I believe teachers should welcome every student, meet them where they're at, give them opportunities to realize their special talents, challenge them to grow their knowledge, encourage persistence, build self-confidence — and show them how to support each other along the way.
Educational Theories That Guide My Teaching Practice
My experience working with teachers and students from preschool through elementary has largely focused on play and project-based learning. During my studies at Dominican University, I gravitated toward the constructivist theories of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky. Understanding Piaget’s Stages of Development supports the positive experiences I’ve had incorporating movement and manipulatives into lessons. I’m also drawn to Vygotsky theory to better understand my student’s social and cultural influences that may affect their interests and development.
Over the years I’ve learned that all students are unique with different needs. Howard Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences highlights the importance of differentiation in the classroom to support all learning styles. Using these theories as a foundation, my curriculum centers on age appropriate lessons, building upon student’s life experience and prior knowledge, and engaging students’ natural intelligence while encouraging cognitive demand to develop skills for the 21st century.
Tools for Success
Built-in supports help students meet goals, boost their confidence, and improve learning outcomes.
In the video below students learn how to create a paragraph that restates part of the question within an answer statement, cite evidence from the text, and then explain how this proves their answer. In this assessment, I give students three tools to help them be successful, 1) a reference sheet noting each step, 2) a graphic organizer, and 3) a rubric. Students may also choose the story they want to read.
Watch how I work with students to answer an inference question:
Inference Second Day_Rubrik clip D.mov
The Inclusive Environment
An inclusive learning environment gives everyone a chance to achieve at their level. When students feel safe, they're ready to learn. This means setting the tone for acceptance of all students regardless of gender, ethnicity, or developmental ability. Every student will have a chance to achieve at their level when differentiated instruction and additional support are provided.
Support all learning styles
Allow for multiple ways to present information
Learn about students interest and connect with families and caregivers
No bullying/teasing policy
Student driven classroom rules and agreement
Support LGBTQ rights and gender identity
Encourage sharing ideas and listening skills in morning meetings and in lesson discourse
Work with SPED teachers for push-in instruction
Make technology available to all students
Incorporate ELL supports into daily lesson plans
Engage All Learners
Providing opportunities for students to engage socially creates more opportunities for teachable moments. Students making connections with classmates during choice time, putting on class plays, organizing weekly class cooks where small dishes are planned and prepared by a group builds classroom community and helps students learn important social skills.
Project/inquiry based learning to incorporate UDL Principles
Group work and pair share
Fieldtrips
Guest speakers, book clubs, writer's workshops, math club
Provide interesting relevant topics that match student's interests
Use manipulatives and visuals for all types of lessons
Cross over lessons in math, science and humanities
Give students say in what they learn and how they present their knowledge
Student who struggle with a page full of problems can show their knowledge in other ways.
Support Social Emotional Learning
Teach how the brain works and what triggers us.
Practice mindfulness and exercises for grounding emotions
Teach body awareness, and use breath to release tension
Use peace talks to scaffold conflict resolution
Post sentence frames to help students express themselves
Provide multiple opportunities for social interaction
Teach self awareness, "How do my actions affect others?"
Persistence and Work Ethic
"I don't know" is the first step to learning
Display steps how to complete work, and give examples
Set clear goals and expectations
Give students positive feedback for effort
Encourage positivity, both verbal and visual
Challenge students to take their learning to the next level
Ask open ended questions to engage learning
Model integrity
Encourage students to be responsible and take ownership
Make class jobs available to all students
Learn What Makes Students Tick
Matching projects with students’ interests while introducing new ideas helps them engage and build a strong foundation for learning and makes teaching even more rewarding.
Kinesthetic Learning
The balance beam above is a hopping game for Kinders to learn new words. Learning via physical activity is a key technique to aid recall.
Buddy Time
The 4th graders and Kindergarteners above passing a sponge with their elbows. Buddy time builds their relationships, communication skills and proprioceptive awareness .
