My Professional Teaching Portfolio

Brianna Moulton
Salt Lake Community College

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Table of Contents:
UEN Lesson Plan3

My Philosophy of Education...4
Philosophy of Education Works Cited6

My Classroom Management System..7

Portfolio Reflection10

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UEN Lesson Plan
This is the link to my UEN Lesson Plan. This lesson was created to help elementary
students learn the similarities and differences between metaphors and similes in figurative
speech. This lesson provides a puzzle game the teacher can give to their students following a
lecture to assess their understanding.

http://www.uen.org/Lessonplan/preview.cgi?LPid=39765

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Brianna Moulton
Dr. Ryan Miller
EDU-1010
26 April 2016
My Educational Philosophy
While establishing my educational philosophy, I discovered that I am very grey. No one
of the stated philosophies sums my teaching methods up for certain; for I am neither Perennial,
Progressivist, Essentialist, nor Social Reconstructionist, exactlyI am a bit of all four. My
teaching philosophy falls in all of these categories, some fall deeper in than others. Progressivism
and Essentialism are my two most prominent teaching philosophies with constructivism as my
most decided form of classroom environment and personal teaching beliefs.
Progressivist philosophy, as defined by Kauchak and Eggen, emphasizes real-world
problem solving and individual development (157). I believe this is an important philosophy
because independence in the students learning experience will teach them how to solve
problems that will arise in their future lives. How I will demonstrate Progressivism in my
classroom is to develop a democratic learning environment where the students will learn to work
together to solve problems as well as learn how to solve them by themselves. I will guide and
supervise my lessons to allow enough independence for the students own learning
responsibilities. This, I believe, will cultivate constructivism (Miller, 51) among my students
because this teaching method is directly catering to their own personal lives, and how they, as
individuals, will work in a team but also on their own to solve a given problem. This will help
the students learn how they function both individually and in a team, thus helping their personal
development.

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My second, and perhaps my more prominent, philosophy is Essentialism. Essentialism is
the belief that there are specific skill sets and knowledge that is essential to every human being,
and that everybody should possess these skills. Because I know the subjects as math, science,
social studies, and English are crucial to our society and its preservation, I know I will be
maintaining a steady essentialist educational philosophy in the course of my career as a teacher.
Lecturing I know is required to teach these concepts, and I will lecture, but with the right amount
of activity in learning these concepts, I think they may be able to further understand them. For
my students, I will be giving frequent feedback on tests and assessments, as well as allowing
them to correct their mistakes after showing them why they may have not grasped the concept
fully. This will cultivate constructivism in my classroom by helping the students come to a
knowledge of the reality of the world around them and will help them live effectively within it
both together as well as on their own, as they are faced with decisions every day, and will be for
the rest of their lives (Miller, 53). As I know these concepts are not easy for all students but are
also so important to them, I will do what is necessary to help them each understand them.
In conclusion, my educational philosophies are not entirely clean-cut differences; I have a
mix of them with two prevalent philosophies which define my teaching methods in the
classroom. These two types of philosophies, progressivism and essentialism, will create my
democratic, both student and teacher-led classroom. By having these combined philosophies, I
believe that my teaching methods will help me as a teacher better understand my students and
their needs, and will help promote their personal as well as their academic development.

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Works Cited
Kauchak, Don, and Paul Eggen. Introduction to Teaching: Becoming a Professional. 5th ed. N.p.:
Pearson Education, 2014. Print.
Miller, Ryan. (2016). Chapter 6 Educational Philosophy: The Intellectual Foundations of
American Education [PowerPoint slides]. Retrieved from https://slcc.instructure.com on
March 3, 2016.

