reflection, competence, and service

Prompt: As the semester is ending, do you find yourself more able than you were in September to identify yourself as a reflective, competent and caring teacher? What evidence do you see of  these qualities as they are present and growing in you?

Now that the semester is ending and my time in the classroom for student teaching has come to a close, I am enjoying (as I said in my previous post) having more time to reflect on that experience and to intentionally think ahead about what I want my educational life post-Houghton to look like. I do believe that I am more able to identify myself as a reflective, competent, and caring teacher now. In September, I knew roughly what putting those attributes into practice would look like, but I wasn’t exactly sure how it would look for me personally. I think that now, I can better identify myself in these ways, but I am definitely still growing and learning.

I can see that I am a reflective teacher through the many times that I made mistakes this semester and also in the many times that I found success in some of my teaching practices. I was able to think about my lessons objectively and write down what went well and what did not go so well and continue doing the things that were going well and change the things that were not going so well. I find myself to be a meaningful reflective teacher because I was able to effectively change what did not go so well for my future lessons. I learned that reflection is important to try to teach my students, too. I tried to teach them how to go back and look at their work and see if they had done their best work or if there was more that they could do.

During student teaching, I was in a bilingual classroom. Before student teaching even started, I had asked to be put into a bilingual class because I wanted to see how it worked in the city of Buffalo and wanted a chance to practice my Spanish with native Spanish speakers. In my classroom, all of the instruction is delivered in Spanish with the exception of an hour of ESL at the end of the day (taught by another teacher) and thus, needless to say, I definitely had a chance to practice my Spanish! I think that this is the area in which I can see myself as a competent teacher the most. I was able to look up definitions and phrases and vocabulary for all of things I know how to say in English, in Spanish. I was also competent in the ways that I sought to connect with my students, all of whom were Puerto Rican, and shared a different culture than my own. I felt competent in being able to navigate the testing and the curriculum and being able to find ways to make content meaningful and interesting and engaging for my students, especially in the teaching of my unit.

Many of my students in my classroom were facing very rough situations at home this fall. I had a student who was living in a shelter, one who was moving away soon due to a Mom’s urgent surgery, one whose father is in jail, and the list continues. Upon getting to know my students and finding out these things about them, I found that it reminded me to be even more of a caring teacher than I felt like I was previously. I took after my teacher’s example of giving out food for the weekends and giving some students extra snacks and taking time in the mornings to check in with my students and see how they are doing. I also collaborated with my students who were in particularly difficult situations in terms of getting assignments done since they needed a little bit of a grace period. The behavior of my students was challenging, at best, and I think I needed to remember that they behave the way they do for a reason, and in trying to figure that out, I believe I demonstrated being a caring teacher.

I have in no way suceeded at being reflective, competent, or caring. I have a long way to go. I am too often quick to jump to conclusions without properly reflecting on the whole situation, highly incompetent and needing of much time to learn skills and information, and oftentimes selfish and impatient instead of being caring. I am thankful that I can pray and trust that God will continue to make me more like Himself and that He gives grace abundantly when I fail.

claim 7: thoughts about the teaching profession through a Christian lens

Prompt: What sorts of thoughts about classrooms and the teaching profession are developing for you these days? As you are developing more mature Christian understanding, how is this impacting your ability to cast a critical eye on common educational practice? Beyond the power to serve as a witness to your students, how is the integrity of your lifestyle and choices a significant influence in your classroom?

After finishing my student teaching experience, I am now able to more fully reflect and think about it more objectively. While I was in the midst of teaching, oftentimes it felt overwhelming and stressful and difficult. It was harder than I thought to manage a classroom of 23 second graders and I often found myself saying, “I just don’t know if I can do this!” I was beginning to feel some of the pressures that teachers in the city of Buffalo feel. In the season of APPR and writing SLO’s (student learning objectives) and a big attendance initiative, and benchmark testing for the beginning of the year, and trying to straighten out teacher schedules, it was a busy and oftentimes tiring fall semester. My mentor teacher did a great job of modeling to me what it looks like to be a Christian teacher  who respects the adminstration even when she did not agree with everything. She modeled to me how to be a flexible teacher as well, which I really appreciated. It is easy to get frustrated and get negative and get upset with all of the changes and the demands of being a public school teacher. However, now, having stepped away from the classroom, I feel more confident (strangely). I feel as though I was able to do a lot of meaningful teaching within my 12 weeks in that classroom and that I was able to build some strong relationships with my students, and that makes me feel that my time was worthwhile.

