My Philosophy of Education

 

      My philosophy of education is that every student has a great potential of achieving academic success. Educators should make greater efforts in improving curriculum design, instruction, assessment, evaluation, and much more. In most public schools in California, the curriculum is decided according to the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for English and Math, the instruction is designed to serve the goal of meeting these standards, and the assessments are based on these standards. The California Department of Education also designed the Content standards “to encourage the highest achievement of every student, by defining the knowledge, concepts, and skills that students should acquire at each grade level”. However, “individualizing the curriculum is vital to the future path of education” says Glatthorn et al. (2019, p.425). Tucker (2016) adds that  “school leaders are charged with responding to today's realities-shifting demographics, technological advances, special needs, and adaptive education policies and initiatives” (p.7). Therefore the “differentiated instruction and personalized learning” Glatthorn et al. (2019, p.425) is needed. Teachers should get to know the needs of the individual student. This can be done through survey, in-person talk, email, communication with parents, and school’s support. “When differentiating the content, the educator considers what students already know and adapts the curriculum content to be presented accordingly” (Glatthorn et al., 2019, p.427).

       It is an ongoing practice throughout the year teachers are coached, observed, or provided instructional feedback. The intended outcomes are to build capacity, improve the teaching and learning quality schoolwide, provide teachers feedback of their strengths and areas that can improve. The goal is to create a collaborative environment wherein teachers get accustomed to sharing lesson plans with administration, have a professional discussion for continuing growth not only as a teacher but for the students. The administrative team implements approaches that  best fits the needs of our students, such as increasing student achievement, closing the achievement gap, meeting students’ needs with equity, or preparing students for college and careers. Each administrator determines the type of coaching needed to support instructional strategies. Usually teachers are given informal classroom observation feedback via email soon after visitation. As a future administrator, I will make appointments with teachers to have a post-observation meeting to discuss the results of the evaluations, use the evaluation form based on the California Standards for the Teaching Profession (CSTP) to observe teachers. It helps to standardize the observation and evaluation. It also provides teachers a common language to demonstrate teaching standards, a straightforward self-assessment for teachers to reflect their own teaching, demonstrating the teachers’ strengths and areas of improvement, and contributing to teachers’ professional development. I will collaboratively select the CSTP standards with teachers as the focused areas of the observation and provide support to teachers along the evaluation process. The ultimate goal of the teacher's evaluation is to provide equitable learning opportunities for all students through improving teaching strategies.

       In my opinion, the public schools should allow students to express their belief in God and pray in school. It provides a moral foundation for students and staff. A stronger Social Emotional Learning (SEL) implementation and monitoring process should be provided to meet students' social emotional needs. The standardized Common Core curriculum might limit students’ imagination and creativity. Individualized or customized learning plans, other than Individualized Education Program (IEP),  would be helpful to prepare students for the challenges of life in a global, intellectually and socially demanding society. One approach to teaching ethics, morals, and values in today’s classrooms is the mentality teachers have believe their students’ ability to do great things that comes with engaging students in good quality instruction. “Believing in students is not simply telling them that you believe in them. These words matter only if they are true and if you demonstrate them by your actions”, says Curwin (2012). Hattie mentions believing in students “requires teachers to have high respect for their students and to show a passion that all can indeed attain success” (p.30). For example, I have been teaching Mandarin Chinese in a public high school whose student demographics are about 94.6% of the students from socioeconomically disadvantaged families, who are eligible to receive free lunch or whose parents/guardians of these socioeconomically disadvantaged families are mainly families who have not received a high school diploma. Another characteristic regarding our students -  95% of our students are Latino. Most students’ native language is in Spanish. Their second language is English. What inspires me the most about these students is that they choose to learn Chinese from me. I always praise them for how great they are because at such a young age, they have the ability to learn a third language and I can proudly say. I encourage them to keep trying with my smile, I praise their efforts with a thumbs-up, I give them chances to redo an assignment or an exam, and I foster a welcoming environment. After four years of learning Chinese, not only are they able to communicate with others who can speak Chinese, but they can also earn a California State Biliteracy Seal on their diploma. In addition the students are eligible to become a National Chinese Honor Society member, and participate in an overseas study program in China before the pandemic. Without believing in them, all these achievements would be impossible to accomplish.

