Philosophy

The teacher demonstrates an understanding of how to promote learners’ growth and

development showing a commitment to using learners’ strengths as a basis for growth,

and their misconceptions as opportunities for learning and the recognition of the

value of the input and contributions of families, colleagues, and other professionals in

understanding and supporting each learner’s development

Teaching children to me is something very pure, and somewhat simple, though

still requiring skill and effort.  Teaching, at its core, does not need to be formal and

happens in so many forms.  In our society’s construction of public and private

institutions at times the pure foundation of teaching and learning is lost in a jumble

of policy, theory, and adult self-interest.  Even as I currently work as a formal,

classroom teacher in a school, I hope to keep this perspective of teaching throughout

my lifetime. When I look back on my Theory of Teaching paper (see Appendix A)

from ED 333, the core of what I believe and put first in education remains the same.

What is the foundation of education? The foundation of my teaching rests on

recognizing children have a natural ability to learn, acting as a partner with the

students in their learning, and focusing first on the overall health of my students.

Any parent, teacher, or person who spends time around young children can

recognize that they have a natural ability to learn. Children observe and experience

their world and it changes how they think and what they do. As a teacher it is

important to recognize this and realize that children have been learning outside of

formalized education for many years. Maria Montessori (1967) said, “We
discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a

natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being” (p. 8).

Children have the ability to think, learn, and create within their own minds.

One of the most valuable resources a teacher has is the very mind and heart that

he/she is trying to teach. Children are capable of adding to their learning; really

more than simply capable- essential. Children know better than anyone else what

are their thoughts, feelings, and needs. Teachers must encourage students to speak

and share. Vygotsky (1978) stated, “By giving students practice in talking with

others, we give them frames for thinking on their own” (p. 19). When students

share with others, including their teachers, their confidence in their ability to add to

their learning will increase. Teachers will gain a better understanding of their

students and be presented with ideas they may have not considered. On more than

one occasion I have used ideas of students as young as three-years old. One school

year we had no preschool teacher so I was asked to incorporate two 3-year old

preschoolers into the elementary class. I had planned on running the preschool on

one side of the divided wall classroom, while the elementary students did their work

on the other side of the large classroom. Our district is a big proponent of play-

based preschool, which I also support. However, the preschool girl very much asked

to be part of the elementary activities and join in their work; due to the other child’s

family travel, he attended very sporadically. So instead of doing separate work on

the preschool side, she did an adapted version of what the elementary students

were doing. This example is of various journal entries made by this 3 year-old

preschool student. She, along with the elementary students, would choose a picture
cut out of a magazine and write about it. As her writing was limited and slow, she

dictated to me what she wanted written. It was neat to see how her mind worked,

like when she picked a picture of a military event and related it to police officers

throwing candy during a 4th of July parade. The picture of the possum, and the

writing to go along with it, is an example of when she attempted to journal on her

own. This system might not work for every preschool student; this student was

very bright and tested in the top 1% at the beginning of kindergarten. However, this

student knew what she wanted, and I think ultimately the educational program she

helped create worked best for her. It is the teacher’s job to listen first, act second.

Perrone (1991) states:

Engaging the students means taking them seriously, acknowledging that they

are trying to understand the world in which they live and that what is

studied in school must make connections to that underlying intention. It

means being alert to students’ question and deep interests, using them as

starting points for the content being examined. (p.27)

The mind of children can present original and innovative thoughts, which

function both to enhance the learning of the students and provide an enjoyable to

experience for the life-long learning teacher.

My family’s trip to the beach yesterday demonstrates the ability of children

to think creatively and interact with their world in unique and exciting ways. I saw

my two-year old son playing in the sand and went over and joined him. We had

some typical sand toys- buckets, hand shovels, small rake, plastic hammer, etc. My

first thought was to do the typical sand activities for a young child, like building a
sand castle or digging a hole. However, my son informed me that we would be

hitting the sand repeatedly with our little plastic hammers. As we pounded the sand

for a few minutes, I realized how much I was enjoying it; the act itself was not very

stimulating, but seeing the joy in my son as shared this experience together and

knowing that I was participating in his idea brought true joy to me. He was learning.

I was learning.

When anyone sets out to build a building the first, and arguably most

important, task is to secure a solid foundation. Even though it is not as flashy or

noticeable it is what everything will be built upon. Without a strong foundation the

things built upon it will not last. As a teacher, the foundation should be the

emotional, mental, and physical health of each child in the classroom. A famous

model illustrating this point is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (1943). This model and

my philosophy both share the basic premise that for a student to reach his or her

full potential there are foundational needs that must be met first.
Given that children intuitively know how and want to learn, a healthy child will

reach his or her potential in the classroom. I have tested this practice with my own

children. In current education it seems there is a trend to try to push young

students, preschool and kindergarteners, into reading and other skills much sooner

than they are ready. I purposefully didn’t push my children to reach certain

academic achievements, such as being able to read while still in preschool. Instead,

I did everything in my power to make school a safe, enjoyable place for my students.

