Philosophy of Education
It is my personal belief that all children can learn at a higher level than the one they are on and that this growth is never ending. The zone of proximal development is continuously rising. As an educator, it is my job to help them achieve the successes that come along with this continual growth. Since these students are individuals, they each need to find their own way to leap up to the next level of reading or writing. I am here to act as a guide and make sure that they are making those leaps and bounds in a timely, positive manner, and to ensure that what they know is built upon until the foundation is strong enough for them to make their own additions. After all, there is no such thing as a “negative aspect” of a student, just an area that needs a little more work.
Teachers tend to forget that every student that walks through their classroom door is different; they assign work that limits creativity and expression. What stirs the imagination of one student doesn’t necessarily do so for another. I feel that a student should have at least some say when it comes to assignments, whether it’s creating their own or choosing out of a list, in order to allow themselves to connect to the curriculum. I feel that this flexibility for adapting instruction to the individual helps students foster self-expression, identity development, and learn more about their peers so that they are more tolerable and understanding of differences, allowing them to build a tighter community of learners.
As far as my ideas of assessment are concerned, I do not believe in starting students off with the highest grade that can be achieved. I feel that it is more effective to start all students off with a clean slate. By letting them build their own grade, you are giving them more control. As a teacher, I would not be removing points from them and punishing them for “bad” or “poor” work, but rewarding them for trying and how far they have come. This does not mean that I would limit my tools of assessment (I would still use the regular mix of tests, homework, projects, etc.), rather I would be using those tools in a more positive aspect then normal. Instead of saying, “Test time. Let’s see how much you remember,” it would be more in the light of, “Test time. Let’s see how far you’ve come and what we can do to get you to the next level.”