Statement of Informed Beliefs Essay Miranda Rick Linda Vermette EDUC 204 Families, Communities, & Culture TR 10:00-11:15,

Spring 2012

Running head: STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS

Most people look at teachers and think to themselves that does not look that hard, I can do that. Yet what they do not realize is how much work teachers put into getting ready to be a teacher and actually being a teacher. The big thing is the Curriculum which is the goals and objections of an educational program, the teachers role, the equipment and materials, the space arrangement, the kids of activities, and the way they are scheduled (Berns, 2007). In this essay I talked about 5 areas; those areas are All students can learn Teachers Expectations, Students Social Ecology Theory, Cultural Diversity Instruction and Curriculum for all learners. All Students can Learn Teachers have a big responsibility on the ways students learn and succeed in not only their classrooms but also in school as a whole. Teachers impact the students in so many ways and sometimes they dont even realize how they are doing that. The teachers are there to mold students into the best learns they can be the student has to be willing to learn. If the teacher is not encouraging the student to learn and enjoy learning then the kid will not want to learn, teachers can only do so much encouraging. Teachers need to remember they can also have Personal Agency (Berns, 2007). If the teacher is not using encouraging words or saying things like You finally got an A or You need to do better next time. Words like these can discourage a student and make them feel like they cant learn the material or succeed in school. Especially if the teacher is saying things like this to young student in an elementary setting, the kid will not want to keep learning down the road. I will ensure that all of my students learn by making sure that their Mesosystem (Berns, 2007) is being used especially with the Family and School part of the Microsystem (Berns,

Running head: STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS

2007). I can only do so much at school with the students then once school is over it is the parents responsibility to also help the students learn. I will spend the time making sure every student is understands the material. If I feel that their in one student out of the whole classroom not understanding it, I will take the time to help the students learn it and see where they are struggling to learn the material. I will use encouraging words so that way the student knows that he/she can learn and succeed. Making sure that every student is learning and understanding the material is a way that I as the teacher can manage and lead the classroom so every student learns. Also I will mix things up by not always just standing up in front of the class lecturing. I will play games with the material, having the students get into groups and teach each other, or have the class do a project. I will take the time to make learning fun and not always the same way of learning. Teachers Expectations When a teacher expects a student to do their best on an assignment, most of the time that student will do their best. They want to please their teacher and show the teacher what their best work is. Students need encouragement and praise from their teachers so they know that they are doing a good job and will keep doing a good job. Teachers are like a second parent to these students because you see them about 7hrs a day for 5 days. So besides the parent expecting the students to do well in school the teacher also wants to see all of his/her students do well in school. Teachers have a huge impact on whether the student succeeds or fails. Besides giving the grade, they also impact whether the student in understanding the material. If the teacher is not teaching the material in a way that the student can learn the material them they are not influencing the

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students ability to learn. Teachers have to learn how to present the material in a way that all students are going to understand and learn the material. Educational goals are what you want to learn through you educational process. They are a big importance in not just the students learning but also in the teachers teaching. There needs to be goals that you want to reach or you will not do your best. If a student does not have a goal they want to reach then they are not going to try their hardest in school to reach that goal. Teachers also need to have goals so that they know if they are teaching to their fullest potential and that they are teaching the way they want to teach. I think the first week of school teachers should have the students write down what they want their educational goal to be for that school year. Then they should copy of what their goal was so that they can always be working towards that goal. Teachers should do that same thing with their students also. Students Social Ecology Theory We as future teachers need to start thinking about how we can get students to be more involved with their school and community. If students get are more involved than they are working towards their social ecology. We are getting them to socialize not only with their peers but with the community that they are a part of. Students will be able to take what they are learning in the classroom and apply it to the outside world and see how it would impact people. They will learn new ways to see the world that they live in. They will get to interact with different cultures and see how their world may be totally different then the world the student lives in. Also see that just because you are part of a community doesnt mean that you all believe