During student teaching, I also feel as though I was able to ask a lot of good questions while I was student teaching and my classroom mentor answered all that she could and I appreciated that. I trynot to make my initial reaction too judgmental, but to be critical and careful in my decision-making in the classroom. I feel like that is my first response to “common educational practices” is to first figure out the root of why they are that way, and then to do what I need to do to advocate for what is in the best interest of my students.

As I am growing as a Christian, as well, I am trying each day to act more as Christ would in my public school setting. The integrity that I have and the choices that I make show through to my students in the type of atmosphere my classroom has. My mentor teacher is very stern and just has a more intense personality than I do. While I was doing my two-week takeover specifically, I tried to focus on being gentle and kind and showing these students some grace while at the same time being strict and enforcing my expectations of them. I also think that the way that I come to school prepared, and positive, and show respect and am responsible for my actions shows through to my students. It shows in the ways that you encourage students to show respect to one another, and to adovcate for themselves.

claim 3: understanding & fostering

Prompt: Addressing all these developmental needs seems almost impossible-what would it look like in authentic practice? What aspects of your lesson plan show that you understand the abilities and limitations of the age group which you are teaching?

Claim 3 is packed full: it states that teachers prepared at Houghton College are professionals who are able to understand and foster students’ cognitive, psychological, social, and moral development.

I believe this claim starts at knowing your students and knowing what is typical of students at the age that you are teaching. Last year for junior practicum, I was in a 3rd/4th grade class. I didn’t expect that my student teaching placement, in a 2nd grade class, would be drastically different-afterall, they’re only a year or two younger than my 3rd and 4th graders! Oh, was I wrong! I learned (quickly) that a lot happens in that year or two between second and fourth grade.

In terms of my students cognitive/psychological devleopment, I learned that they are still very much in the stage where they need everything modeled for them, and need a concrete representation for almost everything from cleaning their tray after breakfast to adding and subtracting to how to write a personal narrative. I always plan into my lessons a time to model for them exactly what I expect. I have also learned that these students are not quite at the cognitive/psychological level where they are able to reason with you. For example, when a student is not treating another student kindly, it is much easier to call out the unkind behavior, “Stop saying mean words”, than to say, “When you say mean words, how do you think your classmate feels?” While I am trying to introduce this metacognition as much as I can, I am realizing that it will take time.

The prior example also relates to how I foster their moral devleopment; by teaching them how to think more about others and less about themselves and more about the impact their actions have on others. I have to keep in mind that many of them are still in Kohlberg’s “pre-conventional morality” stage where they are just focused on obedience and punishment orientation and self-interest orientation. This helps me to understand how to most effectively interact with/discipline/teach my students. I plan lessons which are aimed at a level where they are comfortable thinking and reasoning and then, with appropriate scaffolding, try to stretch them a bit beyond that comfort zone.

In terms of my students social development, I have learned to allow time for them to talk during the day and to learn how to socially interact with one another in a positive way. During my two-week takeover, something that I have done differently from my teacher is to allow them to talk quietly during breakfast (She usually prefers silence). I find that this is an important time for them to talk and to get to know each other. In my lesson plans, I have allowed time for students to give responses, to tell stories, and for them to get to express their interests. I hope that this helps my students to develop social skills in the classroom.

I believe that claim 3 really gets at the heart of teaching (i.e. it’s not all about -by not only understanding but by working and taking actions to foster students’ cognitive, psychological, social, and moral devleopment, you are helping students to be empowered and to feel valued as learners in your classroom.

caring service: caring + serving joined together

Prompt: Can you care and not serve? Can you serve and not care? Why are these paired in this way? And while this is a great idea, is it actually necessary for learning to occur? 

I was recently considering doing Wesley Service Corps next fall, after I graduate. I’ve heard it is a great way to transition into “real life” and a meaningful year of service to the people in Buffalo, New York. I’ve also heard that it’s a nice way for Houghton students to be able to experience life in community together after college and to share their serving opportunities together. With Wesley Service Corps, I was hoping that I would be able to get some sort of teaching job. However, the more that I thought about it and the more that I talked with other people about my potential decision, the more I came to realize that I don’t need to be in a program to have a year of service. I came to realize that service is in your heart, it’s an attitude, it’s a way of going about doing something. I realized that I could take approach any teaching job post-graduation as a “year of service”. Therefore, I’m still undecided about doing Wesley Service Corps, but I think that the process of thinking/talking/writing/praying through that post-graduation opportunity had a big impact on me and on the way that I think about caring service. 

