Running head: PHILOSOPHY

Teaching Philosophy

By: Anja Fletcher

CIG 697

University of Nevada Las Vegas

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TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

My teaching philosophy is centered on the idea that not only are student learning

outcomes the focus of my teaching, but that students must be active participants in the learning

process, learning from their peers as well as through experimentation. “Distinguishing

experimentalism from the previous three philosophies is a belief that the student is the focus of

the teaching-learning act” (Wiles & Bondi, 2015, p. 30). My role as a teacher is to provide

support and guidance as students navigate the curriculum.

Ralph Tyler proposed that educators spend equal time assessing instructional plans as

well as evaluating student learning. It is from this evaluation of student learning that changes

within the curriculum can be made in order to achieve a variety of learning styles. Using the

Tyler model of curriculum, teachers prepare curricula to accommodate a variety of learning

styles and patterns evidenced by their students. Teachers are self-reflective of their lesson plans

and work to incorporate new technologies and methods of instruction to better serve the learner.

Learning as well as teaching should not remain stagnate and improving upon lessons as well as

setting realistic goals is a primary function of the Tyler model and closely resembles my own

teaching philosophies.

Learning is described by the Schema theory as an explanation of how students use prior

knowledge to comprehend and learn from text as an overlapping process of organizing,

synthesizing, and integrating old and new information to develop new schemata, i.e., mental

organizational structures (Anderson, 1977). When the brain links new information with

previously known information (background knowledge) learning will occur. This requires active

engagement on the part of the learner. This active engagement is most likely to take place when

students are involved in developmentally appropriate activities that tap into student background
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knowledge and arouse interest. When teachers draw upon student knowledge and personal

experiences, learners are able to compare said information with those found in literature creating

independent thinkers.

As literacy educator, my goal is to develop competent, independent, and motivated

students that function at their developmental level by providing the information, skills training,

and models from which they can apply new concepts. Student motivation can be separated into

two categories: extrinsic motivators and intrinsic motivators. These motivators are driven by

friends, parents, teachers, and personal convictions. They influence students to earn good grades,

complete assignments, and participate in class discussions. Outside factors such as relationship

issues, problems within families and social life concerns shift the focus from schoolwork and

education, distracting students from the education process. But perhaps one of the main reasons

students are unmotivated is boredom. It is my duty as an educator to provide individual

instruction based upon an appropriate level of challenge, somewhere in between frustration and

ease. Vygotsky refers to this as the Zone of Proximal Development (Vygotsky, 1987). Learning

can be facilitated through a process of modeling, i.e., demonstration and explanation. Beginning

learners often rely on imitation initially, but with encouragement and confidence building

activities, they move beyond reliance on models and begin to construct understanding

independently.

Literacy is the act of being able to read, write, speak, and listen in a way that allows

people to communicate effectively and make sense of the world. In a 21st century classroom,

students are not only required to be cognitively and physically literate, students must also be

technologically literate. When we discuss the idea of making sense of the world around us, the

idea of literacy becomes exponentially more difficult to quantify. Students must not only make
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sense of what they are reading and listening to, they must be able to use it in a variety of

discourses. “A socially accepted association among ways of using language, of thinking, and

acting that can be used to identify oneself as a member of a socially meaningful group or “social

network”.” (Gee, 1989) Additionally, Gee states in part: “…so it's kind of cyclical isn't it that if

you have poor phonological processing you often have problems learning to read which in turn if

you have problems to read seems to keep you from developing phonological processing skills but

but I think the importance about that is that they are that they build on each other reading and

auditory and listening skills build on each other...” Thus, literacy is critical for students in order

to build reading, speaking, and listening skills that are essential within the classroom.

Research identifies one-on-one instruction as a highly effective means of intervention for

struggling readers in literacy development (Bloom, 1981). In my position as a long-term reading

strategist, I work closely with students to help them achieve reading skills appropriate for their

grade level. I strive to increase the reading capabilities of reluctant readers through small group

and one-on-one instruction utilizing school-wide reading programs, highly-relatable literacy

materials and resources, and ongoing collaboration with classroom teachers, parents, and school

administrators. Using a diverse set of strategies and methods, I provide individualized lessons

and the support my students need to learn to read and comprehend meaning from printed words.

It is important for me to recognize that students are as similar as they are dissimilar.

While many times we think about teaching students as being an equal endeavor, it should be

more important to make the classroom equitable. I provide support based upon the individual

needs of the student so that each student can reach content goals and learning standards.

Students are not blank slates upon which knowledge is etched. They come to learning

situations with already formulated knowledge, ideas, and understandings. This previous
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knowledge is the raw material for the new knowledge they will create. “The vicarious

experiences offered by literature can have a particularly significant effect when they are related

to problems and conflicts intimately involving the reader.” (Rosenblatt, 1995) This is the reason

it is so important for me to provide my students with reading material that students can both

relate to and see themselves in. “Reading, then, becomes a means of self-affirmation, and

readers often seek their mirrors in books.” (Bishop, 1990)

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References

Anderson, R. (1977). The notion of schemata and the educational enterprise. In R. C.

Anderson, R. J. Spiro, and W. E. Montague (Eds.), Schooling and the Acquisition of

Knowledge. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Bishop, R. (1990). Mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors. Perspectives: Choosing and

Using Books for the Classroom, 1(3), ix–xi

Bloom, B. ( 1981). All our children learning. McGraw-Hill. New York.

Gee, J. P. (1989). Literacy, discourse, and linguistics: Introduction and what is literacy? Journal

of Education, 171, 5-25. doi:10.1177/002205748917100102

Maheshwari, V. (2015). Ralph W. Tyler (1902–1994)- Curriculum Development Model.

Retrieved from http://www.vkmaheshwari.com/WP/?p=1894

Rosenblatt, L. (1995). Literature as exploration. New York: Modern Language Association

of America.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1987). The collected works of L.S. Vygotsky: Vol. 1. Problems of general

psychology (including the volume Thinking and speech). (N. Minick, trans.). New York:

Plenum.

Wiles, J. & Bondi, J. (2015). Curriculum development, a guide to practice.

Boston: Pearson.