My Philosophy for Teaching English Language Learners
Beliefs about Learning
- I believe that learning is a natural process that extends beyond the school day.
- I believe that learning is a social process.
- I believe that all students can learn but they do not all learn in the same ways.
- I believe that learning can only occur when all students feels they are accepted and valued.
- I believe that learning can only occur when students are able to make mistakes in an atmosphere that is free from judgement.
- I believe that English Language Learners have the extraordinary task of simultaneously learning three things at once: a new language, a new culture, and new content in school. This is a rigorous and impressive task and should be treated as such.
- I believe that "people never learn anything by being told, they have to find out for themselves." (Paulo Coelho) I believe in learning as experiencing, something that crosses all language barriers.
Beliefs about Teaching
- I believe that I can't teach what I don't know. My first goal as a teacher needs to be getting to know each and every one of my students and it is my job to make the effort and meet each student where they are.
- I believe that the more challenges a student faces in their education, the more a teacher should be working to ensure that student’s educational needs are met.
- I believe it is my job as a teacher to foster my students' innate curiosity into a love of learning and an ability to problem solve, think creatively, to analyze, and discover.
- I believe it is my job to advocate for my students by teaching them how to advocate for themselves.
- I believe that it is my job as a teacher to figure out how each student learns best and tailor to their individual strengths and needs.
Goals for Teaching and Learning
- As a Special Educator, the students in my classroom will be of differing cognitive and linguistic levels. However, my main goal for all of my students is independence, developing an awareness and understanding of their strengths and weaknesses and how to use them to their advantage, and self advocacy.
- I believe all students can learn. One of my favorite quotes is by Albert Einstein. It states: "Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid." My students need to be aware of both their strengths and their weaknesses.
Execution of Goals
In order to foster these goals of self-awareness, self-advocacy, and independence:
- I will teach and engage my students in metacognitive activities to get them to reflect on what they have learned and questions they may have.
- I will set goals with my students and encourage my students to set their own daily goals.
- I will engage in think alouds and brainstorming activities.
- I will have high expectations of my students and scaffold them in all areas to ensure their success while fostering independence.
- My classroom will be structured in a way that encourages group work, collaboration, and curiosity.
- My classroom will have a separate library area with a variety of texts including: multi-lingual texts, multi-cultural texts, different genres (novels, picture books, magazines, newspapers, comic books, fiction, nonfiction, poetry, maps, etc.).
- My classroom will have desks or tables set up to encourage collaboration and group work.
- My classroom will have a variety of pictures and resources lining the walls to encourage student curiosity.
- My students and I will collaboratively come up with a list of goals for our classroom that we will use a code of conduct for everyone in the room to adhere by.
- Multicultural learning will be included in all aspects of the curriculum to encourage a better global perspective and to promote multicultural understanding and appreciation.
Professional Growth Plan
- As a teacher I want to grow in becoming more culturally aware in my understanding of the world around me.
- To do this I will actively seek out opportunities to learn about aspects of history, art, and culture to expand my knowledge of the world.
- My hope is that my love of learning new things will foster an atmosphere of class growth, learning, and maturation with myself included.
- I want to learn as much from my students as they learn from me.