I believe that you can absolutely serve and not care. There are so many who serve just to “put it on their resume” or serve because it “sounds like a good thing to do” or because “I feel like I should”. These are not true servant attitudes. You can also care and not serve. Serving implies an action, as does caring, but caring is usually a much more passive action. You can easily care about the poverty in cities around the country, but serving takes that care into meaningful actions-into providing for those who do not have all of their basic needs met.

In my classroom, my mentor teacher has shown me a simple way to provide food for students on the weekends. Each day the school provides the students with breakfast, but there are always tons of extras. She saves them and puts them in a box or in her mini-refridgerator. Then, on Friday’s, she gives away at least 2 boxes of cereal (for Saturday and Sunday morning) and some fruit or snack to each student for the weekend. In addition, she has a box of clothes and other miscellaneous items (backpacks, folders, shoes, et cetera) that she has collected over time that she gives to students if they do not have one of those things. She is also very dilligent about keeping in contact with parents through notes, phone calls (even during the day-during her prep or lunch) and I think this also shows the parents that she cares for the students and goes beyond just caring and sympathizing with their needs, but to working to providing for those needs. These are some things that I will definitely take with me into my future classroom(s). 

My mentor teacher has shown me how to put “caring” into “service”, into meaningful action. I think that when those two things are paired, that when students can tangibly feel that you care for them through your service, they are empowered to learn and are able to learn in a positive atmosphere where they feel cared for. This results in them being able to learn better. Caring service reminds me a lot of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs; how student’s basic needs must be met first and foremost before real learning can take place. While caring service is a nice thought (yes), it is also crucial for productive and effective learning to take place in the classroom. 

claim 6: let’s talk about diversity

Prompt: What if your school has no obvious ethnic diversity? Can it still be culturally diverse? What would be some of the striking differences between students at your school? Are these differences cultural?

When we were in senior seminar a couple weeks ago, someone talked about culture at one of their schools in reference to what people were interested in. She said that her students were big into hunting and skinning animals, things she has never been interested in and things she does not know a lot about. She said that the students and their families are all bonded over this culture of hunting and using the various parts of the animals for different things. I had never thought about a people group bonding over a specific interest/hobby/occupation being a culture but I believe she was right to define it that way.

That comment during class made me think more deeply about the meanings of a classroom being ethnically and culturally diverse. An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other through a common heritage/language/culture. It is much more easily defined. For example, the students in my classroom are all of Puerto Rican ethnicity. They all share the Spanish language as their native language, and specific cultural traits-talking loudly and often while others are talking, eating certain foods, not looking the teacher in the eyes when they are being disciplined, calling the school bus the “gua gua” et cetera. However, culture is less easy to define.  Cultural groups can be large, or small, and can be based around different things.

Claim 6 states that teachers prepared at Houghton College are professionals who respect cultural diversity in the school context, and devleop culturally relevant learning communities that strengthen students’ sense of self and promote community development. I believe that whether cultural differences in your classroom are obvious (Such as students who dress in a certain way, or speak a certain language or what foods they eat/don’t eat or what kind of gestures/body language they use to communicate) or if they are more subtle, it is still important to get to know your students and base your learning experiences around what you know about them and their culture. When I teach, I am trying to be cognizent of my students’ Puerto Rican culture, but also their sub-cultures, the other, smaller cultures that they are still very much a part of. I think it’s interesting too because while they will always have their Puerto Rican culture, they’re now adopting a certain American culture as well and it is so fascinating to watch the two combine; and it is important now more than ever to strengthen their sense of self.

I also believe that we send subtle messages to students by what we teach and discuss but also by what we do NOT teach and/or discuss in our classrooms. It is impossible for us to embrace diversity remaining set in our ways, beliefs, and thoughts. We have to teach tolerance; to be open to shedding old practices and altering traditions and points of view. If a school simply adds studens who are not Caucasian, this will not make a school diverse. Statistically, it will. There will be more ethnicities represented. However, in the atmosphere of the school, it will not. Schools must then work to create a climate of diversity and doing that means altering the “but we’ve always done it this way” mindset.

claim 5: collaborate, collaborate, collaborate some more

Prompt: Doesn’t partnership mostly benefit the teacher? How would collaboration benefit the student? The list of partners make sense-except for community members. How could they be a benefit to my students’ learning? 