When I taught her as a four-year old preschooler, she had the ability to begin

reading. If I had wanted, I could have pushed her to begin reading as a preschooler

and she would have had some success. However, the interest on her part was

limited and I believe it may have exasperated her and only served to allow be boast

that my four-year old could read. As a kindergartener this year she connected with

reading and became excited about it. At the end of kindergarten she was on book

four, Pirates Past Noon, of the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne

(1994), which is at a second grade reading level. In addition, she has tested in the

ninety-seventh percentile and higher in nation-wide standardized assessments.

Learning is a natural experience that every human shares. Young children

often experience so much joy learning the simplest things. It is important that

teachers foster this love of learning and allow it to grow. They can do this by

respecting the ideas and words of their students and providing a safe, encouraging

environment for the children.

 References

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychological Review, 50, 370-

396. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0054346

Montessori, M. (1967). The absorbent mind (C. A. Claremont, Trans.). New York, NY:

Dell Publishing. (Original work published in 1949)

Osborne, M.P. (1994). Magic tree house: Pirates past noon. Random House.

Perrone, V. (1991). A letter to teachers: Reflections on schooling and the art of

teaching. Josey Bass Publishing.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological

processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

 Appendix A
Theory of Teaching paper

“Theory of Teaching and Learning”

Submitted to Jeffery L. Lofthus, Ph.D.

In partial fulfillment of the requirements
for
The Learner and the Learning Process, ED 333
School of Education

University of Alaska, Southeast

By Clint Sullivan

April 5, 2016
Introduction
Teaching children to me is something very pure, and somewhat simple,
though still requiring much skill and effort. In our society’s construction of public
and private institutions sometimes it seems that the pure foundation of teaching
and learning is lost in a jumble of policy, theory, and adult self-interest. Teaching, at
its core, does not need to be formal and happens in so many forms. Even as I hope
to become a formal, classroom teacher in a school, I hope to keep this perspective of
teaching throughout my lifetime.
On a personal level, I view my primary purpose on earth is to do the will of
God, and “this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to
love one another as he commanded us” (1 John 3:23). I see my role as a teacher to
be one of caring and service to the children I teach. First and foremost, it is the
responsibility of a child’s parents to oversee their upbringing; they have entrusted
me with a certain portion of this responsibility, which I take seriously. My hope is
that my teaching provides an opportunity for each of my students to find personal
growth and understanding, skills that will enable them to function well in their
society, a life-long positive work ethic, and a moral lifestyle.
Although the first place I look to for understanding when it comes to children
is the Bible, I will also be bringing into my writing the views and opinions of various
theorists and educators. As I view a complete education to touch on all aspects of a
human being- heart, soul, spirit, mind, and body. It seems a lot of these theorists are
from Western countries, and focus primarily on the mind, with a bit on the body and
heart, and very little on the soul and spirit.

Development
As I have mentioned in other assignments in this class throughout the
semester, I do not naturally go to some of the theorists discussed in this class. One
reason for this is that I believe these theorists views have the potential to cause
adults to view children and their development too narrowly. In my opinion, there is
not a set standard or rule for the development of all children. I probably appreciate
the theory of Erikson the most. He touches on some important aspects of human
life, such as trust vs. mistrust and intimacy vs. isolation. However, the stages he
proposes deal with aspects of the human existence which are more complex than
the chart he has given. For example, he says that in the first year of life a child has to
address a crisis, namely trust vs. mistrust. “Trust in infancy sets the stage for a
lifelong expectation that the world will be a good and pleasant place to live”
(Santrock, 2015, p. 19). However, to me this trust vs. mistrust dynamic happens
constantly throughout one’s life. A child may have trust established with his
parents, then a certain serious event affects that trust. In the same way, many of the
crises he presents are actually constantly taking place in a person throughout their
lifetime.