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My Classroom Management Philosophy
On developing my philosophy for structuring my classroom, I found that my desire for a
good classroom community trumped my desire for complete order and control. In my classes this
semester, both my own and the one I volunteer teach in, I learned that mutual respect and
community will bring about the order and organization Im searching and hoping for in my
future classroom. My philosophies on environment, procedures, rules and consequences, and
parent involvement I believe will bring about my ideal classroom community.
My classroom structure will hopefully be set up in tables. I hope to have round tables to
make group work more convenient for the students, and since I plan on moving around the
classroom while lecturing, that will make things fair for the students not facing the front while
also establishing my withitness. In dividing responsibility to the students, I will have one
student at each table be the captain (or some other authority figure), and they will be the one to
gather papers and assignments from the students and give them to me or put them in my inbox
which I plan to have on my desk. Once rounded up, I will file the assignments in the inbox in a
folder for later grading. The duty of captain will change from student to student throughout the
year to give each student a chance to perform the captains duties. This will also teach the kids
about responsibility for oneself and others as well as allowing an amount of their tasks to be
dependent on others, which will build trust and responsibility in the students.
My classroom environment will be organized according to subject. On the walls, Im
hoping to put relative material on the subjects of Math, English, Science, History, etc. in different
sections. This way, I can rotate the attention of the students around the classroom, associating
different subjects with different places. My hope for this is that the students will learn to organize
their thoughts as I have organized the classroom. Perhaps by this orientation, they will likely

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remember more about the subject, having divided the subjects by setting, rather than having a
meshing of subjects on one whiteboard in the front.
I plan on using weekends and nights to properly plan for my lessons. Ive learned in my
classroom field experience that unexpected things happen, and these things deserve preparation
as well for a smooth overturn and adjustment. As a teacher, I will give these possible unexpected
things a place in my planning. I will have backup plans for each lesson, and will hopefully think
through each scenario and premeditate each outcome so that they may be reached despite which
course theyll take in the lecture. Of course, not all things can be predicted, and in the case that
happens where I dont have a direct back up plan, I know that I will take proper time, perhaps a
moment or a few minutes, to redirect the classroom in the right, or a right, direction.
I want to have paper and sharpened pencils always on hand in my classroom so that
sharpening pencils and borrowing papers will be less of a problem. I plan on having a
Preparation Station where there will be supplies where the students can get anything they need
at their leisure, even during a lecture when they may need it. To preserve these supplies, I will
expect the students to exchange their unsharpened pencils for the sharpened ones for a time in
need, and during a permitted time, will be able to sharpen their own pencils and give mine back.
Perhaps having a check out sheet for things such as scissors, erasers, etc. will keep the supplies
from disappearing. Make-up work will be tracked in a master-binder of mine and a calendar for
the student. Depending on the homework load, they will have anywhere between 3-5 days to
make up the missed class/assignment. I hope to have responsible kids who can handle
themselves when going to the bathroom and back during class, but in the case that it is an issue, I
will plan on handling that on a case-by-case, since I know I will have some students that will
abuse the freedom I give them.

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I plan on posting my rules in the class, and I will refer to it often. I will write my rules in
the we form to create a community sense right off the bat. We are kind. We talk it out. We
ask questions when in doubt. We are friends here. We respect each other. In the case that a
child raises his/her hand in class to ask a relevant question that other students may be thinking
but not asking, I will answer it. If the question is otherwise irrelevant to the lecture or is an
individualized question, I will establish the rule of writing the question down so that theyll
remember to ask it once the lecture is over. This way, class time wont be wasted on explaining
an irrelevant topic, but can be answered once everyone has moved on. When rules are broken, I
plan to take it to the student directly and not in front of everyone else. This will hopefully spare
the students dignity and also help them learn the importance of the rules.
Parent involvement, I know, will be essential to me as a teacher. I want my students to be
engaged in learning in class, but also feel engaged in learning at home. I want a system which
encourages the parents to sign the childs homework so I know they engaged in conversation at
least once over the topic of school. I also want the parents to write down questions they have,
and questions their children are having. This way I can know what exactly the child is struggling
to understand so that I may make it clear to them. I think the students will have a more positive
relationship with their parents and their schooling early on if I successfully establish this system.
Through all these ideas, Ive come to a personal philosophy of my managed classroom.
Academic responsibility and independence will belong to the student as well as my respect. We
will be prepared, respectful, organized, and courteous, as my ideal community should be. I also
value the input of my students parents, and will make sure they are involved in their childrens
educations as much as they are willing, and if not at all, I hope to increase that as well.