Claim 5 states that the purpose of collaborating with students, educational professionals, parents, and community members is to foster students’ learning and development. We as teachers can only do so much. While we like to think that we can make an awesome art craft, that we know a lot about technology, that we can do an active game, that we can find the best books, that we can connect learning to student’s lives, we can’t. Not by ourselves. We need other people to help us to help our students. We need their ideas and their expertise to help us. While this seems like it is only benefiting the teacher, it absolutely benefits the student because if we just shut the door to our classroom and didn’t seek any outside input, our students would only know what little we know. By allowing others to help us teach, we enrich students learning experiences. 

At PS 30, I have been collaborating, but I think I’m missing the part about doing it for my students and talking in seminar reminded me that the point is not for me, but for my students. I’ve been collaborating to find out things, to ask questions, to get assignments done, which is good, but it’s not as good as it could be. I need to instead focus on using what other professionals know, what community members know, what parents know, (what their strengths/skills/talents are) to make my teaching more meaningful and memorable. 

I think there is a lot to be said about bringing others into the classroom. This is something I want to do a lot of when I am a teacher. It’s great for them to see that I do not know everything and even I, a college graduate, need someone else to help me understand things sometimes It expands their worldview and helps them to take a different perspective. Perhaps a student had never thought about life beyond their own neighborhood. So many students find school pointless. We need to find ways to make it meaningful. To make it purposeful. Bring in someone who uses math everyday in their job to show students that they do need to learn how to add. Bring in someone who has traveled who knows about life in another part of the US or the world-students will be captivated, and they’ll remember that more than you showing a YouTube video. 

It’s hard to do-to ask for help to enrich your teaching, to ask others to come into your class. It’s easier to shut that door and do your own thing all day long. But if we want whats best for our students, lets collaborate, lets put our heads together and share what we know with one another. 

claim 4: teaching diverse learners in diverse ways

Prompt: What can a teacher do to address the many different needs of her students? Why would learners need to be assessed in a variety of ways? Won’t that spoil them for the “real world” where people are not going to always allow them to work to their strengths?

Just as there needs to be a balance between eating the appetizer and main course and dessert of a meal, I think there should be a balance of how the teacher presents content throughout the day. You wouldn’t want too many appetizers at a meal or you wouldn’t eat the main course. You also don’t want an overload of kinesthetic activities in a day. Within one day, I try to teach to all of the learning styles (visual, kinesthetic, auditory, logical, social, verbal, et cetera). To learn students’ learning styles, both last year and this year I have done a learning survey and it’s been great! It is an awesome activity for them to start thinking more metacognitively. Once I know their strengths, I can make sure that the input & output for lessons are a mix of their strengths & weaknesses so that they can have a time to shine, but have a time to grow and to learn how to learn differently. This is very much the real world; they will have to solve problems and do things that they have never done before and if they can learn to take on those learning experiences positively & to use their strengths & skills, they will be empowered and will have a high level of self-efficacy.

Teaching a variety of learners is difficult because it requires us as teachers to adjust the way that we feel most comfortable teaching, too. It means that instead of teaching from a PowerPoint presentation all the time because that is what I know the best, that I am willing to teach using songs and dances and movements to accommodate my kinesthetic learners even though I don’t feel as comfortable teaching that way (Let’s be honest, it makes me completely nervous!). By keeping the needs of my students always at the forefront of my mind when planning a lesson, I can hope to give all of them multiple opportunities to grow in their strengths and their weaknesses in my classroom.

I’ll admit that it seems difficult to connect all that I am teaching to the students lives. Sometimes it is hard to see the importance of some topics that we have to teach. It’s hard to think of things that second graders are experiencing in Buffalo and then to relate that to math and ELA and social studies. While I do my best to make these connections as best as I can, I think I focus more on making learning a positive experience so that when they are learning new things in the future, in the “real world”, they can feel empowered and excited. I also try to give them opportunties to teach each other (to shine) and to listen and learn from each other (to grow). 

reflective teaching: looking back & looking ahead simultaneously

Prompt: What does it take to be reflective? How does a reflective teacher differ from a non-reflective teacher? Is reflection only about looking back?

