Statement of Informed Beliefs

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Statement of Informed Beliefs Awesome Student Carol Billing EDUC: 204 Child, Family, School, Community Fall Semester 2011

Statement of Informed Beliefs

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Introduction All students learn differently and teachers teach differently. Teachers are faced with two curriculum types, one is teacher-directed and the other is learner-directed both of these methods can be effective. Teacher directed curriculum created by paying close attention to all his/her students even with those that are a little slower and adapting lessons to meet all levels. By using a variety of sources video, audio, and hands on learning can help a teacher adapt to these levels. Learner directed curriculum can also be very effective especially in those who need to need a passion in learning. For instance those who may not like to read chapter books may be more interested in Harry Potter. All Students can learn I believe that students learning is best when it is something that he/she is really interested in. A child who is interested in volcanoes may thrive better in reading with that subject matter type books. The students ability to learn can come from the parents and the home like setting. I think it is important to coordinate education goals with the parents to create a more personal learning atmosphere for the student. I personally believe that most of what we learn comes from teaching in the home. We begin by teaching our children the alphabet, counting on their fingers to learn their numbers, the sounds of letters, and helping them to identify animals and what sounds they animals make. All of this happens during the first few years of life. Human beings are constantly absorbing their surroundings. In these social settings they keep learning on what is accepted and what can they get away with, helping them to learn personal boundaries. Teachers can continue this learning in the school setting but may have a more difficult time if students are behind before they start school. Children do better in school when they start attending preschool and the learning of social skills. Teacher-directed curriculum is the main curriculum used in the pre-school age

Statement of Informed Beliefs and early years. The teacher must incorporate some of Howards Gardners multiple

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intelligences and adapt those along with the curriculum. They incorporate learning styles so that all the students will be able to understand and learn. The teacher will apply those principles that they have been taught, and then test the students so they can be able to see if the students are portraying the information correctly or if the student may have some learning disability. This would be a great time for the teacher to take an evaluation of what it is that he/she is doing and hopefully he/she will discover that there are more pros than cons to teaching. Schooling is a lifelong process that is directed by an institution, with a teacher overseeing the personal progress of the students. Ensuring that all students will learn is a hard thing to do, all students learn at with different paces, therefore it is the teachers responsibility to adapt the lessons to the students understanding abilities. Being the teacher you are kind of in that role, to lead the class on a certain discussion, like for example teaching a history lesson on the civil war, or even a literature class on Shakespeare, the class could take the discussion on a wild tangent, so It would be pertinent that the teacher have a solid foundation for the subject, so that she could lead the class back to the appropriate topic. Topics in a classroom need to be followed because the tests that would follow will have what the teacher teaches and what the book will cover. Teachers Expectations I believe that teacher expectations are important. First of all teachers are greatly looked up to by the students. Students may pick up on both intentional and unintentional lessons taught by their teachers. So it is important that the teacher is a respectable citizen and roll model. Teacher also has expectations beginning with a belief in the educational system, belief in the students past, present and future, and belief in outside sources like the parents or guardians of the

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student. A belief in the system means that the teacher should and be willing to trust her/his principal, and the superintendent.

Belief in the students is by far the most important belief, it carries with it respect. The teacher is the greatest influence in a students life, and their learning ability. I can remember a teacher that influenced me by her teaching methods. She would put us into groups and would give us an assignment that would require us to think and work together. Some students had a hard time understanding certain questions and others grasp the concept the first time, so the teacher decided to pair us up with those smarter students making our situation more of an enhanced learning environment so she would use Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). It seemed to me that she had with-it-ness and she came to our groups rescue. It was those times that she sought me out to help me or used another student as being my mentor during group work.