Learning Theory
When it comes to the theory of motivation in children to learn I share a
similar viewpoint as Maria Montessori. She said:
 “And so we discovered that education is not something which the
teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in
the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words, but in virtue of
experiences in which the child acts on his environment. The teacher’s task is
not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity
in a special environment made for the child.” (Montessori)

Although I believe children have a natural ability to learn and discern for
themselves, they do not have the knowledge of the world that an adult does, in most
cases. For example, a child may be fully able to grasp the concept of fire and learn
about it on his own. However, until an adult makes a fire in front of the child he will
most likely not know it exists. It is the job of the teacher, along with the parents, to
present the “fire” to the children. And just like is the case with real fire, the teacher
needs to guide the child’s learning so that he does not get burnt.
It is my opinion that adults do not need to teach children how to think.
Rather they need to set up an environment that is safe and gives the children the
opportunity to discover the thinking for themselves. For example, when it comes to
teaching my own children about God I plan to do so thoroughly. However, I
recognize I am not able to “make” them believe in God. That is in something each
person decides for themselves. In the same way, I hope to not create students who
feel the pressure to simply mimic my teaching back to me. I want them to take
seriously the task of learning for themselves. I want their learning to come out of
their own desire and conviction, not simply a response to pleasing me.

Standard Assessment
I found reading and listening to views about standard testing to be
enlightening. Regardless of the opinion there is a lot of time and thought put into
this idea of standard assessment. For me personally, although I agree that it is being
overdone and improperly in many schools today, it is not something I foresee myself
affecting me a great deal. My hope and plan is to teach the children I work with
effectively, the way I believe is best, and deal with the various tests as needed.

It is my plan to train the children for the specific tests as a small part of my
overall teaching. Learning how to deal and take a test is an important tool in our
society. For example, part of the requirement of being admitted to the MAT
program is taking a timed, mostly multiple choice test on a computer. Regardless of
my personal views about something like a test, I want to prepare my student to be
able to be successful in any type of situation.
In regards to specific obstacles related to tests, I see working with other
adults as the greatest potential for problems. As I shared in a lesson, about a month
ago I found myself in disagreement with a teacher on the ability of a student to try to
read a certain chapter book. She was basing her judgement on his DRA score, while
I was basing my judgement on working with him daily on reading. In the end, I was
able to present the chapter book to the boy and he did quite well. It is likely when
there will come a time where a vision I have as a teacher will be shot down by a
principal based on certain tests. Vito Perrone makes this statement contrasting the
value of test scores verse teacher’s understanding:
“Experience has also shown that the best person to judge particular
students’ writing, who can address constructively their progress as writers,
their writing biographies as it were, is the teacher closest to them. That
shouldn’t surprise anyone.” (Perrone, 1991, p. 73)

Foundations
One strong belief I have in the learning of a child is to encourage them to be a
complete learner. For example, I have heard of people finding a certain way a child
learns best then playing just to that way of learning. I equate this to being a
basketball player who is very skilled at dribbling with his right hand and therefore
never practices with his left. The end result is that the player will be limited as to
what he can achieve. Likewise, with my students I hope to encourage them to
develop many ways of thinking and learning.
To try to explain this I will look at the subject of math. There are lessons I
will teach and the students will follow along with a whiteboard. There are lessons
they will do with no paper or pencil, but completely based on manipulating tools. I
may present a lesson where they have to learn something on their own from reading
instructions from a paper. Some lessons may not have to do with things like
addition and subtraction, but on more a broad area associated with math, such as
logic. Recently, I have wondered about trying to design a lesson where the students
learn from observing me, where I use no written words or verbal speech. Their
learning would be completely dependent on observing what I do, and possibly
working with tools with their hands. I have considered the potential of this type of
lesson also being involved with the area of diversity. Children, to a very small
degree, would experience what is was like for a mute child, not being able to express
themselves verbally. I have a lot of specifics ideas about some of these lessons,
though I am still developing them. One view I do hold, is that there is no limit to the
potential that creativity can have on a teacher’s lessons. I hope to be learning and
developing new ideas constantly throughout my career.
One specific theory of Vygotsky, the zone of proximal development, speaks
about area an of learning that is only capable of achieving on their own, but can be
achieved with help from others (Slavin, 2015, p. 39). Although this theory speaks
about the value of others influence on a child’s learning, it also deals with the
concept of challenging the student to grow beyond what he is capable of on his own.
Sometimes I see students doing work day in and day out that is extremely easy for
them. Although I believe there is value in repetition in some areas of learning, I
hope to present my students with work that will require them to challenge
themselves, yet still be within their zone of proximal development. I hope to
become skilled in the area of scaffolding, providing the right amount of support to
help the student grasp a new concept; likewise, I hope to not give him more
assistance than he needs from me.

