All 7 entries tagged Philosophy

What is your teaching philosophy? – Richard

What is your teaching philosophy? How has this originated and can you evaluate how your educational touchstones will impact on the teacher you aspire to be?

My personal teaching philosophy directly applies to my touchstones. My touchstones are a reflection of the person I am. As educators we are rarely, if ever, asked to articulate our philosophy of education or core convictions and likewise, rarely if ever, take time critically to reflect and ask if our practice matches our philosophy, beliefs or core convictions. My philosophy is that every child deserves the opportunity to reach their full potential. This belief of mine comes from my experience of working as an International Baccalaureate (IB) grade five teacher. According to Sinek (2017) ‘Once you understand your WHY, you’ll be able to clearly articulate what makes you feel fulfilled and to better understand what drives your behavior when you’re at your natural best’.

I attained a First Class (A) TEFL certificate and moved to Thailand to begin a career in teaching. Following my first appointment with one of the private local teaching schools in the country, I progressed (through language institutes and international schools) to my current position as a Grade Five PYP Teacher for the Canadian International School of Beijing. Throughout my teaching career, I have worked tirelessly to improve my lesson planning and pedagogical practices. This has involved constantly reviewing and reformulating lesson plans, individual and group strategies, classroom management, and consulting with other teaching professionals.

I personally think teachers do not generally enter the profession for accolades or affluence but rather see it as a calling and a way to give back. According to the blog post Educational System (2013) ‘Education and philosophy are closely inter-related. If philosophy is love of knowledge then education is acquisition of knowledge’. As I get older and reflect upon my practice, I have a deeper understanding of what type of teacher I want to be, and I make the necessary adjustments along the way. I have great admiration for the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum and feel that my educational philosophy is similarly aligned as I try to foster the potential of my student’s so that they can pursue their ambitions and become global citizens. The International Baccalaureate ‘aims to develop inquiring, knowledgeable and caring young people who help to create a better and more peaceful world through intercultural understanding and respect’ (IB).

Effective, intentional teaching begins with a strong set of beliefs, but even the best teachers struggle to make sure that their classroom practice consistently reflects their core convictions. One thing I have come to realize is that I can always learn from others in order to become a better teacher. No matter what age we are, it is important to take things into consideration before arriving at a decision. Reflection and seeking opportunities to grow wiser by learning about different theories of philosophies, then applying these theories towards my outlook on life, will most certainly impact my teaching.

References List

Educational System (2013) ‘Importance of eclectic approach in education’, Educational System, 27 January. Available at: https://educational-sysetm.blogspot.com/2013/01/importance-of-electic-approach-in.html (Accessed: 5 July 2019)

IBO. (no date). Mission Available at: https://www.ibo.org/about-the-ib/mission/ (Accessed: 10 August 2020)

Sinek, S. (2017) ‘The science of WHY’, LinkedIn, 16 November. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/science-why-simon-sinek/ (Accessed: 10 August 2020)

Abigail Ball : 25 Nov 2020 15:07 |  Tags: Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

How has your teaching philosophy originated and what are the impact of your touchstones?

Chemistry is a subject that I view clearly as an expanding stack of component units. Higher level concepts grow block by block from an understanding of core basic principles. This makes it easy to teach in some ways but it also makes students who miss a block quickly feel lost. I believe that Chemistry and other science subjects become much easier once you can build a robust mental framework to systematise the subject and understand how its component units of knowledge link to and build upon each other. Whilst we do see that some students have a better natural strength at systematising than others (Bressan, 2018), my own personal experience is that this skill can be strengthened in all students through good science teaching and clear scaffolding. Before joining high school teaching full time, I tutored Chemistry and was regularly surprised by the performance jump that could be achieved by seeking out entrenched misconceptions and then rebuilding back up.

