You are on page 1of 5

Diana Miculescu

EDSC 7550
10 February 2019
Teaching Philosophy Reflection
As one becomes older in age and wiser, one realizes education is not memorizing
individual, un-related information, but a progressive process of understanding of intellectual,
social, and personal aspects of our experiences. Because of the current system of education, one
is led to believe that learning takes place in a classroom and that education prepares an individual
for a future place in the workforce. Educators must re-assess their view of education and learning
as a lifelong process, not something that stops after one joins the workforce. At work, individuals
still learn new information, skills, and practices, and this is just as important to replicate in the
classroom as is teaching and learning content-specific information. As for teaching content-
specific information, culturally responsive pedagogy is imperative in the classroom, as the
student body is culturally diverse, and individuals have differences ranging from ethnicity to
ability. These differences have affected the student before he even steps foot into my classroom,
maybe in other classrooms, community groups, and personal relationships. These differences
have implications for how or what each individual student learns in the classroom, as well as
outside of the classroom, for example learning within one’s own home, community, and current
or future work place.
One’s teaching philosophy is probably most determined by one’s perspective regarding
the purpose of education. Differences in what education means or the purpose of education in
varying communities and individuals dictates how an individual will learn or what the learner
believes is important to learn. My own education in a school setting has impacted the way I
teach, what I expect of my students, and what learning means to me. Furthermore, my work
experience has changed the way I perceive others who may not be as knowledgeable when it
comes to technology. The need to teach others and learn from others at my workplace has
changed my perspective on education from learning from a book to learning from other
individuals. Working in an office with colleagues who do not have more than a high school
diploma which is most likely not accredited in the United States, I have come to appreciate that
all individuals have capabilities and abilities to offer, even if they do not have a degree from a
university. Acknowledging that some of my students will not further their education is a post-
secondary school, I believe it is necessary to make it worth my student’s time to learn in my
classroom. While my area of expertise is biology, I do not believe all students need to learn
biology. However, I believe the skills, practices, reasoning, and critical thinking associated with
biology are important to learn. Such skills and reasoning if transferred to new experiences and
situations are beneficial to any individual, not just students who dream to becomes doctors,
scientists, or engineers. Including the goals of my students regarding their own education,
focusing on instruction which allows them to think, do, and create, I create a learning community
rather than a class where memorization individual pieces of information is evidence of learning.
This dictates how I teach and facilitate learning in my classroom and the instructional approaches
I use to accomplish a classroom for all my students, not just those who have plans for post-
secondary education.
In addition to making my science classroom a community for all students, human
learning is a social activity, rather than an individual one, and this too reflects the practices and
approaches I use in my classroom. Firstly, culturally responsive pedagogy supports the
motivation of students to engage in a classroom community. In classrooms where the teacher
pours the content into the students, students do not personally connect to the content and are
many times disengaged. Teachers must facilitate leaning and provide a reason to learn specific
content that is relevant to students’ personal lives. Culturally responsive pedagogy validates and
affirms the strengths of students’ diversity, is comprehensive as its uses cultural resources to
teach, liberates students from oppressive instruction, empowers students to do rather than
duplicate (Gay, 2010; Lipmann, 1995). Disposal of traditional teaching and pedagogy of poverty
of giving students the information and expecting students to absorb the content is necessary for
culturally responsive pedagogy to have room in the classroom (Haberman, 2010). In place of
traditional teaching, teachers no longer give students the information to be learned, but the
teacher provides opportunities for students to facilitate learning. Strategies include peer-
interactive instructional strategies where the teacher is no longer the one holding the information
to be learned, but students are building knowledge from different perspectives of other students
and the teacher (Ormrod, 2016). Class and group discussions and reflections provide more
opportunities for students to learn than spending time on lectures. Verbal exchange between
students and the teacher provides students with a voice in the classroom and encourages students
that their thoughts and opinions do matter. Through my field experience, I have seen educational
benefits of using class and group discussions and reflections to facilitate learning, as well as
personal and relationship development among the students in my classroom community.
Students are excited to share their thoughts and opinions verbally to other students in a group or
even to the whole class. Students no longer precede their questions with a “this is a stupid
question, but” statement, and students feed off the questions and responses of one another to
construct knowledge and meaning of content within their own lives.
Another strategy that promotes culturally responsive pedagogy is cooperative learning,
which allows students of different backgrounds and knowledge bases to work together to
construct meaning (Ormrod, 2016). Lev Vygotsky’s sociocultural perspective offers implications
for instructional practices as interactions of a social nature provide the foundation for processes
of thought and tasks within the zone of proximal development can only be accomplished if other
individuals are there to support the learner (Ormrod, 2016). In my field experience, cooperative
learning has been one of the most used teaching strategies I use to facilitate learning. To support
the effectiveness of cooperative groups, I can group students in heterogenous groups of different
backgrounds, genders, and achievement levels to support collaboration and engagement of all
students (Ormrod, 2016). This is easier said than done, but groups must be monitored by the
teacher to maintain that all students are engaged in the common goal of the group. In this
strategy, the teacher is a resource, not an information-giver. The teacher’s role is now to provide
assistance and scaffolding to students when needed.
Constructivism perspectives views learning as an active process where learners discover
principles and concepts themselves, rather than be given the information by an expert (Ormrod,
2016). This at times may seem difficult to carry out as biology covers concepts from cells and
photosynthesis to evolution and ecology. When possible, students should be engaged in inquiry-
based activities, and ask questions, explore, and reflect on natural phenomena. Using three-
dimensional learning, scientific practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas are
integrated to facilitate student learning of science (National Research Council, 2012).
I believe the most important aspect of culturally responsive pedagogy is maintaining
positive relationships and interactions with my students (Ladson-Billings, 2009). Sincere care for
the personally lived experiences of my students, not just their numerical score in my class,
support a classroom culture of personal attentiveness of my students that is caring beyond their
achievement in the classroom, but in their personal lives as well. Caring for my students includes
putting myself in their shoes and looking at education through their values, beliefs, and goals
even if they are outside the scope of science education. Seeing that all my students are treated as
humans with capabilities and rejecting the deficit perspectives that others may have voiced or
treated them to be that has impacted their autonomy and self-efficacy in negative ways.
Overall, I want to have a positive effect on my students regarding their education. In
teaching my students, I want them to develop a new perspective of learning, one that takes place
in the classroom, but at home, within relationships and community groups as well. By being a
facilitator of learning, I want to encourage my students that learning is a lifelong process and that
transfer of skills, reasoning, and critical thinking benefit an individual long after they have left
secondary education.
References
Gay, G. (2010). Culturally responsive teaching, 2nd Ed. New York, New York: Teachers
College Press.
Haberman, M., (2010). The Pedagogy of Poverty versus Good Teaching. Phi Delta Kappan
92(2), 81-87. https://doi.org/10.1177/003172171009200223
Ladson-Billings, G. (2009). The dreamkeepers: Successful teachers of African American
children. John Wiley & Sons.
Lipman, P. (1995). Bringing out the best in them: The contribution of culturally relevant teachers
to education reform. Theory into Practice, 34(3), 202-208. Retrieved from:
http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED374173.pdf
National Research Council (2012). A framework for K–12 science education: Practices,
crosscutting concepts, and core ideas. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Ormrod, J. E. (2016). Human Learning (7th ed.). Columbus, OH: Pearson-Merrill Prentice Hall.

You might also like