Teaching Philosophy
As a relatively new teacher, I am constantly reworking my teaching philosophy. In fact, I hope that twenty years from now I will still have the flexibility and humility to take a step back and reflect on my teaching philosophy. At this time, I believe in encouraging students to reach their individual potential, integrating the curriculum through meaningful and innovative projects, and guiding students towards making their own discoveries.
As I think about the 80 students whom I’ve had the pleasure to teach, they each have a distinct collection of strengths and weaknesses. I welcome all strengths and weaknesses, while encouraging my students to reach their individual potential. I set high, yet specific expectations for each child. For some, that means completing every extra-credit math assignment. For others, the expectation is to complete half the math page, but read for an hour. My students know that above all, they must work hard. As our classroom chant goes, “Is it okay to not know?” “YES!” “Is it okay to not try?” “NO!” When the goal is to work hard rather than to get all of the right answers, achievement is within their control. As one former student put it, "Miss Joseph makes you work hard. I repeat, work hard!"
I strive to integrate the curriculum through meaningful and innovative projects. In the fall, I teach a unit on immigration that covers social studies, reading, and writing. The students read fictional texts about immigrants in guided reading groups, research immigration history from non-fiction texts, write a diary entry from the perspective of an immigrant who passed through Ellis Island, participate in an Ellis Island role-play experience, interview family members about their family’s immigration story, and write an oral history report for a class book project. Imagine my excitement when I discovered immigration data displayed in bar graphs, line graphs, and pie charts to analyze during our math unit on data and graphing. Finding ways to integrate the subjects and make the learning relevant to the students can be a challenge, but it helps the students grasp the bigger picture. After all, life outside the classroom is not divided into subjects.
I also believe in guiding students towards making their own discoveries. One of my favorite things to do with my students is to provide them with the tools that they need to reach an understanding of a concept on their own. In a recent lesson on using the algorithm for addition with regrouping I asked, “Could we ever carry-over a digit other than 1 into the next place value?” The students then eagerly used their personal white boards to explore this challenge. The energy in the classroom at moments like these is incredible. Everyone is engaged, everyone is thinking, and the discussion between students is lively. These are the “magic teaching moments” that I come to school for. I could have told them directly that in order to carry-over a digit other than 1, we would need to add more than two numbers. A few students might have remembered that, but most of them would not. After exploring questions like this one on their own, they are much more likely to internalize the knowledge. Although students need a great deal of modeling, it is not my job to feed them with knowledge. Knowledge is created.
In the role of a mentor, I believe that there is much more to the school day than the academic curriculum. In addition to teaching the academic curriculum, it is also my job to teach social skills, self-discipline, and responsible citizenship. As a coordinator of the community service organization in college, I have a strong belief in the importance of fostering a community amongst individuals, and the responsibility to serve. If I can teach the students to be a responsible citizen of the classroom community, they will have the skills necessary to be a responsible citizen outside of the classroom. Further, a strong classroom community helps create a safe, positive, classroom environment in which all students can learn. Currently, I teach the “social curriculum” during the Morning Meeting each day using techniques from Responsive Classroom, and Open Circle. I ensure that the social curriculum extends through the rest of the day and is woven into the academic curriculum.
I have chosen a career path in teaching not for myself, but for my students. If I can successfully carry out these beliefs and techniques, I know that each student will have the chance to achieve his or her academic goals, love to learn, and act as a responsible citizen of the community.
As I think about the 80 students whom I’ve had the pleasure to teach, they each have a distinct collection of strengths and weaknesses. I welcome all strengths and weaknesses, while encouraging my students to reach their individual potential. I set high, yet specific expectations for each child. For some, that means completing every extra-credit math assignment. For others, the expectation is to complete half the math page, but read for an hour. My students know that above all, they must work hard. As our classroom chant goes, “Is it okay to not know?” “YES!” “Is it okay to not try?” “NO!” When the goal is to work hard rather than to get all of the right answers, achievement is within their control. As one former student put it, "Miss Joseph makes you work hard. I repeat, work hard!"
I strive to integrate the curriculum through meaningful and innovative projects. In the fall, I teach a unit on immigration that covers social studies, reading, and writing. The students read fictional texts about immigrants in guided reading groups, research immigration history from non-fiction texts, write a diary entry from the perspective of an immigrant who passed through Ellis Island, participate in an Ellis Island role-play experience, interview family members about their family’s immigration story, and write an oral history report for a class book project. Imagine my excitement when I discovered immigration data displayed in bar graphs, line graphs, and pie charts to analyze during our math unit on data and graphing. Finding ways to integrate the subjects and make the learning relevant to the students can be a challenge, but it helps the students grasp the bigger picture. After all, life outside the classroom is not divided into subjects.
I also believe in guiding students towards making their own discoveries. One of my favorite things to do with my students is to provide them with the tools that they need to reach an understanding of a concept on their own. In a recent lesson on using the algorithm for addition with regrouping I asked, “Could we ever carry-over a digit other than 1 into the next place value?” The students then eagerly used their personal white boards to explore this challenge. The energy in the classroom at moments like these is incredible. Everyone is engaged, everyone is thinking, and the discussion between students is lively. These are the “magic teaching moments” that I come to school for. I could have told them directly that in order to carry-over a digit other than 1, we would need to add more than two numbers. A few students might have remembered that, but most of them would not. After exploring questions like this one on their own, they are much more likely to internalize the knowledge. Although students need a great deal of modeling, it is not my job to feed them with knowledge. Knowledge is created.
In the role of a mentor, I believe that there is much more to the school day than the academic curriculum. In addition to teaching the academic curriculum, it is also my job to teach social skills, self-discipline, and responsible citizenship. As a coordinator of the community service organization in college, I have a strong belief in the importance of fostering a community amongst individuals, and the responsibility to serve. If I can teach the students to be a responsible citizen of the classroom community, they will have the skills necessary to be a responsible citizen outside of the classroom. Further, a strong classroom community helps create a safe, positive, classroom environment in which all students can learn. Currently, I teach the “social curriculum” during the Morning Meeting each day using techniques from Responsive Classroom, and Open Circle. I ensure that the social curriculum extends through the rest of the day and is woven into the academic curriculum.
I have chosen a career path in teaching not for myself, but for my students. If I can successfully carry out these beliefs and techniques, I know that each student will have the chance to achieve his or her academic goals, love to learn, and act as a responsible citizen of the community.