Spurlock Master’s Portfolio

Philosophy of Education Statement

My belief that children learn best when they feel welcome, safe, and valued in the

classroom is the overarching philosophy that is necessary for the following five essential

elements to guide students’ learning. (1) The classroom environment honors individual

differences while nurturing a community that grows together. (2) All children bring what

knowledge they have to build on. (3) The teacher balances quality teacher modeling and guided

practice with social learning opportunities in all content areas. (4) Students have access to

hands on learning and authentic experiences. (5) The classroom is a language rich

environment.

As a person drawn to working with children, I have always innately known children need

to feel comfortable, safe and valued to fully engage with me, their educator, and their learning

environment. As my teaching journey has lengthened, the original ideas of my teaching

philosophy still resonate (https://drive.google.com/file/d/18Kvtja2zdokziUV1HsgvRNHXLXhCW-

ur/view?usp=sharing). Having taught for two years, I can now testify that is absolutely

necessary for a student’s learning success that they feel comfortable, safe and valued in their

classroom. What I have added to my practice in the classroom, through these first few years as

head classroom teacher, is the necessary practice of nurturing students’ wellbeing. This

attentiveness to student’s wellbeing is what humanist, Abraham Maslow, named Hierarchy of

Needs (as cited by Charles, 2014); It states that people are motivated by five basic needs:

psychological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization. With these needs being met a

student is both physically and psychologically ready to participate in the learning environment.

I have seen firsthand many students not ready to engage in learning because their basic needs
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are not being met. Every year I have one to two students who need an extra snack in the

morning to start their day off on the right foot. I provide time for them to have a snack as well

as greet each student with a smile and open conversation for them to share how they are

feeling or a little story from their already busy morning. Creating a welcoming, safe and valued

classroom where learning begins with student-teacher and student-student relationships is a

first step in a successful learning environment.

As the teacher, I embrace the role of creating a caring relationship with every student by

getting to know each one of them as individuals who have a story to tell, while simultaneously

sharing my passions with them. As the teacher, I focus on creating a safe environment that is

all inclusive to a variety of interests, levels, and types of learning. In class at the beginning of

the year, we (myself and my students) create the expectations of our community of learners

and refer to these important guidelines throughout the year. “At a time in human history when

the world is truly a village and when we need to learn from one another how to live together

and solve problems together, classrooms that enable virtually all members of the world

community to work successfully together seem a far better alternative.” (Tomlinson, 2014, p.

27)

(1) The classroom environment honors individual differences while nurturing a

community that grows together. The belief that diversity is normal and valuable drives much

of my classroom environment. I believe that “we are enriched by the presence of many voices

and perspectives in our experiences” (Tomlinson, 2014). As part of the daily habit in our

classroom, students are encouraged to teach/mentor each other via social learning projects, as

well as sharing personal experiences. Students are encouraged to share these personal
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experiences, as well as family/traditional culture, and are given opportunities to teach/share

with their classmates the discoveries they have made. Concurrently, classmates practice active

listening while participating in the respectful exchanging of knowledge. “Most problems of any

significance require the application of more than one mind.” (Johnston, 2012, p.94)

(2) All children bring what knowledge they have to build on. As teacher, I openly

champion every student who enters the room with a firm belief that every learner has a hidden

and extensive capacity to learn (Tomlinson, 2014). Piaget’s Theory of Cognitive Development

(as cited in Smagorinsky, 2013), explains that all learners have schemas, building blocks of

knowledge, to add to. Believing that students have both prior and gained knowledge and

experiences, I see all students as valuable humans that have potential to add to their learning

blocks, their schemas.

It is common practice in our class to discuss what students already know. This provides

a jumping off point for planning lessons and learning experiences to extend students schemas.

The student is someone who thinks, constructs schemes, and then acts in reality to make it

their own (Ferreiro, 1991). The student sees themselves as an individual who can figure things

out.

Tomlinson’s writings (2014) on differentiated classrooms informs a lot of how I guide

classroom practices and align my goals as a teacher. “How am I responding to the needs of all

learners?” is a daily question I ask that pushes me as an educator to learn more about my

students and the best practices needed to teach them.

Formative and summative assessments play a big role in understanding what students

know. Therefore, assessments are a proactive way to guide instruction allowing for flexibility
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and scaffolding for differing individual student needs. I can best scaffold learning goals for

students to experience growth in a stepwise fashion of effort followed by success (Tomlinson,

2014, p. 26). Using assessments to guide instruction allow teachers to be present in the

classroom (Miller, 2008).

(3) The teacher balances quality teacher modeling and guided practice with social

learning opportunities in all content areas. The constructionist, Vygotsky, (as cited in

Smagorinsky, 2013) believed that social learning is a part of cognitive development. He

suggested that the learner has the potential to grow within the Zone of Proximal Development

(ZPD) under the guidance of or in collaboration with others. This idea of ZPD suggests that

learning endeavors can utilize the support of an expert (another peer or the teacher) to best fit

with the learner’s current level of work. The experience can be a shared experience.

