Running head: DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMEND BELIEFS 1
Diversity of Informed Beliefs Essay
Jacob Mcleod Instructor: Dr. Egbert EDUC 204: Families, Communities & culture #8
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Diversity Statement of Informed Beliefs There are many ways that someone can teach a person how to do something. When we have to teach him or her to do a lot of things at once it can get complicated, at some point they need to find a way to teach them. Teachers are the same way there will be a lot of things going on but the teacher will have to figure out how they will teach their classes. How they go about the routines, schedules, and beliefs is the teachers philosophy. The thing that makes teaching neat is that every teacher can have a different philosophy that is his or her own. It is up to the teacher to provide proper education to every student to overcome obstacles like, inclusion, different learning styles, and others. There is not a wrong way to go about teaching, it is all up to how the teacher wants to do it. All Students Can Learn The world today revolves around a strong economy and the workforce that drives the economy. For the economy and the workforce to stay strong, we need to prepare the future. This starts with each generation of kids that go to school. Every student that goes to school has the right to learn and the right to get a good education. How these students learn and retain information depends on many things such as learning style, which are the things that they like or do not like, and the things that they are good at or not so good at. Situations outside the classroom can affect students and their learning process, but at the same time teachers are faced with an intimidating task of ensuring a proper education in the middle of all the distractions no matter how big. DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 3 I can ensure that every student will succeed by providing the proper classroom setting and placing each student in situations where they will be challenged, but will also still have a great chance to succeed. I will try and have them in a good zone of proximal development. Each lesson would be delivered in a way each student could comprehend the material even if they have a different way of learning and have different learning styles. Lev Vygotsky- Zone of proximal development talks about the range at which students learn information on their own and with the help of the teacher (Berns , 2013). I was raised by parents who taught me everything using an authoritative style, so that helped me develop skills to be a problem solver and to think for myself. I would try and carry this over into my classroom and lead with the same authoritative style, so that my kids have the freedom to make choices for themselves and decide their actions. They would still be listening to me guide them along the way through the learning process. Based on what a teacher expects of their students this will determine how hard they work and what they, expect from the teacher. If the teacher allows late work and is laid back, then so too will the student. If the teacher is very firm about the rules and does not budge, the students will abide by the rules and the expectations in order to receive a good grade and make the teacher happy. Developmental appropriateness practice is an approach to researching how young children develop and learn. It is important to teachers, because it shows how far along the child is or it can tell how far behind the students are. This, among other factors, determines the expectations that should be placed on the student. Perceptions tie into child labeling such as seeing a kid who does not look smart and just automatically assuming they will be behind their peers is called labeling. DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 4 In order to be successful, students and teachers both need to have goals. The student goals should not only be just to receive a good grade, but to truly understand the material and why they are doing the things that they are doing. With guidance from the teachers, students would be able to set specific goals that can help the student succeed in school. The other factor is the social factors both inside and outside of school. The student should get good examples outside of school of how to achieve their goals. Students Social Ecology Theory How a student learns depends on his or her socialization, which are the things outside of the classroom that can affect a students ability to learn. This is divided up into different systems each system has a different thing that can affect the students in a certain way. One of the biggest things that can have an impact on a childs life is family. Family is in the microsystem, family helps determine a number of factors in one persons life, such as values, attitude, and self-esteem. The mesosysytem is a link between family, friends, school, and the community, which also impact a childs learning. The more connections between these systems, the greater the childs chances are to excel as a student. They will be able to take the things that they learned in the classroom and will be able to apply them to the outside world. According to Bronfenbrenners bio ecological theory (Berns, 2013) there are many different structures within the social ecology that affects the students ability to learn. The Exosystem doesnt directly affect students. When economical issues come into play and limit the student from being fully involved in school and participating in school activities and functions, then it directly affects them. The chronosystem can impact the childs need for a computer, if they have to do homework on the computer. As DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 5 we see it now a days more and more teachers are becoming more technology based and the student might need a computer. Learning can be limited because of each individual system, or even between the connections of the systems. When all of the systems work together and the connections between the systems work, then that child will be able to learn without any unwanted distractions. If the systems dont work well then the child could have harder time learning. Cultural assimilation is or the bringing together of different cultures, including their language to resemble that of another culture can be used to accomplish this. We see it now in todays society, where countries are now accepting different cultures and different religions. This is the idea of cultural pluralism in which society accepts the different cultures and different parts of those cultures. An example of this would be the concept of bilingual/multicultural education, meaning we accept all the students cultures. The melting pot theory is the idea that different societies and different cultures can be mixed in together in one community and blend them all together so they can all live as one unified unit. Instructional model includes authoritative teachers, creating cooperative learning environments that can accommodate for all learning styles, including analytical, which is when students learn better from very organized statistical information. Global learners like things to be natural and creative and maintain large chunks of information better. Independent learning can be used to practice concepts, and set problems. Equitable Education For All Students DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 6 Along with the advancement of technology, the mix of various religions and cultures, and children with disabilities, which is anything that can slow down a childs learning. Teachers must find a way to make sure that each student is treated equally, and that every student gets a good education. Most students that have a disability also have an individualized education program (IEP). These programs are setup for guidelines that can help the student be successful. Inclusion is when the child with disability is not removed from the class for special services. For these students, it is not only a good philosophy but is also required by the IDEA. Divorced families sometimes struggle with providing for the kid or kids ability to access resources. The student could also be facing confusion, sadness, and anger, which could mess with that childs ability to learn. Teachers must be able to assess how much a student is gaining or losing in the classroom. It is important to know how much information the student remembers. So Standardized testing is one of the ways to assess a students knowledge. In order to fully figure out how much the student is gaining, teachers must use authentic assessments, using a mixture of the available assessment techniques provides the teacher with and idea of each students performance. When a teacher figures out the information they can go figure out what methods are working and what methods arent working. The teacher must be open to adjusting and accommodating the lesson plans for any student, creating an equal opportunity to learn. A teachers philosophy is a guide that is written and referred to for future references, and it is always changing. With the advancements in technology and all the new learning styles teaching has become very hard. When a teacher can find a method that works for both them and the students then they will stick with that until it doesnt. DIVERSITY STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 7 There will be methods that will work and some that dont work at all that is just how things work out. The field of education is always changing and that will forever keep teachers on the lookout for something new that might work better.
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References Berns R.M (2013). Child, Family, School, Community: socialization and support (9 th ed.) Belmont CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning