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Esteban Sagastume August 10,2015Philosophy of EducationRandall BartlettWhat is the purpose of education? Who should be educated? How should students be educated? There are many different viewpoints from a variety of philosophers that may or may not answer those questions. Nell Nodding suggests that these are the questions philosophers and educators alike have tried to answer for hundreds of years (Nodding). I believe that everyone has the right to be educated regardless of social labels such class, race, socioeconomic status, etc. Similarly to other philosophers such as Dewey or Piaget, I also agree that education should be tailored students interest and child centered, with guiding standards to meet social economic demand (Nodding). Many of the philosophers we discussed throughout the semester may not agree that everyone should be educated as they may have been from an era of racial segregation or a time when individual with disabilities were viewed as being uneducable (Chinn). With that being said, it is essential that we be mindful of current political and societal values that shape our views of education today. I do not by any means consider myself a philosopher. To me, the purpose of education is to guide students in exploring their passion by being mindful of their individual abilities, interests, and culture, so that they can be productive and competitive in our current global economy. I would argue that in order for this to occur, we need to ensure that as educators, we foster positive and mutually respectful relationships from day one that will support students throughout their education and as they join the workforce through the development of a positive classroom culture. A successful classroom where students are able to learn and grow to their fullest potential is a classroom that has established a positive classroom culture between students, their families, and teachers. A positive classroom culture and environment plays a vital role in students’ motivation, engagement, and achievement in school (Patrick et.al). The development of a positive classroom culture begins with the teacher, which is supported by school administrators and then trickles down to students and their families. Three key factors shape my philosophy of classroom culture: 1) the development of mutually supportive relationships between students, families and teachers. 2) Flexible thinking and 3) teachers’ demonstration of passion and love for teaching through actions and attitudes. I know that being mindful of these three factors and implementing them in practice on a daily basis, will guide me in developing a classroom where students feel comfortable, respected, and willing to actively participate in class. Thus, maximizing every student’s potential to learn regardless of social labels and expectations.Rita Pierson said it best in her TED Talk, Every Student Needs a Champion: “Kids don’t learn from people they don’t like” in response to a colleagues comment, “they don’t pay me to like the kids” (Pierson). Teachers must develop mutually supportive relationships with students. I believe that this idea holds true in all places and situations where we need to collaborate with others. This same idea is parallel to surface relationships we develop in the grocery store line to the more meaningful relationships we develop at work. Imagine going to work every day and having to report to a supervisor that is disrespectful, negative, belittling, disregards one’s abilities and is not supportive of their employees. These employees will dread going to work, will have low morale, and will most likely not be performing their job duties with maximum productivity. I believe this is also the case in all classrooms: public or private, and low performing or high achieving. Just like adults, school-aged students need to feel valued and respected in their classrooms and at school in general. In doing so, students will be more likely to actively participate in class, demonstrate respectful interactions with peers and teachers, develop a sense of autonomy and value education. Patrick and colleagues in 2011 conducted a research study in which they sought to explain and understand how a classroom environment promotes students’ achievement, motivation, and engagement. In their research study they “speculated that students’ beliefs about and appraisals of their relationship with their teacher, and implications of the teacher’s actions for the student personally and interpersonally, may frame students‘ perceptions of the personal meaning inherent in school and schoolwork (Patrick et.al, 4).” In their study, they measured teacher support and promotion of mutual respect among others. In their research, they wanted to know how students felt about their teacher support. For example, did they elicit the following feelings: “This teacher cares about us,” “The teacher is someone I can depend on,” “The teacher helps me when I have trouble with my work,” “My teacher really cares about me,” and “My teacher cares about how much I learn.” They found that perceived mutual respect had a positive relationship to student motivation, engagement and achievement (Patrick et.al). The importance of mutually respectful interactions between teachers and students has been very clear in my four years working in the field of education. In my positions as a Classroom Therapist at Friendship Academy and Emotional Support Paraprofessional at Propel Northside, I had the opportunity to observe and work in many different classrooms and with many different teachers. Thus, I have observed a variety of different styles of teaching and classroom cultures. I have seen successful classrooms where a lot of learning and discussion occurs, I have also seen dysfunctional classrooms where little learning occurs, and more behavior management plans are needed. When comparing those classrooms I can say with certainty that those teachers are equally knowledgeable in their content area. However, the successful classroom were the ones in which the teacher demonstrates positive relationships and mutual respect with students. Those students demonstrated respect towards their teachers and peers, were more engaged throughout instruction, and demonstrated growth academically and socially. In the classrooms where little learning occurred and there was a higher need for behavior management plans to be in place, are the classrooms with a lack of positive classroom culture. In these classrooms, teachers were disrespectful, condescending, and obviously frustrated with their students and their lack of classroom management. Thus, students did not feel valued or respected and consequently did not desire to be mentally present. Developing these respectful and mutually supportive relationships is an ongoing process that begins on the first day of school and continues throughout the school year. I believe that it is important to develop clear classroom expectations and rules together with your students. I strongly believe that taking as little as 10 minutes or as much as 50 minutes a day for the first week of school to facilitate team building, building respect, and classroom cohesion activities, will serve as a foundation in developing those positive relationships between teacher and students and students and students. In my professional career, I have found it to be essential that these activities be revisited throughout the year to help maintain a positive and safe learning environment for students to learn. I feel very strongly about building positive relationships with your students, by developing team-building activities, because I had the opportunity to see the results first hand with my students at Friendship Academy. My role at Friendship Academy was to provide group therapy among other mental health services to students in my assigned classroom. The first thing that I noticed about my students is that they did not respect each another. These students had a variety of mental health diagnoses and the majority of them lived in impoverished areas of Pittsburgh where they felt unsafe and often felt the need to defend themselves. They had little trust in their peers and a history of negative experiences with their schools and teachers. The teachers whose classroom I was assigned to, the classroom social worker, and myself, worked hard to develop and incorporate team-building activities. We went from having a class with students that were constantly fighting and completing no academic work, to a classroom in which students supported one another and started to demonstrate growth academically. That is not to say that we never again observed problem behaviors in the classroom. Conroy et.al, in their article entitled, “Creating a Positive Classroom Atmosphere: Teachers’ Use of Effective Praise and Feedback,” focused on how teachers attend and respond to positive or negative behaviors. We must be mindful in how we respond to students’ behaviors. For example, if we respond harshly to problematic behaviors then we will most likely receive combative and harsh responses from our students (Conroy, Maureen A., et al). On the contrary, if we focus on correcting the problem by providing effective corrective behaviors you will get a more appropriate response. Thus, how a teacher presents him/herself and their individual relationships with their student may have a positive or negative outcome when correcting problem behaviors. Lastly, teachers and students alike are human beings. We are not perfect and our students know that. Sarah Lawrence-Lightfoot suggests “making oneself vulnerable is an act of trust and respect, as is receiving and honoring the vulnerability of another” (Lightfoot, 93).?Reflecting on this quote by Lawrence-Lightfoot, I believe it is very important for teachers to reflect, accept, and apologize to students when you make a mistake. In doing so, you are modeling to your students that it is okay to make a mistake and you are showing them that you can accept your error and correct it. You also demonstrate that you have a sense of trust in them and know that you can make a mistake without feeling embarrassed or ashamed. Thinking about your own relationships, I would argue that most people associate as little as possible with people they do not trust or respect. People also tend to not value those whose opinion they do not trust. With that being said, we should not expect students because they are of a younger age and have less life experiences than we do, to automatically trust us, value our opinions, and feel comfortable around us unless we give the opportunity to do so. The development of mutually supportive relationships goes beyond the classroom and building walls. It is the school’s job to reach out into their students’ communities, regardless of neighborhood, by bleeding school values and expectations into the community as well as community values and expectations into the classroom. Teacher and parent involvement needs to go beyond the traditional open house in the fall, report cards and parent teacher conferences twice a year, musical performances, and the phone calls home when students are misbehaving. Our schools need to do more to involve parents and guardians in their students’ education. Educators must grasp the meaning of the concept of shared responsibility for children’s well being. Don Davies in his article, Crossing Boundaries: How to Create Successful Partnership with Families and Communities, discusses five recommendations to help teachers and schools to create successful partnerships with the community and families and their outcomes through his research. He first suggests that we must “communicate smarter.” We need to be mindful of who we are trying to target. Some parents may read newsletters and others may not be able to. Some parents may have access to a cell phone or email while others may not. We must be mindful of these possibilities and exhaust other measures in reaching out to parents. Second, make the school or program more welcoming. Some parents may have had a bad experience with school when they were in school and they may feel intimidated when in a school building or at a school related function. Third, make the effort to reach out to those parents and families that you know do not want to go to the school. These types of parents may be those that had bad experiences when they were in school. Fourth, help parents and other community agencies to find the resources to continue to educate their children beyond the school door. Parents may not even know where to begin when it comes finding the resources that will also support their student’s learning outside the school door. This is why community partnerships with other agencies could be useful. Lastly, help families get the support they need to do a good job with their children. That is, help them take care of themselves. Davies found that schools with effective community and family partnerships benefit children, teachers, schools, families, and communities. He found that “children’s chances for success in school and like are greatly improved when families, schools and communities collaborate closely (Davies 76).” For teachers, they reported, “that they have ore time to devote to their teaching more time for individual attention (Davies 76).” For the school, it has increased parent willingness to support innovated changes in teaching practices or curriculum (Davies 76).” For the families, “when families are informed about how teachers are supporting their child’s efforts, families expectations for children’s success goes up (Davies 76).” Lastly, for the communities, agencies gain more access to the schools services and expertise, are able to reach more people they need to reach, and in turn may save money by eliminating overlapping services. Davies emphasizes that “successful partnerships can be found in all kinds of communities: urban, suburban, and rural (Davies, 74).” We also must not assume that parents do not care about their child’s education because they may live in a community that is “At Risk” and we must stop pointing fingers. This may seem like a lot of work, but it is not something the teacher should do alone. This can begin in the classroom and needs to be followed by the support of the administration and district as well. Just like Davies emphasizes on the importance of school, family, and communities partnership to support student success, the school and its district must work together to insure that their teachers receive the support they need to best help their students. In today’s classrooms there are a variety of students with varying skills from different socioeconomic statuses, ethnicities, cultures, sexual orientations, gender identities and abilities. Furthermore, we have students with behavior disorders and other specific learning disabilities in the general education classroom. In the article Flexible Grouping in the Classroom by Rick Wormeli, he states that effective teachers understand that “one group size rarely fits all” (Wormeli, “Flexible Grouping in the Classroom”). Teachers need to be flexible when developing instructional methods and classroom environments in order to support all types of learners. Wormeli identifies three important categories to assess and keep in mind when developing classroom instruction. First, we must be aware of our students Readiness. Where is this student in their learning? For example, if there is a student that is “struggling to read and make sense of content on a third grade level then I can not expect them to learn new content by reading text at an eighth grade level (Wormeli, “Flexible Grouping in the Classroom”).” We need to differentiate and develop instruction that will support this student and insure that he or she is working towards mastering the CCSS for that subject area without “dumbing down” the work. Second, we need to look at how we can help students to learn material in a meaningful way and spark their interest. We know that students comprehend and make sense of new material when it is meaningful to them. For example, teachers must have an understanding of what type of instructional methods (i.e., lecture, video, practice, etc) individual students learn best with. Finally, we need to be aware of our students’ Learners Profile. Wormeli, defines this as “any factors that affect a student’s learning (i.e., family situations, learning preferences, specific talents, cultural background, language spoken in the home, etc.) (Wormeli, “Flexible Grouping in the Classroom”). It is important to understand that one method will not meet the needs of all learners and I will need to be flexible and make changes as needed. Finally, I believe the way in which the classroom is physically set up (i.e., desks, bulletins, accessibility to resources, etc) plays an important role in instruction and learning. We need to insure that our classrooms are set up to optimize student learning. Students must have access to the resources they need to be successful and they must feel comfortable in their environment (Tomlin, “The Importance of Classroom Structure”). The third factor that shapes my philosophy of a positive classroom culture is that teachers must demonstrate their passion and love for teaching daily through their words and demeanor. I believe that students know when your efforts are meaningful and genuine. Consequently, leaving students feeling valued and important which in turn helps in the development of a mutually supportive partnership between students and teachers. Teachers must understand their purpose in the classroom and understand we are there to help our students. We must be able to reflect on why we do what we do on a daily basis in order to stay true to our philosophy. As Rita Pierson stated: “Every child deserves a champion, an adult that will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best they can possibly be (Pierson).” This quote resonates with me because I know first hand that it only takes one teacher to make a lasting positive impact on a student’s life. I believe that we must always demonstrate our passion and love for teaching to ensure that we are that “Champion” for our students. I believe that teaching is an underrated career that is constantly evolving to meet social and economic needs of a nation and world. We as educators must be mindful of the different learners, and be flexible; as we know that every day is never the same and that every child is different. We must develop mutually respectful and meaningful relationships, and demonstrate passion in our behaviors and attitudes. Thus, striving towards giving all students regardless of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, sex, or gender expression the same opportunity to learn and grow. To me, education is more than just teaching content in Math, Science, Social Studies, Reading and Writing. I would argue that in order for learning in content area subjects to be maximized, we must first develop a positive classroom culture for our students..Works CitedChinn, Philip C. "Brown's" Far Reaching Impact."?Multicultural Perspectives?6.4 (2004): 9-11.?ERIC. Web. 4 Aug 2015Conroy, Maureen A., et al. "Creating A Positive Classroom Atmosphere: Teachers' Use Of Effective Praise And Feedback."?Beyond Behavior?18.2 (2009): 18-26.?ERIC. Web. 3 Aug. 2015.Davies, Don. "Crossing Boundaries: How To Create Successful Partnership With Families And Communities."?Early Childhood Education Journal?25.1 (1997): 73-77.?ERIC. Web. 5 Aug. 2015.Every Child Needs a Champion. TED Talks, 2013. Film. Lightfoot, Sara. Respect: An Exploration. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Perseus, 2000. 93. Print. Noddings, Nel. "Philosophy of Education Before the Twentieth Century (Chapter 1) and The Philosophical and Educational Thought of John Dewey (Chapter 2)." Philosophy of Education. 3rd ed. Boulder: Westview, 2012. Print. Patrick, Helen, Avi Kaplan, and Allison M. Ryan. "Positive Classroom Motivational Environments : Convergence Between Mastery Goal Structure And Classroom Social Climate."?Journal Of Educational Psychology?103.2 (2011): 367-382.?ERIC. Web. 3 Aug. 2015Tomlin, Dru. "The Importance of Classroom Structure." Association for Middle Level Education. Web. 23 June 2015. Wormeli, Rick. "Flexible Grouping in the Classroom." Association for Middle Level Education. 1 Apr. 2010. Web. 23 June 2015. ................
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