportunities I can.