Arriaga, Berenise

Philosophy of Education

My core values are family, community, love and respect. That being said, my core values

and goals for my classroom are:

● Family- Family comes first, and should a student ever have to put their own needs and

the needs of their family first, I will respect and support them by providing them with

accommodations so they can also meet their academic needs.

● Community- Everything we do in the classroom will serve a greater purpose to empower

ourselves and serve our community by becoming advocates for it.

● Love- Everything I say and do will come from a place of love for my profession, my

students, and my community AND my students will be able to break down the

complexities of their identities and learn to love themselves.

● Respect- I will foster an environment of respect, where anyone will be safe and welcome

to be whoever they want and however they may identify.

The main theory that guide my values and goals is Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth

(Yosso, 2005) and Blackburn and McCready’s reasearch “Voices of queer youth in urban

schools” (2009). Yosso’s model helps remind us that we need to recognize our students' cultural

assets: their social, navigational, resistance, familial, linguistic, and aspirational capitals (Yosso,

2005). Acknowledging these assets and incorporating them into the classroom will help students

develop critical hope and navigate systems of oppression. In addition, teachers need to foster a

safe space where students can be themselves and students can respect each other. Negative

classroom environments can give LGBTQIA+ students even more trauma than what they are

already experiencing outside of the classroom (Blackburn, M.V., & McCready, L.T, 2009).
 Arriaga, Berenise

Yosso’s theory and Blackburn and McCready’s research highlight the importance of giving

students a community-grounded curriculum and a safe space to learn about their identities and

express them.

Real change occurs when you give your students a safe space to:

● Question the world around them. Why is the world the way it is? Why is our

community the way it is? What do we wish we could change about it? How do we change

it?

● Learn how to dismantle systems of oppression. How can we dismantle gender norms

and expectations in our classroom, our communities, and our own homes? How do we

navigate systems not meant for POC (universities and colleges) and avoid the systems

meant to oppress POC (school to prison pipeline)?

● Learn to love themselves and their neighbors. Who am I? What are my identities?

How can I be an ally for communities that are often oppressed? How do we advocate for

change? How do we join movements such as #StopAsianHate and #BLM?

Overall, real change occurs when you give students the safe space to ask questions. That is why

it is crucial to always have an essential question when designing a lesson plan. As a social justice

educator, I need to ask myself, “What is the big key takeaway I want them to have?” By asking

this question and remembering my values and goals for the classroom, I make sure that every

lesson is purposeful and social justice oriented.

A couple challenges that I foresee as major obstacles to enacting my philosophy of

education is pacing plans and a negative school or community culture. As a social justice

educator, I need to address my students’ varied needs and be okay with periods meeting learning

targets at different paces. While pacing is important, especially when you have to fit in
 Arriaga, Berenise

standardized testing dates, it is important to be flexible and never blame the students for “falling

behind.” When lessons do not go as planned, causing a period to be behind their peers, it is never

because students are “unmotivated” to learn (Weinstein, C.S., & Novodcorsky, 2011). Rather, it

is up to teachers to think critically about their lessons and make sure they are appealing to their

students' varied needs. We need to think of creative and fun ways to teach our lessons and spark

our students’ curiosity. In addition, in order to combat a negative school or community culture, I

will include several community circles in my planning so students can discuss how they can be

allies for one another outside the classroom. I hope to establish a classroom environment of love,

respect, and support.

 Arriaga, Berenise

Works Cited

Blackburn, M. V., & McCready, L. T. (2009). Voices of queer youth in urban schools:

Possibilities and limitations. Theory into Practice, 48(3), 222-230.

Weinstein, C.S., & Novodvorsky, I (2011). Chapter 8 “Enhancing Students’ Motivation” in

Middle and secondary classroom management: Lessons from research and practice (4th

ed, p. 213-242). New York: McGraw Hill.

Yosso, Tara J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community

cultural wealth, Race Ethnicity and Education, 8:1, 69-91, DOI:

10.1080/1361332052000341006