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the same thing. It gives students the opportunity to learn outside of the classroom and learn things they already knew in a different way. If a child wants to succeed and get far in life they need the support not only from school but from the community and their families. Even person that the child meets on a day to day basis makes a big impact on the childs life. A child will always need Social Support which is resources (tangible, intellectual, social, emotional) provide by other in times of need (Berns 2007). Yet we need to remember that children not only needing social support in a time of need but they need it always. A child is going to want to do better in school and life if they feel they have support and someone that cares about them. Children need to have the Community Ecology which is the psychological and practical relationships between humans and their social, as well as physical, environment (Berns 2007). If a child doesnt feel like he/she has support, then they will not want to succeed in life or school. Cultural Diversity Instruction Every student should not lose their knowledge of where they came from and what their culture is. Even though they are in a place where there may be a different culture is practiced, they need to remember that they have their own culture that they need to practice also. I as a teacher will have the students always talking about their culture and the different cultures this Country even the world is made up of. We will do many projects where the students get to talk about the cultures, even their own culture and tell about what they have learned or already know about the culture. I will have the students take the time to do research on their own culture and learn more about the culture that they didnt know about. We will talk a lot about Cultural

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Pluralism is the mutual appreciation and understanding of various cultures and coexistence in society of different languages, religious beliefs, and lifestyles (Berns, 2007). This also shows the students that even in the school we have cultural pluralism because we have many different cultures that come together to form a school. In the previous paragraph we talked about what Cultural Pluralism was and that is mutual appreciation and understanding of various cultures and coexistence in society of different languages, religious beliefs, and lifestyles (Berns, 2007). What this is saying is that we understand and appreciate that there are many cultures, beliefs and lifestyles that make up the society that we live in. With Cultural Assimilation the idea is the process whereby a minority (subordinate) cultural group takes on the characteristics of the majority (dominate) cultural group (Berns, 2007). This is saying that even though you are from a different culture if you want to be part of this group you have to believe what this culture believes. Curriculum for all Learners You as a teacher are always having to make adjustments just remember to have Selfefficacy which is the belief that one can master a situation and produce positive outcomes (Berns, 2007). As the teacher I will make adjustments by being aware of where the learner is struggling and why they are struggling. Lets say a learner is struggling in math and how to multiply large numbers. Well as the teacher I would try and explain the steps in a different way, if that did not work then I would have another learner try and explain the steps to the learner. You as the teacher need to be able to change your strategy many times because one way will not always work for every learner. As the teacher you need to be ready to change the way you assess the class on the material. Tests are not always the best way to assess a learner or class; you may have to come up with different ways to assess the class. With the spelling words you could give

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the whole class a spelling bee and assess the class that way. It is also good to change up your ways of assessing the class, that way the class has fun showing you what they have learned. You as the teacher will not always know how long you need to take on a subject; you may need to change how long you need to take. You may need to plan ahead in case the material does not take as long as you thought. Giving the class an assessment like an Authentic Assessment an evaluation based on real performance, rather than test performance, showing mastery of a task (Berns, 2007). After having done an assessment you look at the results; based on the results you may need to modify your teaching and delivery of the material. It is our responsibility as the teacher to make sure the class is learning the material. Doing an assessment gives teachers a chance to see how the class as a whole understands the material. If you see the class does not understand the material you need to take the time to see what part they do not understand and change your delivery of the material. This comes back to being able to adjust your lesson plans, because now you may need to take more time to teach the material again a way that the class will understand. There are many ways that you as the teacher can ensure that the learners have improved on their education upon leaving my classroom. You could give them a test at the end of the school year on all the material that you taught them in the school year. As the teacher you could have the class set a Cooperative goal structure where learners working together to accomplish shared goals (Berns, 2007). Even having the learners set Individualized goal structure where one learners achievement of the goal is unrelated to other learners achievement of that goal (Berns, 2007). This way when they meet their goal you know they are learning and improving on

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their education. Seeing what goals they accomplished by the end of the school year can show you if they have improved on their level of learning by the time they leave your classroom. We as future teachers need to be able to work with any type of Learning style which is a consistent pattern of behavior and performance by which an individual approached educational experiences (Berns, 2007). We also need to be able to teach every learner whether it is the learner who gets As on every assignment or the learner who is Handicapped which is defined as something that hampers a person; a disadvantage, a hindrance (Berns, 2007).

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References Berns, R.M. (2007). Child, family, school, community: Socialization and support (8th ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.