Those minutes after the lesson is completed, when you can take a deep breath, and then move onto the next thing in the day, are so sweet. Those minutes of transition have been so important to me throughout student teaching thus far. During that time, when the events of the past lesson are still fresh in my mind, I can do my best reflective thinking. I jot down (in very messy handwriting) on a sticky-note things that I thought went well, things I think I should do differently next time, questions to ask. Sometimes this even happens mid-lesson, when I look over at a particular student who is struggling, and help him/her to get through the lesson for today the way it was planned, but make notes to provide different accomodations/modifcations for the next lesson so he/she can stay within his/her zone of proximal development and not become frustrated because the task is too challenging. These sticky notes go into my binder on top of my lesson plan, and before I set out to plan the next day’s lesson, I reference those notes. I gather materials/make changes to make tomorrow’s lesson run more smoothly, and immediately plug in the things that went well into my next lesson plan. Sometimes, as a reflective teacher, I feel that lesson planning for a whole week at a time (or multiple weeks) is difficult because I feel that, although it is nice to have a skeleton of a plan for what you are going to do, what really happens each and every day depends on what has happened in the days preceeding.

I believe that this is a crucial part of what it takes to be a reflective teacher. It’s about always looking at what you are doing, seeing how it is going, and seeing how you can change it to make lessons as comprehensible as possible for the students. For me, reflective teaching means that your assessments, your observations, your monitoring of how the class is going, are affecting how you present future lessons. In this way I believe that reflective teaching is about looking back on your lesson, but it is also very much about looking forward, as you apply what you have learned to future learning experiences.

Last week I  had a difficult math lesson on Wednesday.  After forgetting to copy off the assessment for the day, my menor teacher was able to copy it and then we proceeded. However, I overestimated their ability to read the questions and do the work by themselves, totally independently. Therefore, after the lesson, I talked with my mentor teacher and we decided that I would re-give the assessment the next day. I had to learn what my second graders are and are not capable of doing and had to adapt my plan for the next day. I ended up doing the assessment in small groups of 5 or 6 and it worked SO much better. I was able to observe each student much more closely and the rest got to practice their addition and subtraction with my mentor teacher. Just today, I taught a game called “Tens Go Fish”. While I had the instructions/rules on a powerpoint, I realized that in addition to that, I should have played an example game with a student. Tomorrow, I will do that before we play this game a second time to solidify how you play. I am learning that it’s the little things that really matter in teaching-the little things that you can be reflective about and change to reach your desired outcome/objective.

I could envison a non-reflective teacher simply moving ahead with the curriculum, day to day, not taking time to reflect on how things are going in his or her classroom, what could be changed to make the day run more smoothly or what could be changed to make the students have memorable and meaningful learning experiences every day. This puts his or her students at a disadvantage because those students are not receiving instruction that is specific to their needs, they are simply receiving the same thing as every other class that this teacher has taught. For me, reflective teaching means changing your plans based on your group of students’ abilities, likes/dislikes, learning styles, etc… and not keeping things the same from year to year. It means getting to really know your students-going to their extracurricular events, getting to know their families, getting to know their struggles and their strengths-so that your instruction can be just right in their zone of proximal development.

Being a reflective teacher does not mean you are taking the easy route in teaching. It is much easier to simply teach the curriculum and not adapt what you are doing based on your group of students. It is less time consuming, you can simply zerox your plans from the year and hand them in again, etc… However, it is worthwhile. It will mean a classroom experience year to year that is unique from all the others. It will result in major growth in your educational life and some invaluable learning experiences for you as a teacher and, in many ways, as a student, as you continue to learn from your students and from your teaching.

claim 8: life long learning

Prompt: What is it about your approach to teaching which shows that learning is important to you, that you value growth in your professional life? What is the danger in not being committed to continued growth? Does that also affect your students or only you? Once you master something, why change it?

While there are many questions included in this week’s prompt, I believe the core of all of them is the idea of being a life-long learner. This is important for me as a teacher, and it is also important to me that I be trying daily to instill the love of learning and desire to continue learning in my students. This is evident in the way that I teach. I attempt to share as much as I can about what I am learning with my students. Because I want my students to be life-long learners, I try to relate our content to their real lives, and what they are interacting with every day, to make it memorable and meaningful. For example, when we learn about community in social studies in our first unit, I will relate it to the community that we live in here in Buffalo, New York. Additionally, in relation to being a life-long learner, I am also open and humble with them about things that I do not know, and then seek to find the answers and share them with my students. This year, I have been student teaching in a bilingual 2nd grade class, and not being perfectly bilingual myself (Spanish and English), I have had to be honest about my shortcomings in the language area and have had to rely on them to help me phrase different statements or questions. This is also my first experience with bilingual education, so I am looking into doing research about the philosophies behind bilngual education. I also value growth professionally, as an educator. I like to read books about different educators experiences, am open to hearing criticisms about my teaching, and, as a future teacher, I will take advantage of whatever conferences I can go to that will help me to learn more about how students learn and how I, as their teacher, can best teach them based on how they learn.

