Educational Beliefs and Practices Reflection

B. Include a concise description of your personal educational beliefs and practices (suggested length of 1–2 pages) by doing the following:

1. Discuss why teaching is important to you.

Teaching is one of the great markers of civilization; throughout history, many progressive movements have been nurtured in places of learning, while reactionary, authoritarian regimes have often sought to corrupt the same institutions in order to protect their interests. No matter your aims for society, educational institutions are a key agent of change, such is their centrality to everything we do or hope to achieve in the long-term.

What role within this most crucial of influences does the educator play, then? A modern teacher’s job is not one of simply disseminating information, because it’s all readily available already with a click or swipe of a finger. Even if the teacher is dispensing knowledge, if the student is unwilling to engage with that information, the teacher’s influence is completely irrelevant anyway. This reality means that, as it relates to societal influence, U.S public education in and of itself is neither dangerous or revolutionary, but merely an indicator of the direction and speed of travel of the cultures it operates within, and the teacher's role is more like that of the tour guide, rather than the driver of the bus.

Such a declaration may appear to diminish the teacher’s role in advancing knowledge, but in fact it does the opposite, freeing us of the onerous task of demanding a successful outcome, and allowing us to focus on the real driving force behind education: wonder. I can't demand a student takes the journey I am offering, but I can make that journey as interesting as possible for those who do. It is this dynamic that makes teaching important to me.

In order to best facilitate this outcome, I see my function as a teacher as twofold:

a) To nurture and encourage the wonder, permitting the student to dream by introducing them to the full potential of knowledge.

b) To provide them with the essential tools they need to navigate that knowledge, such as critical thinking and communication skills.

If I can nurture the former, and provide the latter, I know I will help develop the kind of students who can create their own academic goals to aim for, meet and exceed.

2. Describe your beliefs as a professional educator about teaching and learning.

a. Explain how your beliefs about teaching and learning are supported by theory or research.

My personal beliefs about learning most closely align with constructivism, which, broadly, is the idea that knowledge acquisition is an iterative process, using information already gained as a platform on which to continue building. Some educators view constructivist learning similarly to Vygotsky, who thought that “children acquire their cultural values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society” (McLeod, 2018). Others see the process more like his contemporary Jean Piaget, who took the opposing view that “cognitive development stems largely from independent explorations in which children construct knowledge of their own” (McLeod). Like many competing theories, I personally see merit in both ideas, therefore my belief in encouraging wonder was partly arrived at because it readily accommodates them equally.

There are two reasons why constructivism aligns with my perspective on teaching. Firstly, experience should teach us that there are very few times when new knowledge arrives in immaculate condition. It is almost always an extension of something already known, or at least be contextualized within an existing schema. On the rare occasions when new learning is encountered with no context or forewarning, the task of assimilating it is almost impossible. It would be simply implausible for someone to begin performing brain surgery, just because they have great hand-eye coordination. Said brain surgeon may even struggle to make a simple cup of coffee if they’ve never encountered a French press before. Some of the most important and complex skills our species can learn - the skills we need in order to develop our craft or profession - are most commonly learned in the ultimate constructivist pedagogy: the apprenticeship. When a practice is so effective that it's been adopted the world over for several millennia with no real competition, you can be assured that the underlying process reflects a near-universal truth, so it would be illogical to conclude that the process of learning is predicated on anything other than constructing layers of knowledge.

The second reason this philosophy aligns with my own is Sir Tim Berners Lee. The internet has fundamentally altered our relationship with knowledge, to such a degree that we are already evolving in response, at least culturally. For centuries, memorization was the true marker of intelligence; learning by rote was the accepted pedagogy for not just centuries, but millennia. Now, given ten minutes online, a student with good research and communication skills can appear authoritative on almost any subject. Even as an English graduate, English teacher and all-around fan of the joys of language, I have had to come to terms with the reality that learning to spell is no longer as important as the ability to run a spell checker. The great thing is that once you embrace that change, far from diminishing the discipline, it frees both student and teacher up to focus on and appreciate the more enjoyable aspect of language arts - THE ART!

Students no longer need to retain information because it is – and, until the death of the power grid, always will be – at their fingertips. Instead of having to burn up brain power trying to remember if the i or the e come before c, they can let Microsoft or Google take care of the burdensome trifles while they concentrate on the quality of their expression. Of course, the logical end point of this is that students will never be able to work independently, but a modern classroom works to develop that skill anyway. My job as an educator is no longer one of imparting information, but of providing guidance. I am an assistant in their pursuit of knowledge, not the gatekeeper permitting access to it, and that means students are learning to work independently by default.

3. Describe a learning outcome you want to foster in your students (e.g., problem-solving, determination, standards).

A crucial learning outcome for students I work with is their development of critical thinking skills. There is no single result for determining this growth; critical thinking is more of a mindset that brings together several areas of knowledge, rather than a single skill that can be taught. Some of the key components of critical thinking are logical reasoning, evaluation of sources and advanced communication skills, and I endeavor to incorporate them into our regular practices.

a. Explain how you will use two or more instructional strategies to foster student mastery of the learning outcome from part B3.

