Teaching Philosophy

The goal of a p-12 public education is to prepare all students for adulthood, whether that be
employment, military, going to a job coach or college. It is a teacher’s duty to give students the
proper knowledge they need in order to be independent adults; this includes students with
disabilities. Teachers should believe that all students can be successful. To be successful,
students need the right strategies/tools be instructed to them. To engage students in a successful
learning the teacher should have a student-centered learning environment and get to know the
students and teach according to their interest.
I believe that the key to a successful teacher is getting to know your students and building
one-on-one relationships with them. In one of my field experiences, I was placed in a self-
contained EBD middle school classroom, at Beloit Learning Academy. Beloit Learning
Academy is a trauma informed school and all the students in my classroom had some sort of
trauma. When I got to know the students, they slowly opened up to me and trusted me to be in
their classroom. One student went from hiding under her hoodie, to talking to me on a daily basis
and wanting me to work with them one-on-one. When students know, and trust you, they are
willing to go to you for help, especially kids with trauma. Getting to know your students also
assists with dealing with challenging behaviors. My cooperating teacher, Mrs. T, had great
relationships with the students and when the students had challenging behaviors she knew how to
respond. After a challenging behavior, students who trust you are willing to listen and talk to you
about their behavior. When students do not trust you, the student may act out more and will not
learn.
The core task of teaching is represented by a cycle of assessment, planning and instruction.
At the center of this cycle is the student’s needs. Keeping the student’s needs is vital to a
successful lesson. Assessment is crucial to find out what students do and do not know. It lets the
teacher know what the students did and did not learn. This is vital for planning, because it lets
the teacher know what they should teach. Planning prepares the teacher for instruction, while
keeping the students in mind. The teacher should plan to connect the lesson to the student’s
interest and the real world. Instruction is when the teacher implements the lesson to their
students. Assessment is then taken during and after the lesson to find out what the students
learned from that lesson to prepare for the next lesson. This cycle continuously continues as the
students grow and learn to prepare them for adulthood.
 Special education has many parts in the education system as a whole. One part provided by
special education is Response to Intervention. Response to Intervention (RTI) is a three-tier
approach in identifying students for special education. As you move up in the tiers, support is
increased. Another part provided by special education is having the student in a Least Restrictive
Environment. Under Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA), it is a
regulation that the student is in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE). From this act, a student
may be in an inclusive classroom, general education classroom, co-teaching classroom, or be
pulled out. Special education also provides Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and
Differentiated Instruction. Universal Design for Learning focuses on reducing barriers in
learning environments and increasing access to curriculum and instruction for diverse learners,
especially students with disabilities (Rao, Ok, & Bryant, 2014). UDL uses scientific strategies to
teach children to assist them in that lesson. Differentiated instruction is intended to design
lessons based on the student’s interests. Differentiated instruction meets the needs of all students
by challenging and engaging them by allowing choices by getting to know the students and
learning how they learn best.
My role as a teacher is to help students in special education learn. The special education
teacher can play a variety of roles; these roles can be the main teacher, in a segregated
classroom, pull out students for small group or one-one one instruction, and a co-teacher in a
general education classroom. In all of these roles, the special education teacher implements the
core tasks of teaching, which are assessment, planning, and instruction. At the heart of the core
tasks of teaching is the students; this is key to help all students learn. The students are placed in
their least restrictive environment, which is why the special education teacher can play a variety
of roles. Inclusion is beneficial to all students, but I believe in a student-centered instruction and
students should be placed according to their individualized education plan based on their least
restrictive environment.