I believe that there is great danger in not being committed to continued growth because this does not affect only you, but your students as well. If you are simply satisfied with your level of knowledge, you are not being open to learning new things that may help you to serve your students in a more complete way. Also, if I were to stop learning new things, yet still encourage my students to become life-long learners, I would not be setting a very good example for them. It is important for students to have adults who are role models for them in this are, especially if learning and education are not valued in that student’s home. It is also dangerous to stop learning because then you forget how exciting it is to learn something new and to put it into practice.

Additionally, I believe it is detrimental to your students if, once you have mastered something, you never change it. I think this is especially important in the way that you present information to students. For example, if you think that you have mastered classroom management and that you have a great system in place, you very well may, but this does not mean that you will not need to tweak it and change it from time to time as the year progresses, and certainly from year to year as your students change, because you want to be responsive to your particular group of students. This year in student teaching, my classroom teacher has developed a system where all of the students start with a green tag in their pocket chart and then move to yellow and/or red depending on their behavior. This works well, but she has had to supplement this with other behavior management strategies such as giving out stars on invididual index cards after each subject for good behavior, and having a card with a happy face on one side and a sad face on the other side in the middle of each table group which she changes depending on if the group is doing well or not. This has been great for me to observe her coming up with new things, being open to suggestions as I share them, and being flexible-all important aspects of teaching the elementary grades.

claim 2: having a philosophy behind teaching

Prompt: Discuss the need to have a philosophy behind your actions as a teacher. Isn’t philosophy too abstract to really be helpful in the classroom? How would a person without a clear philosophy be any less capable as a teacher?

Reason for having a philosophy of education: I believe that the reason behind having a philosophy of education is so that you know why you are doing what you are doing in the classroom. It should be based on how you believe that teaching should happen based on what you know about how learning happens. In my time at Houghton College in the ICE program, I have had an opportunity to research how different educational theorists believe that learning happens. Based on this, I have developed a philosophy of education which will give coherence to my teaching and will give me direction and purpose and a reason for continuing to learn and grow as an educator.

Example: I believe in the constructivist theory of education. This states that learners construct knowledge for themselves (each learner individually-and socially) as he/she learns and builds knowledge upon prior understanding. Educational theorists Piaget, Vygotsky, and Dewey support this view of education which has become part of my personal philosophy of education. This means that in my classroom, I will give students opportunities to talk together and to problem solve together when they are learning. If we are learning about communities in social studies (As we are in my student teaching experience), then we might come together and have a large class discussion about the community that we live in, and how what we have learned can be applied to where we live.

Why philosophy is not too abstract to be useful in the classroom: Your philosophy of education has practical applications that can be carried out everyday in the classroom from how you teach reading and writing and science to how you choose to manage your classroom. In this way, it is meaningful and important in the classroom and it is not too abstract.

Example: I believe that students learn best through being given authentic, real-life practical applications of the things that they are learning (Based on my philosophy), so I will connect their learning to real-life. If we are learning about money in math class, I will not simply just introduce money and the value of coins, I will go beyond to explain why money is important, what you can use it for in the real world, et cetera.

Why a person without a clear philosophy of education would be less capable: I believe that if a teacher lacks a clear philosophy of education, it can put his/her students at a disadvantage. This is because if a teacher does not have a reason for doing things one way or another, then it will not matter how things are done. There will be no consistency to that teacher’s ways of teaching. That teacher may find it easy to simply jump on the latest educational trend bandwagon, or to resort back to the way he/she was taught because it is what he/she remembers. I do not know that you will directly reference your philosophy of education verbally everyday, but it will come out in the way that you choose to manage your classroom and how to you teach subjects on a day-to-day basis. Not having a philosophy of education also means that teachers will not have any standards for teaching by which to hold themselves accountable and this can be a slippery slope.

This could be detrimental to the students learning as well, because I believe that students can see a teacher who has clear purpose and can see a teacher who does not have purpose, also, and this will translate into how well they are able to learn.

Example: If a teacher does not have a philosophy one way or another about differentiation, then that teacher may assign the same worksheet to all students one day and then the next day, choose to differentiate by giving them each worksheets at their individual level, where the work will be neither too easy nor too challenging. This can be confusing for students and it is not meeting the students needs. This is also very inconsistent teaching and sends mixed messages to the students about what is expected of them each day.