Teaching Philosophy

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Growing up, I always knew I wanted to help out others in some way , however I never knew exactly in what way I necessarily wanted to help out others. It wasn’t until I started volunteering at an elementary school for six years, that I realized teaching was something that actually fascinated me. Throughout my elementary, middle school, and high school years I was a migrant student, continuously traveling between Minnesota and Texas. I realized growing up that I loved going to school when it came to being in Minnesota, as the majority of my classes relied on group activities and actually working collectively through problems, with not much pressure added to students. However, when it came time to move back to Texas, I realized I felt more stress laid on top of me, as of course, there was more pressure here in Texas to do well for the STAAR assessment at the end of the year. This is one of the main factors becoming a teacher was so important to me, as I felt that learning should be about working critically though activities and not being stressed out to do well in an end of the year exam, and I want to in the future be a teacher who encourages her students to be wrong and to learn from their mistakes and not feel forced to always be right in hopes of doing good on an “exam”. Because of my experiences growing up, as a teacher I want to create an environment in which all students feel as if there is an open space for them to think critically and take challenges and new ideas as something they are capable of, and not something that will scare them off. 

Students learn best in environments, in which they feel comfortable in and are encouraged to challenge themselves without fear of failure. Enhancing a classroom in which growing mindsets are favored and encouraged is important for a student to learn effectively, as it encourages thinking outside of the box and creates a foundation within students that their learning is not limited.  Having a classroom that revolves around responsive teaching, which is primarily letting the students guide the lesson with their own thoughts and ideas, can really create an outlet not only for the students to grow comfortable in the classroom, but also create that reinforcement that expressing personal ideas is encouraged in order to really critically understand an idea, further enhancing that growth mindset onto the students. Additionally, students learn best in an accepting atmosphere, that is away from tracking and implicit bias. Implicit biases are ideas that we sometimes aren't even aware we have within our brain, however it is important to create a classroom environment in which students aren’t discouraged by their capabilities. In relation to capabilities, tracking is also a factor that should be avoided when it comes to creating a good classroom environment for students. Separating students based on “potential” or “grades” can really discourage students to feel as if they aren’t good enough, or cause them to mentally create restrictions in their knowledge by limiting themselves before even attacking a problem, further creating a fixed mindset that should be avoided. Overall, students simply learn best in environments in which they feel accepted, comfortable, and feel as if the teacher cares for their learning. Incorporating lessons in which students are able to engage with one another and are allowed to express themselves freely can really change the over outlook a student has on their future courses, and even life in general.