- Perspectives and preparation
- No one ever stops learning.
- If you keep your mind open, you never know what you might learn.
- Know the material before it is taught.
- Learning environment
- Respect is the key to the classroom.
- Discipline will be administered in the fairest way as possible.
- We’re all in this together, no one is alone!
- Instruction
- Sometimes, you have to learn things the hard way, but if you do, make sure you learn from those situations.
- Everyone can learn.
- Motivation never hurt anyone.
- Professionalism
- Be the teacher first, and then worry about being the friend.
My top ten beliefs about teaching and learning begin and end with the student in mind. Without the student, how am I to teach? They are the center of the universe, my world will revolve around them in the near future.
Of Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching, there are four categories, and I have beliefs in each category. First is perspectives and preparation, second is the learning environment, then instruction, and finally, professionalism.
Perspectives and preparation starts off with my belief that no one ever stops learning. I found this true of my life as a student, and now as a teacher. There are things I’m learning again as a teacher that I learned in elementary school, but they were long forgotten. As I was being homeschooled in junior and senior high, my mom who was my primary teacher all those years, commented often that she was always learning the material right along with me. If I think that I know everything that I will teach my students, then I am blinding myself to the real truth about teaching. To keep teaching means to keep learning, about the material, how your students learn, and how to teach effectively.
My second belief in perspectives and preparation is that if you keep your mind open, you never know what you might learn. What would it be like to live in a world where people only learned about their interests. If that person did not have the same interest as you, they might not be very good to get along with, or they might not be able to help you in your various times of need. If you were only specialized in one subject, you would not be considered a very ‘well rounded’ person with knowledge about various subjects, and conversation might be very short with them. However, if one keeps their mind open to various aspects, subjects, viewpoints, or even cultures, they can learn something completely new that could change their entire viewpoint about life!
The third belief I have is that the teacher should know the material before it is taught. I have heard it said, “Teaching is a lot like acting.” Actors spend their entire careers learning lines, practicing for the brief time that cameras are rolling, or when the show is going on and people are watching. How much more am I, as a teacher, supposed to know the material to be taught before I present and teach it to my pupils? This is a critical part in teaching which will require preparation that might be unseen at the time being, but might give a big payoff, with the students soaking in the information, instead of me mindlessly dumping information to them from a textbook. If I do not take time to understand, how can I expect them to do the same?
Next, Danielson describes the learning environment. With that comes my fourth belief. It is that respect is the key to the classroom. Day 1, in August or September, when the school halls ring with the sound of many feet excitedly entering the school for the first time all summer, I will expect no less than respect. In order to get respect from every student, I need to give them respect as well. Respect will be in the rules, no matter if the rules are written or implied. Each child will know that they have my respect. I want this statement to be true of me and of my class. This will hopefully diminish any acting up in the class, and leave more time for learning. A student finds it hard to focus if they are thinking up the next prank they can pull. However, if they know that I see them as a person, one who also needs to be accountable to themselves and others, they will learn that they also need to respect their peers who are trying to learn as well.
Also in the leaning environment, I hold to the belief that discipline goes hand in hand with respect, and that the child who disrupts the class will disciplined in the fairest way as possible. When the child starts to show off, I will come over to their desk, and see if they stop. If not, I will bend to their level and have a small chat with them. There is no need to embarrass them in front of the entire class. I will choose to point out to the entire class the groups or children who are modeling the behavior or response that I desire, and praise them, rather than call out the students who are misbehaving. Students in elementary desire to please and impress the teacher, so many students who simply seek attention will be able to show off how well they listen to directions, for example, to get praise and attention from me. Without fair discipline in the classroom, all learning might be lost.
My sixth belief, the last in the category of the learning environment, is that we’re all in this together, no one person is alone. When life gets you down, is it then that you usually feel alone? What if you had 20 of your peers and friends cheering you on? I want life to be celebrated and the students spurred on to do great things in the classroom. Everyone is learning the same things in school. They all are going to the same music class, the same physical education class. This thought applies to adults too, that we can help to make one another’s burden lighter by working as a team, but this would work great in a class as well. The children and teacher see each other every single day. How much more can we learn to work together and find a way to walk towards a goal together?
The next category in the framework boasts another three of my beliefs. The category of instruction starts off with my seventh belief, that Sometimes, you have to learn things the hard way, but if you do, make sure you learn from those situations. I can not describe the countless times that I have done a terrible job on a project or paper. The grade or disapproval I received was devastating. But what did I do the next time? Sometimes, I failed to do better. But other times, I did my best, and produced something I was proud of. If I had failed the first time, would I have wanted to do so well the second time? This can be applied to not only learning, but instruction as well. If you are not successful the first time at conveying the information to the students, then try at it a second time, but the worst thing you could do is give up. How much more rewarding is it when you climb the mountain and look over all the work you have done? Meeting the challenge of instruction and succeeding is worth the stress gone through.
The eighth belief of mine is that everyone can learn. With this in mind, an instructor will find a way to teach all children. Belief in your pupils can be critical to the success of the classroom, not only in test score, but their comprehension of the subject taught and how they live life. Not all students will be able to reach the bar set by standards or principles, but if the bar is adjusted to each student in a way that will challenge them with something attainable, they will see that they can reach a goal, and be spurred on to learn more and more, be encouraged, and not give up on school.
My ninth belief, the last one under instruction, is that motivation has never hurt anyone. At this point, it is time to break down why one is a teacher. What motivates them to get up in the morning and teach a bunch of kids? Is it the pay? Hopefully not. The coworkers? Maybe. But when a teacher has shifted their motivation to educating the future contributing members of society, only then does the motivation become real. If we as teachers and educators let the personalities, the smiles, the stories of the kids make our day, then we are sure to learn rapidly that it is not the pay or the coworkers that motivates us. It is surely the kids.
Finally, my tenth and final belief shifts to focusing on the area of professionalism. As educators, we are called to be teachers first. Then, and only then, can we become their friends. This transition between mentor and buddy might happen near the end of the year, or after the child has graduated from the classroom. I have experienced this in my own life, as my fourth grade teacher became my friend in high school as we served the kids of Mexico together on a church mission trip. She had my respect in fourth grade, but she was not my friend. If I was to let the kids be my friend, they would more than likely find a way to ‘twist my arm’ and use our relationship for their gain. This would not be professionalism. I will be a professional. I wish to keep it that way when I am teaching. Students should look up to me, as a teacher, not a friend. But a great friendship might hopefully bloom in years afterward because of the interactions had when the child was young.
No doubt, there is much to be learned in the field of teaching, but getting a firm grasp on it in the beginning is the way to start out on the right foot. With these ten beliefs for teaching and learning, accumulated within the past few semesters, and also adding to it daily, I hope to build a learning community dedicated to excellence, perseverance, and hope.