When we embark on a new learning cycle, the first thing I do is activate students’ prior knowledge, immediately incorporating two of the three key components mentioned above. I like to begin with a simple quick write and discuss the responses with a Q&A. My aim is to create a fluid dialogue where we use the responses to form a connection with the broader learning objectives; when students are engaged in this process the momentum benefits everyone, while they are also honing their communication skills at the same time. During the Q&A, my purpose is to peel back layers until we can find a starting point that the vast majority of students are comfortable with, then begin building those new layers of knowledge from there. This approach also helps augment logical reasoning, as the students can make connections from a known starting point to (hopefully) an end point they weren’t previously aware of.

Another strategy I use to foster critical thinking takes place towards the end of the learning cycle. When the curriculum allows it (for instance, not during creative writing) I try to incorporate a structured debate. Advanced communication skills are a necessity here, but logical reasoning is also prominent, because I insist on students providing counterclaims to their adversaries’ points. Being forced to clarify your thoughts in this way helps to embed the salient facts, and having to listen to your peers aids both your own reasoning, as well as those all-important listening skills. Finally, a little friendly competition should always be welcome in a healthy classroom.

b. Explain how you will use two or more specific assessment tools or strategies to measure student mastery of the learning outcome from part B3.

Formative and summative assessments are an essential component of my teaching philosophy. In one sense, it appeals to the data analyst within me, because it quantifies growth (or lack of, if we’re considering a tiered intervention). Subconsciously, I believe the approach gives some students a much-needed boost, as they can appreciate their own growth in real-time. I am a proponent of matching formative and summative assessments though, because it dovetails perfectly with my preference for activating prior knowledge at the outset of a new learning cycle. If I write a five-question quiz as a formative assessment, the first three questions might only be concerned with the foundational information they should already have a firm grasp of, while the last two questions act as a conduit to the new concept. A quiz like this should be done the same day we have the Q&A, so even the students with less-than-optimal prior knowledge can learn from their peers and give good answers. The summative assessment should mirror the formative, at least in design. The first few questions should be simple, but at the same time require the student to consider only newly learned material, and the last couple of questions should offer a conduit to previously unknown ideas, just like the formative assessment did. It is these last two questions which incorporate another assessment strategy aimed at achieving the learning outcome of enhanced critical thinking skills.

Bloom’s taxonomy (Blooms Taxonomy) is basically a hierarchy of thinking skills. Revised in 2001 in order to align it more closely with modern education, the thinking skills pyramid begins with ‘remembering’ at the bottom, and ‘understanding’ one place up. Next comes ‘application’, followed by ‘analysis’. The higher order skills are ‘evaluation’, with ‘creation’ sitting at the pointy end of the edifice. There is a clear, logical progression to this order and, whether one agrees with each placement or not, the direction of travel is undeniably correct for a developing mindset (all former apprentices will appreciate this flow!). The design of both the formative and summative assessments cohere with Bloom’s theory. The first questions are only concerned with the lesser thinking skills associated with recall, while the last two questions of the formative assessment are concerned with application or analysis. I try to write the final questions of the summative assessment in a way that compels the student to take their learning and extend it beyond the scope of our class. An easy option is to ask them to come up with compelling questions they would like to answer if we continued with the topic, but asking them to make predictions about the future is also a fun way to gauge their mastery of both the material and their critical thinking, illustrating why designing assessments in this manner is an ideal choice for my intended learning outcome.

4. Describe your beliefs as a professional educator about building positive relationships with school stakeholders, and explain the strategies you would use to build such relationships.

The most important value I can give both my students and all the relevant stakeholders is trust. Students need to trust me to keep their education heading in the agreed direction. They need to trust my words and my values; if I say I am going to do something, they need to know I will follow through. They also need to trust me with their vulnerabilities, whether it's shyness or uncertainty, a lack of belief in themselves or a misconception about their relationship with knowledge acquisition. Students need to know they can trust me with all of these important elements of their lives, otherwise our relationship cannot be healthy or fruitful.

However, we all know that trust can only be earned, which requires time. I therefore go about earning students' trust through my actions. I try hard to be consistent, to avoid letting emotion guide my decision making, to communicate expectations clearly and enforce them fairly. I insist on the sanctity of our classroom space, that failing is fine but not trying at all is true failure. By developing an appropriate classroom environment, I can maximize the likelihood of students learning to trust me, as well as each other.

If I do this successfully, my relationships with other stakeholders will take care of themselves. The qualities I hope I exude as an educator are the same qualities other stakeholders should appreciate in me as an employee or colleague, such as openness and honesty, integrity and consistency, reliability and professionalism. Assuming I do as I intend, I should find myself in a virtuous circle, where student feedback only confirms to those other stakeholders what they already perceive; that I am student-focused, teach with fidelity and can be relied upon to remain professional at all times.