Discussion
 My formal education began in a small church school a couple of blocks from
my house. My average class size was between 10 and 12 students; my first grade
class actually had only 4 students in it. The second and third grade years were
combined. I remember being very motivated in school, partly by my desire to
achieve helped by pride. We were able to work at our own pace, though there were
certain standards we had to meet. This usually was not an issue for me because I
was far beyond where I was expected to be. As a second-grader I was doing the 4 th
grade work.
I remember there being high expectations on us as students. Specifically, I
compare the expectations of handwriting then to handwriting today. In second
grade one of my closest friends had to redo his handwriting book because it was
sloppy. In the schools I have worked today I have noticed there is a lot of students
who have very poor handwriting. When put to the test, they are capable of much
nicer handwriting but have developed bad habits. One habit I have seen a fair
amount is scribbling out something instead of using their eraser. At the present
time, as a pare educator, I do not address some of the issues sloppiness if it is
allowed by the student’s classroom teacher. As a teacher, I plan on raising the
expectations of some of the areas that seem lax to me.
One thing I have also noticed from students is a lack of focus and taking pride
in the work they accomplish. Many students seem to view school as a chore,
something that has to get done to do what they really want to do. Although there
were things about school I did not like, I remember enjoying school. I remember
appreciating the satisfaction that came from believing I had done something well.
This is something I hope to instill in my students. It begins, I believe, with the tone I
set in the room by my attitude. This is not a tone of unrealistic expectations that
burden the children, but one that says the work they do is important. One specific
thing I would do as a substitute is set a specific time, say 20 or 30 minutes, where no
one was allowed to talk. They could not even whisper to a friend to borrow an
eraser. Often during the time of quiet, I saw the children tap into the serious,
satisfying attitude I remember experiencing as a child. When I would lift the no
talking ban, the majority of kids would say in this mindset.

Diversity
The concept of diversity to me is not one of simply studying about the
minority culture of your town. Rather to me education is presenting a complete,
deep understanding of the world to your students. I do not plan on teaching about
the history of African-American people because they are different than me and are a
minority, but because I want my students to understand their country. This cannot
be done without teaching about African-Americans, and Alaska Natives, and the
Russian influence on Alaska, etc. There is obviously too much information out there
for me to be able to give a “complete” view of the world in the one year I have my
students. Part of the challenge in addressing diversity is deciding what and how
topics should be addressed.
One thing I hope to create, regarding diversity, is the freedom for students to
pose original ideas. To allow them to get their ideas out and process them. Even
now when I think about the discussion of diversity, it seems there are restrictions
on the discussion of diversity. There seems to be a lack of freedom that limits true
understanding. To really see growth in our society, people have to have the
opportunity to honestly discover truth. I hope to see my students really look
thoughtfully at a diversity of topics and feel comfortable sharing their views. I
believe the greatest unifying factor with people is a mutual care and respect for one
another.
One important aspect of myself as a teacher is to attempt to make myself
very knowledgeable about other cultures before I attempt to teach. One of the
Alaska Standards for Culturally Responsive Teachers states, “Teachers know their
content area and how to teach it” (Assembly of Alaska Native Teachers, 1999). For
me to be adequately able to teach and guide my students in this area I am going to
have to devote myself to continuous learning. I hope to really know and understand
things associated with this topic, not simply giving a quick lesson that just scratches
the surface. Most likely I will be learning along with the children.

Conclusion
At this point, I have so many visions and plans for my classroom that I
passionately believe in. The next year and a half, hopefully, will see me develop
these into concrete lessons and methods that will enable me to be an effective
teacher. When I imagine having a class, I like to pretend I have complete freedom,
as if I am teaching my own children at home. Once I have established what my
“perfect” teaching plan, I adjust it based on factors, such as classroom size, school
policy, and finances.
I do know one thing about me to be true- I am not afraid of trying something
new that no one thinks will work. To me, just like other areas of life, trying
something new may result in a failure or seeing things happen that were not
believed to be possible. In addition, I hope that I am not teaching the exact same
way after twenty years as I am my first year.
 Works Cited

1. Assembly of Alaska Native Educators. (1999). Guidelines for Preparing

Culturally Responsive Teachers for Alaska’s Schools. Published by the Alaska
Native Knowledge Network.
2. Montessori, M. The Absorbent Mind. Retrieved from
https://amshq.org/Montessori-Education/History-of-Montessori-
Education/Biography-of-Maria-Montessori/Quotes-by-Maria-Montessori
3. Perrone, V. (1991). A Letter to Teachers. San Francisco, CA; Jossey-Bass.
4. Santrock, J. (2015). Child Development (14th ed.). New York, NY; McGraw-Hill
Education.
5. Slavin, R. (2015). Educational Psychology (11th ed.). New York, NY; Pearson
Education, Inc.