Philosophy of Education
The number one reason why I teach is because children are the future, and it’s important to create thoughtful citizens who understand Biology. Eventually, these students are going to become major voters in the both their locality, state, and world, and the future of many scientific topics is in their hands. These votes come in both actually voting in elections, as well as voting for products in the form of money. It’s important to teach students about the issues to prepare them for the future responsibility of being citizens in a world that is more and more scientifically based. For my specialty, I am teaching students about biological and ecological systems that currently are and could be affected in future generations.
There are a variety of ways for preparing students for the future. I always do standards-based lesson planning, to make sure I am covering the topics that are dictated by both the state and national frameworks. While I do think these topics are important, it’s also my interest to have students know what is currently happening in science. That’s why each week my students have a current event due from the Science Daily website about what is currently happening in science. Students will be asked to share their article during the Friday class, with a brief summary for those who read different articles.
Standardized tests are a way to make both students and teachers accountable to be able to vote in the future. These tests are treated as a summative assessment, as compared to my classroom which will be focused around formative assessment. Students are encouraged to think through the material in my class, instead of the rote memorization that has been shown to cause little change in the brain.
Each student will be treated as an individual in my class, and each individual is held to high expectations. Students with learning differences will have modified lessons to allow them to be successful in Biology. Communication is important between the special education liaison and the classroom teacher, so my lesson plans will be available to the liaison in an attempt to maximize learning for students with special needs.
Race and ethnicity need to be examined in the classroom. Very often, minorities are not pushed into working towards science and mathematics in the classroom, and the instruction is catered to white individuals. These inequities can be seen by questions asked on tests that are catered towards the white students and not students of different races or ethnicities. An example of which is one that I saw on the MCAS test, which asked about the muscle fiber of an individual playing baseball and comparing that to an individual playing football. Students of different ethnicities may know nothing of these sports, and not understand that the question is trying to get at slow-twitch versus fast-twitch muscle fibers. Without knowledge of the background topic, they cannot show that they actually understand the topic fully. My class will use examples that all students can relate to.
Another issue is female students not believing that they are good in both mathematics and the sciences. Many female students are not encouraged to participate in class, and are discouraged from continuing on in science. As part of my class, students will learn about important female scientists and how their accomplishments were historically hidden by men.
As for classroom management, students will make their rules during the first day of classes. They will work together and make a poster with the rules listed on it, which will be posted in the room. I do have a few non-negotiable rules, which will be no use of cell phones at any point during class, as well as no headphones in while we’re learning new material. Students not following the classroom rules will be talked to, but not in front of their peers. This helps students become comfortable with me, and realize that a conversation is happening; they are not being yelled at.
Classroom climate is another major part of my classroom. Students are always encouraged to share their opinion and their thinking in front of the class. Other students are asked to respect and reflect on what their peers are saying. It’s okay to be “wrong” in my classroom, as many scientists had to prove what didn’t work to get to the point where they realized what would work. My classroom climate is based around this ideal.
Very often, the students with the highest scores in class have the most involved parents. These parents go to open house, parent teacher conferences, and awards nights. They email the teachers when their student gets a low grade on a test. I intend to encourage parental involvement in my classroom through a variety of means. I am going to call home when students get an exceptionally good grade on an assignment, as well as when a student’s work starts to slack off. Parents will be given my school email address, as well as access to whatever online grading system the school is using. I hope that after making parents aware of these resources and using constant communication, parents will be more willing to communicate with me.
My classroom is based on students becoming engaged citizens, with students able to think for themselves and evaluate the positives and negatives of issues related to the sciences. Students will eventually be voting on issues that will affect the whole country, as well as the world as a whole. It’s important to note that my classroom is never intended to have students memorize material, or think the same way that I do on issues. The most important aspect of my class is teaching students to think for themselves through problem solving. My classroom is aimed to educate the students on topics which affect society for the years to come. The importance of educating citizens in the sciences is to keep learning from the past and make informed decisions for the future; something that was unable to be done in ancient Rome.
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