As I was completing my thirty hours at Greenhurst Elementary I was talking with the resource teacher Mr. Wells, he has a different perspective than all of the other teachers. Those teachers that have a normal class he told me that they dont really have the time to help those slow kids and they too dont have the time to direct their teaching to make their studies understandable to all the kids. They would rather just teach the lesson and hope that their student will understand it the first time. That is why I would like to teach in a resource room because I was one of those students that happened to not understand and so because I fell behind in class, and I was put into a resource room. So from my perspective I would have more patience toward those other kids, and I would be the one to see that my teaching would help

Statement of Informed Beliefs

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everyone and if not, I would take the time even after school hours to help. I would be willing to see that all the students in my class are grasping the concepts of what Im teaching. Students Social Ecology Theory Social Ecology is the way that children use their abilities to learn. Learning begins at birth by socializing with their surroundings like their visual, auditory, tactile, and other stimuli from their environment. This type of learning helps the students self-esteem which develops self confidence. There are a few Agents of Socialization that influence learning during their life growing up, some of these agents are: Family, School, Child care, Peers, Mass Media, and the community. The family is the number one influential on a childs life, for example everything they see and hear will affect their growth and development. Kids that grow up in a higher socioeconomic class will likely have more opportunities in life. Those children that grow up in the poor classes have parents that work more hours and have less parental influences. They also live around other families and children that have lower expectations. Teachers will face many challenges while they try to overcome learned helplessness in their students. Technology is another way for the student to learn. Children learn very quickly about technology, my son John knew how to operate a computer and the mouse when he was just 3 yrs old. He is socially involved in movies, television, books and the radio all of these things teach kids in a subtle way and to accept things the way they are. Technology may level the playing field for learning opportunities for the poorer classes if they can gain access. Bronfenbrenners Bioecological Model of Human Development of the microsystems talks about the family and cultures and the community and how all of these play a part in a childs life. Children as they are growing up will need lots of reinforcement. As they are developing and noticing their environment, the parents are giving positive reinforcement; for

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example as the baby begins to eat and they open their mouth, the parent will say something like good job for opening your mouth. If the parents of the child desire them to learn good behaviors they must model or shape that behavior. As the child continues to notice his environment especially the community of which he is a part of he will be seeing others behaviors and learning by modeling on what he sees on the television and by what he reads.

Cultural Diversity Instruction I think first of all, as the teacher would have them for an English assignment have them do a report on their culture and race, kind of like a short little biography about themselves, and their families, then for a history assignment I would have them recreate and this would take a few months to make, but I would have them make or build a model of their culture, for example the missions in California, I would have them build a mission for an assignment and then to go along with that mission, I would have them pick out someone famous for that time in history and give a brief summary about that person.

Cultural Assimilation is the process whereby a minority culture takes on the characteristics of the majority cultural group. This means that the minority has to be assimilated into the majoritys cultures ways, the melting pot adapting to their ways, for example learning English as the official language on public documents, English immersion programs in schools and celebrating American holidays. Cultural Pluralism on the other hand is mutual appreciation and understanding of various cultures and the coexistence in society of different languages, religions, and lifestyles. The majority benefits from coexistence and constant interaction with other cultural groups unity in diversity. The minority should accept and cherish the common element of U.S. cultural, political, and social mores by the public schools

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but they should still support supplemental education for their young, such as language training bilingual/multicultural education incorporating their native language as well as English or religious school to preserve their language and their familys cultural awareness and values.

Curriculum for all Learners The students are coming to school with the uniqueness of character, cultural backgrounds and their individual learning styles. The teacher too will bring with him/her their personal teaching styles, their expectations and their way of dealing with classroom management. Teachers are responsible for taking the program goals and turning them into action. The teacher also needs to carefully select the learning material like math, science, history, English making it relevant to the students understanding, taking the time to see that they understand and can make it relate to their lives. Teachers who try to work closely with each child in their class and have group dynamics are more likely to see success in their students and better communication. If the teacher is well prepared for the subject that they are teaching they will have no problems seeing that the child will learn the material, they will be able to relate with the student better and see that his needs are met. To assure that the students are improving from their original level of learning the teacher will be observing them throughout the school year, measuring their abilities with the assigned work given throughout the school year.

Conclusion As a teacher I will take in account for the students that I have. They may have different culture backgrounds or learning styles. I will have high expectations for the students, seeing that they understand. I will have to be watching each student closely helping them develop a love of learning by way of using different learning styles.

Statement of Informed Beliefs References

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Berns M. Roberta, Child,Family,School,Community, Socialization and Support 8th Edition 2010.