Jeff Horton Instructor: Carol Billings Education 204: Families, Communities, & Culture
STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 2
Statement of Informed Beliefs Essay Diversity in schools is everywhere; understanding what makes up a school is a crucial for todays teachers. As a future educator, I would like to accomplish this difficult task, and master it, if possible. There are a few things to take into consideration when doing this. I will discuss, in the rest of this paper, how I would like to deal with diversity in my own classroom someday. There are five sections in which I would like to touch on and these are: all students can learn, teachers expectations, students social ecology theory, cultural diversity instruction, and curriculum for all learners. All Students can learn A students ability to learn is affected in many different ways. Some of the ways that the students learning can be altered is by the agents of socialization. If the student lives at home with a family that does not speak English as a primary language the student may fall behind in the classroom as they will have a difficult time understanding what is going on in the lesson. Students from families that have low income will also struggle in class as they feel that they will not amount to anything in society. The teacher is also an agent of socialization. A teachers part is in classroom management as they can help students on both sides, the ones who struggle and the ones that excel. The teacher job is to recognize these qualities early and if a student is struggling in a particular area, a teacher can try one on one instruction with the student to attempt to clarify the information. If there are students in the classroom who are completing all of their assignments long before other students, the teacher needs to help these students so that they are not becoming bored in class. Effective classroom managers are those that utilize different operant methods. This is accomplished by using methods to get certain results by using positive reinforcement, feedback, and punishment to manage the class. When the students are successful, STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 3
you as a teacher are successful as well. When I become a teacher, I will keep a close eye on all the students in my class as they complete assignments. By using Ericksons Theory of Psychological Development I will be able to recognize early on when a student is either struggling or excelling easily in class. I will have the tools necessary to identify a student that may not be understanding one part of the curriculum or if they are falling behind the grade level. If it is a student that is excelling, getting their work done early, and not using time wisely, I will be able to see this and adjust their work load to keep them challenging themselves. Teachers Expectations Having a clear set expectations for me and also for the students I teach, will help with many aspects of teaching going forward. If my expectations for my students are precise and easy to follow then I will have fewer issues with disruptions during class. Having set standards and rules already in place for both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement along with an expected plan of action will allow for me to be able to handle most behavioral issues that will arise in any class. By using the theory that is described by Martin and Pear (2010) as a guide for behavioral correction, I can help accomplish this. According to Martin and Pear the best way to elicit desired behavior is to model that behavior for the students and expect them to follow my example. The first time they follow the desired behavior praise them. After it becomes a more frequent behavior the praise can be reduced. This would work very well for developing a relationship with students, therefore development of an environment of trust and respect. Another benefit of having expectations that have already been defined is I can deal with situations in the same manner for each student. Then I do not have to worry about one person feeling like they were punished differently, than I did for someone else who had the same behavior issue, this would eliminate the appearance of playing favorites. STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 4
By setting high standards for my students and helping them to set high goals for themselves, I can help students achieve greater personal success and they will be more likely to contribute to learning process. Morality of Constraint will assist in the classroom as well because as a teacher, if I tell my students that I expect them to put forth all of the effort, and I praise them for specific actions when they succeed and when they fail, I can help them build self- assurance. Success and failures can be turned into a lesson learned and they can move forward with an appreciation of what happened and how to improve on it during their next attempt. Students Social Ecology Theory Connecting learning to students social ecology is crucial. The students social ecology is connected to learning in more ways than just one. Ecology is the science of interrelationships between organisms and their environments (Berns, 2010). According to Urie Bronfenbrenners Bioecological Model of Human Development, school is in the students microsystem and this directly affects them. Learning is something every student must do, in order to succeed in life and in order to get him or her effectively socialized for later on in their adult life. It is my goal, as a future teacher, to effectively pursue this. Families, Communities, and Culture all impact the students learning greatly. Since all of these things are in the students microsystem, according to Bronfenbrenner, it will have a greater effect than if they were in another system, like the mesosytems. My goal is to help these students when something bad does happen in their family, community, or culture. I will try to give everyone a fair chance and learn the most I can about the students religions, family members and things that are going on at home or anywhere else they go when they are not in school. I can then take this and apply it to my own curriculum and give everyone a fair chance. STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 5
Things do happen outside of school and as an educator; I would like to help the student maintain a proper education in their own time of need. Cultural Diversity Instruction In todays society we can see many different cultures coming together in the United States. Those who have different ethnic backgrounds, relative to the majority, will have the same opportunities and expectations as all of the other students in my classroom. These students will even have the unique opportunity to share some of their cultural beliefs with the rest of the class. I would also encourage those students in my class that are of other ethnic backgrounds, to recognize the different cultures that are around them as well. This would include the cultures that are shared by a majority of the other students. As a teacher, I need to teach all students with the same dedication no matter where they come from. When I become a teacher I will show my students how much respect I have for all of their cultures. I will accomplish this by incorporating cultural pluralism in my classroom. I dont think that incorporating their cultures means that I will have to teach a whole lesson about their culture. Each student should know they are unique and important, because knowing them will help me figure out the best way to teach them. Cultural assimilation differs from cultural pluralism in that minority groups members adapt the characteristics that are found in the majority groups. By doing this, the students that have other cultures sacrifice much of their uniqueness along the way in favor of gaining acceptance with the majority of the population. Curriculum for All Learners The most important aspect of teaching is reflecting on what is going to work the best in the classroom, or more importantly how to improve instruction. It is important to find out through the interaction with the students whether a particular lesson is working and whether STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 6
they are understanding the content. Also, teachers must the schools expectation in regards to the curriculum that pupils are expected to know. I will strive to apply the pedagogical content knowledge to identify common misunderstandings students may make in learning new concepts and to know how to overcome those errors in thinking (Cooper & Ryan, 2010). Although organized instruction and classroom rules are very important to sustaining an orderly classroom, I tend to fall into the learner-directed style of teaching, which accentuates learning activities that emerge from individual interest, propped up by teacher guidance (Berns, 2007). I believe curriculum isnt hindered by, but rather is supported and reinforced by a student through exploration and discovery. This process is known as constructivism, where the teacher scaffolds, or supports, the childs initiated learning through appropriate curriculum. However, I dont believe learner-directed and teacher-directed teaching approaches are mutually exclusive. I plan on using a both of these methods of instruction, where suitable. Although I am not big supporter of the standardized test, this is the way that the curriculum is designed for. I find that teachers are required to spend so much time teaching to the test that the student will be taking, rather than teaching what may be the most important, engaging information. I believe that standardized tests are leading to disinterested students, and are a measurement for teacher assessment than student assessment. I would rather there be more authentic assessment that involves performance based testing and focuses on how a student utilizes the knowledge rather than how they store it in their minds. As teachers, we should use evaluations that measure comprehension and critical thinking skills rather than filling circles on a multiple choice test. It is also an important aspect to provide adequate feedback, whether it be positive or negative, so that students know where they are at, what they are doing well in, and the areas which they can improve. STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 7
References Berns, Roberta M. (2010). Child, Family, School, Community: Socialization and Support. (8th Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Print.