Friday afternoon choice time which includes cooks happens weekly to give students time to build friendships and try new things. During choice time 4 students prepare a simple dish to share with the class. Parents are encouraged to assist. Student plan and prepare the food. It's a great opportunity to share dishes from other cultures.
Learn more about my teaching philosophy...
My essay below, The Spoon, looks at the greater impact of education on society. The essay arose from a Dominican class assignment to find an object that represents our philosophy on education.
See my Teaching Philosophy Top 5 List
The Spoon
A Symbol of Education
In my view, early education is an essential tool for a healthy society, being the building block to personal growth, achievement, and community.
Opening my kitchen drawer to find a utensil, I realize how necessary these tools are for creating a meal that nourishes our bodies and minds, bringing people together in good times and bad, building community and enriching our lives. As I look more closely, I think about how learning began with the spoon. At first, we pick up the spoon, unsure what it’s used for, but our curiosity is sparked. Soon we're using it to dig and carry small objects, eventually feeding ourselves. It's used across cultures and in every cuisine. Its universal use crosses borders and brings people together. The spoon is the most essential tool in our drawer because it is the building block to the fork, the knife, the spatula and so on.
Much like a spoon, elementary school education at an early age sparks curiosity to try new things and learn. It's an essential tool that's part of a larger "community of tools" that build skills, exposes learners to new ideas, enriches lives and creates community, nourishing the mind, body and soul.
We often take the spoon for granted, forgetting its purpose and how it helped shape our lives. Imagine if we didn’t have it and first tried eating with a more advanced tool like a fork. What difference would this make in our development if we struggled with this experience and never ventured on to use other utensils? In this way, education also provides the necessary building blocks starting with pre-k and kindergarten, recognizing the needs of children from an early age, cultivating their experiences at levels that are age appropriate and encourage future exploration and learning.
An ideal learning environment gives us the opportunity to start with a spoon, explore possibilities, have fun while learning and sharing our ideas with others from varying cultures and backgrounds. This makes our lives more rich in meaning and purpose.
My Teaching Philosophy Top Five
1
Connect Before You Direct
I learned this approach working at our children's preschool. The school taught a method known as Hand in Hand Parenting. Connecting with each student is the only way to reach them, understand what motivates them and help them learn and grow. I take every opportunity to get to know my students and their families, through parent teacher conferences, after school events, and engaging with students on the playground. Creating connections builds trust and helps me work with them and their parents to achieve important academic and social goals.
2
Teach Lessons in Small Bites
Through student teaching and my own teaching experience I've learned that shorter lessons with clear direction allows students more time to work independently with the material, giving them the opportunity to find answers on their own. This helps them build confidence and retain the information.
3
Create a Caring Environment
It's my responsibility to create a safe learning environment. I establish this in collaboration with my students, asking them to decide what kind of classroom environment they would like. I write their words on a poster and ask them to draw or print images to attach to it, giving them ownership of the document. The next step is to teach them tools for managing their emotions and behavior. Throughout the year the students grow individually and as a classroom community, building trust, learning from mistakes and caring for one another.
4
Meet the Students Where They're At
All children have different strengths and weaknesses, and all learn at their own pace. Having a child with special needs, I'm very aware how stressful school can be for some students. Now, as a teacher developing my craft, I've found several ways to adjust, slow down, find resources, and differentiate my lessons— putting in place UDL principles to engage all students.
5
"I Don't Know" is a Legitimate Answer
I want every student in my class to try even if they don't know the answer. Many students feel that giving the right answer is the point of school—Sorry kids, not in my class. We're human. We make mistakes. And we must learn to be okay with that, even laugh at ourselves once in a while. If we're really trying hard, we'll all make mistakes, learn from them and move on. I model this every day in my math class. If I call on a student and get that fearful look I say, "It's okay to say 'I don't know', it's a legitimate answer, go ahead... you can say it". Then I thank them for trying and we continue. In a couple weeks kids are raising their hands even before I've completed my question.