My Teaching Beliefs

At this point in teaching career, which has barely begun, I find defining my teaching beliefs to be very difficult.  The beliefs and ideas that I have developed have strictly been from my education courses and seeing exemplary classrooms and teachers in books, articles, or movies.  I think that beliefs cannot be developed solely from research and there needs to be a certain amount of real life trial and error.  I know that I have ideas about what I want my classroom and my teaching to be like, but until I put those ideas into action I won't know if they truly work or will be valuable in my classroom.  Debbie Miller includes a quote from Shelley Harwayne about teaching beliefs that really strikes me.

• Classroom practice must be based on richly understood and deeply held beliefs about how children learn to read.  In other words, what teachers say and do and how they engage children in reading acts must have theoretical underpinnings.  Their practice is not based on a publisher's set of teacher directions or a handbook filled with teaching tips, but on concepts they themselves have examined carefully.

This quote embodies how I feel about my teaching beliefs.  I know they will not be deeply held until I have examined them carefully in action.  Simply, I think that my beliefs will grow from doing; teaching and learning in the elementary classroom.  

However, I know that I need to have beliefs about teaching before I get into the classroom in order to guide my instruction for my students and my learning as a teacher.  These beliefs will be based on what I have learned in my courses and what I have read from expert teachers.

The classroom should be a place that students embrace and that embraces students.

     I want my classroom to be an inviting place for students both physically and figuratively.  I want to create an environment that students are excited to get to in the morning and are reluctantly dragging themselves out the door when the bell rings at the end of the day.  I want it to be place that students want to be.  Accomplishing this is much more difficult than wanting it to happen.  I think that the classroom should be owned by both the students and the teacher, rather than it seeming like the teacher's space that students are in.  Students should feel like they should have their own space within the classroom and that each of them belongs there.

Meet students where they are.

     Every student comes in to the classroom in a completely unique position with a unique background.  Every student has different abilities, different strengths, and different things they need to work on.  In order to guide students in their academic and personal growth, I need to recognize and value the exact position that students are.  By doing so, I can determine the best way to connect with the student and challenge them to further their learning.

In order to truly reach the potential of learning, students need to take risks.

     If students only do what they know they can, they will never know what they are truly capable of. As a student, I was usually afraid of being wrong.  I was afraid that I would say the wrong answer in front of the class and I was afraid of getting a bad grade.  As a teacher, I want to help my students realize that mistakes are a good thing and that being wrong is part of learning.  I want my students to see errors as part of the process of getting something right, rather than as a set back in their learning.

The curriculum should be an asset.

     Over the past three years, and I guess my entire life, it has become a universal fact that the majority of teachers hate the curriculum they are given.  Obviously I haven't had the frustrating experience of trying to teach someone to read with materials that don't work.  Right now, I believe that teachers should use the curriculum in the most valuable way they can while supplementing it with engaging and worthwhile experiences.  I know that this will be difficult and extremely time consuming, but I know that it is also crucial to reach the potential of student learning.

Teachers teach life.

      It is difficult to out into one sentence, but is a very strong belief of mine.  Students don't remember teachers because they taught them addition really well.  Students remember teachers that changed them and helped them grow as people.  The life lessons curriculum of our classrooms is just as important as the academic curriculum.  Teachers teach students how to respect one another, the importance of work ethic, confidence, the importance of helping others, and much more than that.  Everything we say and do as teachers has an impact on the people that our students will become.

I know that the more that I learn, the more my beliefs will change and develop.  When I am in the classroom and experiencing what it's like to see students succeed and see them struggle I will learn what is most important about teaching and learning.  Until then, I'll keep learning and studying the ideal examples of seasoned, passionate teachers.

Thanks for reading!

Kate