I incorporate many strategies in my multifaceted teaching toolbox. As I get to know my

students, I use teacher modeling and guided practice for teaching new concepts, but also

remember how powerful social learning increases the number of tools a child has in their ZPD.

Children and their peers co-construct knowledge by participating in small group activities like

creating a poster to explain their scientific process, reading a book together while discussing

and writing down the main ideas, or acting out a reader’s theater folktale. With this enlarging

of the child’s ZPD, students work with support from teachers, peers, and classroom tools,

scaffolded growth takes place.

(4) Students must have access to hands on learning and authentic experiences. Many

of our classroom practices support the constructivist theory that people acquire knowledge by

building it from what they already know in interaction with the environment (Kami, Manning &
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Manning, 1991). Piaget (1977) rejected the idea that learning was a passive absorption of

knowledge. He suggested and continued to prove with his research that learners actively

construct their own knowledge by creating and then testing their own ideas of the world

through experiences.

Students in our classroom share in the responsibilities of their own learning with a

variety of authentic meaning-making experiences. An example of an authentic experience this

past year was our class engaging in a writer’s workshop. Each student was encouraged to write

stories of their own interest while meeting with the teacher or peers to discuss and share their

story much like authors do as grown-ups. As student authors, we felt the focus and production

of writing increase with enthusiasm for writing pulsing through our classroom. Stations with

games, listening centers and exploration activities are part of the daily routine. These activities

allow for students to be agents of their own learning. Offering a variety of activities and

mediums to explore also allow students to find particular ways that suit their unique

preferences and abilities (Genishi & Honig, 2009). Allowing students, a variety of ways to build

knowledge and show what knowledge they have also supports a differentiated classroom

model.

(5) The classroom is a language rich environment. Children come to understand the

world around themselves by experiences with people and objects; children are active thinkers

that build their own knowledge with their experiences (Genishi & Honig, 2009). Therefore, our

classroom supports multiple literacies as well as provides a space for hands on creative

explorations of art, math, science and reading. Many types of print are accessible for students.

In my ideal classroom, I provide book tubs with varying interests, subjects and levels, a reading
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area for shared reading and independent reading, iPads with typing and literacy programs, and

a writing materials area with many choices for exploring authentic ways to use print. Within

the weekly schedule students have time to explore print beyond the classroom walls with visits

to the school or public library, the reading specialists’ room, or other classrooms. “Like reading,

writing emerges as children interact with people, materials, and print in multiple environments”

(Mayer, 2009, p.112). In our classroom we embrace a strong early literacy classroom one that

integrates multi-literacies, multi-subjects and a variety of experiences.

A variety of activities ensures the rich base of experiences, the

diverse contexts through which children learn concepts, and the
language needed to talk and learn about them. Variety also
makes it likely that children will find particular activities that suit
their unique preferences and abilities. (Genishi, 2009, p.110)

In my ideal classroom I first assess and support students according to their basic needs.

Creating a welcoming, safe and valued classroom where learning begins with student-teacher

and student-student relationships is a first step in a successful learning environment. From this

place of compassion, we can support following essential elements to guide students’ learning.
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References

Charles, C. (2014). Building classroom discipline. (11th ed). United Kingdom: Pearson Education

Limited.

Ferreiro, E. (1991). Literacy acquisition and representation of language. In C. Kamii, M.

Manning, & G. Manning (Eds.), In early literacy: A constructivist foundation for whole

language (pp.31-35). Washington, DC: National Education Association.

Genishi, C. & Honig, A. (2009). Children’s language: Learning words from experience. In M.

Burnham & E. Essa (Eds.), Informing our practice: Useful research on young children’s

development (pp. 101-110). Washington DC: National Association for the Education of

Young Children.

Johnston, P. (2012). Opening minds: Using language to change lives. Portland, Me: Stenhouse

Publishers.

Kamii, C., Manning, M., & Manning, G. (1991). Early literacy: A constructivist foundation for

whole language. Washington D.C.: National Education Association.

Mayer, K. (2009). Emerging knowledge about emergent writing. In M. Burnham & E. Essa (Eds.),

Informing our practice: Useful research on young children’s development (pp. 111-118).

Washington DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Miller, D. (2009). Teaching with intension: Defining beliefs, aligning practice, taking action.

Portland, Me: Stenhouse Publishers.

Piaget, J., Gruber, H.E., & Jacques, V.J. (1977). The essential Piaget. New York: Basic Books.
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Smagorinsky, P. (2013). What does Vygotsky provide for the 21st-century language arts teacher?

Language Arts, 90(3), 192. https://search-proquest-

com.ezproxy.uas.alaska.edu/docview/1327229192?accountid=44766

Tomlinson, C. (2014). The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners (2nd

ed). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.