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Portfolio Reflection:
This semester I have learned multiple things in this class about becoming a teacher; and
more specifically, becoming my own kind of teacher. There are multiple things I have learned
about my own personal teaching style, and also that not all teachers are cut from the same cloth,
just as students are. Through field work, I was able to develop my decision on licensure, further
develop my teaching philosophy, classroom management, assessment, demonstration, style, and
define my attitude toward teaching and which level I decide to teach.
Before taking this class, I had decided to become an elementary school teacher, and thus
obtain a license the traditional way, and graduate at a four-year university with a degree to teach
elementary school. My opinion changed, however, when I decided that instead of upper
elementary, I wanted to teach high school English. This decision was influenced through my
field work as a stand-in volunteer for a fifth grade accelerated learning class, for I learned that
my passion for teaching only exists comfortably in the subject of English. This shift in my
decision influenced the way I would have to obtain my licensure at my four-year college. Now,
depending on where I decide to go, I may have to take the Alternative Route to Licensure and
work towards a Masters Degree.
The development of my philosophy of teaching was heavily influenced by my field work.
Through volunteering, I realized the importance of certain subjects in school and their relation to
the student in particular. As a progressivist, I believe that the students need to learn how to solve
real-world problems with the techniques they are learning in school. I think that is an essential
part of learning as well as an essential part to living. The students I worked with in my volunteer
classroom had to learn to work in groups on history projects, thus assisting their learning in the
subject as history as well as learning how to work in groups in a social aspect. When assisting the

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students in learning how to decipher story problems in math and convert them to formulas, I
noticed the significance of the subject matter to the students, as the problems related to day-today necessities. This, as a future teacher, I believe is very important to the students and their
futures. I believe it is crucial, and has defined me as an essentialist as well in my teaching
philosophy.
My volunteer classroom had a very similar management style to the one I wish to have
when I become a teacher. The students sat in groups at tables, and different subjects were
organized around the room on different walls, to associate the students learning of that subject
with a physical place in the room. This made it very easy for me to plan lessons and assessments,
which were both on the group and individual levels.
My demonstration techniques worked very well with the classroom as a whole and also
the smaller groups, and then the individuals. Although some students chairs were turned away
from the board, they were able to simply turn their chairs towards the front to listen and take
notes. I found it very easy to keep my withitness in this classroom because I believe my
attention was directed towards the eight tables instead of the twenty eight students sitting at each
of them. It made it easy for me to divide my attention among the tables rather than the students
themselves, and if something was amiss, I would notice and notice it quickly.
My teaching style was further developed through my volunteer field work. I tried
multiple different techniques at first to determine the best type of instruction for this particular
class. In the end, I decided that giving the students the liberty to put their own creation and
opinions into the work I had them do but also guide them to the desired end result was the most
effective way of teaching these particular students. I realized I loved giving the students
independence and responsibility while I guided and lectured. I noticed that the students really

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enjoyed having their own ability to create what their outcome would be. In fact, I think that this
technique really helped motivate them to do the work. I plan on allowing that kind of learning
independence to govern my teaching style if my future students hold similar gumption to the
students in my volunteer classroom.
In conclusion, though my decision to teach upper elementary school changed to teaching
secondary English, my field experience helped me learn a lot about being a teacher. In fact, the
volunteering gave me an idea about what I love teaching, which is English, and it helped me
decide to change my licensure. My volunteer hours this semester have assisted in my
development of teaching style, demonstration, classroom management, assessment, and
philosophy. Though it will be much different from now on, I know I can take what I learned this
semester and apply it to any given situation I may face as a teacher.