        Believing in students helps build a positive teacher-student relationship. “High-quality teacher-student relationships are another critical factor in determining student engagement, especially in the case of difficult students and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds (Fredricks, 2014)”. As a positive interpersonal factor, teacher-student rapport is conceptualized as “an emotional connection between teachers and their pupils based on understanding, caring, and mutual respect” (Lammers and Byrd, 2019, p. 128). Learning Chinese can be difficult and challenging, but when the teacher gets to know more about the students, and embeds their interests and cultures into the lesson, students are motivated to participate more. “To achieve such positive classroom control, there needs to be close inspection of the teacher-student relationship” (Hattie, 2012, p.77). Harmonious rapport is built through small things. Many students tell me how much of an impression I make on them when I make efforts to learn how to pronounce their names, match their names with their faces, write their birthdays on the wall calendar, lead the class to sing “Happy birthday” songs in Chinese for the birthday student, and go and cheer them on loud and proud at their sports games. I also intentionally promote a healthy lifestyle by asking them if they had a good night’s sleep, what did they eat for breakfast, what do they do to reduce stress, and what sports or workout do they do. In return, they ask me similar questions to get to know more about me each day. We mutually enjoy the harmonious relationship with respect. They are immersed in the Chinese language without realizing they are learning one of the most difficult languages in the world. Our strong bond makes them feel safe and capable of learning and progressing. To explain the positive consequences of teacher-student rapport, Ibarra (2014) states that “establishing friendly relations with pupils enables teachers to enhance students' willingness to engage in the learning process”.

       Frost (2021) states that Social Emotional Learning (SEL) “was an important initiative, during the pandemic it has taken a front seat role, with educators and families recognizing that a child can't learn without these competencies first” (para.7). According to the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning website, “SEL is an integral part of education and human development” and its five competencies are “self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision-making, relationship skills, and social awareness”. Many schools have opened mental health classes that incorporated mental health lessons within the curriculum, and/or hired SEL counselors or coaches to support students and staff. I established a SEL committee composed of various stakeholders: teachers, administrator, district social worker, and district college and career coordinator. We met regularly to discuss how to support students and staff’s social emotional well-being. A pre-survey was conducted to collect the data to analyze their needs. Then we brainstormed methods to promote SEL and voted to incorporate in the classroom daily breathing techniques along with a guided video to assist. After two weeks, the post-survey was given. The quantitative and qualitative data reflects the benefit of this implementation. Some of the feedback were: “the breathing techniques helped me to relax and reduced stress. It makes me feel self-centered. Can I learn more? ” As a result many students are able to apply the breathing techniques when facing anxiety.

       In conclusion, my philosophy of education is that every student has a great potential of achieving academic success and teachers play an essential role to help students to succeed through various aspects, including curriculum design, instruction, assessment, evaluation, believing in students, and providing social emotional support. 

References

California Department of Education. Common Core State Standards. https://www.cde.ca.gov/re/cc/

Curwin, R. (2012). Believing in students: the power to make a difference. Edutopia. 

       https://www.edutopia.org/blog/believing-in-students-richard-curwin

Glatthorn, A., Boschee, F., Whitehead, B., Boschee B. (2019). Curriculum Leadership. SAGE.

Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the

       concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74(1), 59-109.

Hattie, J. (2012). Visible learning for teachers. Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.

Ibarra, S. (2014). The Effect of Student-Teacher Rapport on Classroom Participation. Cardinal

        Stritch University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Lammers, W. J., and Byrd, A. A. (2019). Student gender and instructor gender as predictors of

       student–instructor rapport. Teach Psychol. 46, 127–134.      https://doi.org/10.1177/0098628319834183

Tucker, K. (2016). Classroom in focus. Principal, 96(22), 4.