Teaching Philosophy Statement - Rocio Rivas, MEd.
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“Mija, how do you write this word in English?” asked my immigrant father. At the time, I was a third grader learning how to read and write in English myself. Yet, I vividly remember the happiness I felt when helping my father translate his writing. Through his written words, he advocated for our family and navigated complex power structures. At this tender age, I learned the power and joy that writing could illuminate within our lives. As a student, writing gave me a space to wonder and form meaningful interpretations about the world. Now as an educator, I develop young writers through culturally sustaining and authentic literacy tasks to use their voice for resistance, hope and change.
Teaching in an English Inclusion setting for five years has taught me how to modify, adjust and enhance lessons for learners of various proficiencies, abilities and sociocultural identities. I have learned that each child brings a wealth of knowledge and talents into the classroom and my duty as an educator is to highlight that gift in the classroom. When we approach teaching from a strengths based mindset, we can motivate students to become contributors to the learning environment. Throughout my five teaching years, I have encountered various proficiencies ranging from beginning readers to senior level lexiles. Differentiation is a fundamental facet of teaching as this ensures an equitable access to learning concepts and materials. In literacy studies, differentiated instruction can be presented to students in a multitude of methods. Effective differentiation can include modified lexiles for learners, offering reading student choice, multimodal presentations, sensorial learning and project based learning. In addition to differentiated instruction, appropriate scaffolding helps learners practice learning tasks in a safe, comfortable learning environment. In my teaching, I meet students where they are at and explore opportunities for their literary strengths to shine.
When introducing a new concept or skill, I embrace the constructivist approach (Piaget & Brunner) of students forming new interpretations of content using their prior knowledge such as personal experience, cultural expectations, knowledge of the topic, and knowledge of the genre. By beginning lessons from the students’ prior knowledge, students can quickly draw connections from their lives to the content and form meaningful, relevant and transformative interpretations applied to their daily lives. I employ the literacy practices of Penny Kittle and Kelley Gallagher that weave workshop models, book clubs, poetry, and digital composition to build confident readers and writers. The collaborative workshop model elicits a positive writing community to transform students’ relationships with literacy. In this uplifting writing community, students learn craft moves from one another through sociocognitive theory (Bandura). Additionally, the strategies of Carol Booth Olson have effectively enriched literacy tasks for English learners through the cognitive reading strategies that help construct “visible” meaning. These strategies help English learners with text-based analytical writing crucial for college and career readiness standards. In short, my literacy instruction is student centered, inquiry driven, collaborative and scaffolded for students’ ideas to thrive.
In addition, my teaching aims to honor the works of Bell Hooks, Aja Martinez, Victor Villanueva and Lorena German. These scholars, visionaries, educators, and activists motivated me to further create a classroom that embodies multicultural inclusivity through opportunities for developing self-actualization. We must allow students to fully explore their identities, cultures, languages and beliefs (Martinez 2020). Through the writing of testimonios, narratives, autographic reflection, etc. students can express their experiences living under racism and oppression. A facet of this self-actualization process is creating opportunities that highlight student voices outside of the traditional classroom setting. We must integrate the community into our classrooms to emphasize the power and role education plays in literacy. Approaching literacy through a sensorial approach can highly benefit learners as students apply taught concepts to real-world contexts (Hooks 1994). Ultimately, the goal is to open opportunities outside of the classroom and have students reflect on the impact of their writing. This is particularly important for students of marginalized groups as their voice or agency is hindered by their socioeconomic position (Villanueva 1993). For this reason, I design lessons to give Latinx, BIPOC or first-generation learners a space to share their unique lived experiences through counterstories and cuentos. It is through the art of storytelling that we can embrace the beautiful commonalities of the human experience and dispel the misconceptions and stereotypes that divide so many. My hope is that my students can walk away from my classroom and learn that their words can influence, comfort, honor, and protect their communities.
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