Secondly, I believe that students are more likely to excel when they are motivated by intrinsic interest in the subject material. I believe that students should have some choice in where to apply their extra energy beyond their core studies and I don’t demand that all my students need or want to become chemists in the future. In my opinion, interest in a subject can be fostered by showing how it can be applied in real life and either being a good role model for students or by finding them positive role models when you yourself do not fit the bill. For last year’s International Women’s Day, I asked three female friends to record short videos for my students to talk about the difficulties that they face as women in high profile roles and how they have persevered to excel despite the odds.

Thirdly, I have a strong focus on creating a classroom environment where wrong answers and concepts may also be shared in a way that leads to positive opportunities for learning. This comes from my first experiences of teaching working as an English instructor at Tsinghua University, Beijing. My students had very strong evaluation and study skills and so I mistakenly thought that they would actively participate in class. However, it quickly became apparent that they were uncomfortable making a mistake in front of others and asking for responses from the class led to long, awkward silences. I learnt from this experience and nowadays it is important for me that my students feel comfortable to speak in class without fear of embarrassment; mistakes will be accepted as opportunities for further learning. This is particularly important in the cultural setting of China where a strongly entrenched culture of face makes people acutely concerned about embarrassment. In order to begin to foster this atmosphere, I begin each year by laying down expectations for behaviour when other students speak and how we should all behave when incorrect or incomplete ideas are raised. In order to reduce the number of occasions where a student has nothing at all to contribute, students who are stronger will more regularly be asked questions that sit higher on Bloom’s taxonomy (analyse/evaluate/synthesise) whilst weaker students are asked more simple questions involving direct recall (Armstrong, 2018).

References

Armstrong, P (2018), Bloom’s taxonomy [Online] Available at: https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/ (Accessed 1/11/2019)

Bressan, P. (2018), Systemisers are Better at Maths, Sci Rep, 8, 11636

Abigail Ball : 17 Feb 2020 08:54 |  Tags: Philosophy Reflections Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

My teaching philosophy – Virginia

Think of a tree. Think of its trunk, of its branches and its ever-changing leaves, but, most importantly, focus on its roots. Hone in on the notion that this tree would falter without its support and nourishment and place in the earth. My teaching philosophy gravitates around the importance of catering to the mental health of my students while fostering a community in the classroom — a philosophy that is rooted in what I felt I lacked in school and touchstones that grew out from that empty space.

The importance of a healthy emotional environment in a classroom setting cannot be stressed enough. Children need established dialogue and vocabulary around mental health to better understand where they, themselves, stand (Hodgman 2012). A study carried out by Danby and Hamilton (2016) noted that teachers believed that “‘the term mental health was not suitable for use with children’”, and I think there’s fault in this. In San Francisco I became quite familiar with Waldorf education and found our beliefs toward education and teaching around mental health paralleled. From those years forward with this system in mind, I’ve placed a vast emphasis of my teaching to focus on fostering emotional stability as it feeds into social behaviour.

Bluntly put, community lacked in my classrooms so I sought to find my own. In my adopted communities I found a place of safety, but it wasn’t until high school when I found a classroom where I felt completely heard and seen. That CP Biology class freshmen year mirrored many of the qualities I valued in my communities outside the classroom and this stirred value into school allowing me to see it in different, more formatively positive light. That teacher made me feel as if I was truly cared about as a human and set in stone how important a community classroom can be.

From a young age I’ve been told that I’m someone who is fearless and whom children gravitate towards. In being a teacher, there is power in having charisma and a personality (Cowley 2010) and this seemingly naturalness and ease I have with children is something I want to use to inspire confidence to harness a strong sense of self-efficacy in my students in order for them to persist and achieve (Lefrancois 1997 p.366). Let it be noted, although outwardly confidence seemed to exude from me since childhood, it wasn’t until I had developed a strong sense of mental health paired with safe communities did that confidence reflect inward.

When we are at home with ourselves, we are at home with the world, and my hope for my students is that through effort on my part they can better find solid ground to root and grow. Let’s go back to the tree and its roots. Just like those roots in the tree, a student without community and educational support simply cannot flourish. I want to be a teacher who is in tune with children’s emotional needs, who understands the value of community outside of the home unit and in the classroom, and who wants each kid to find their courage to better have the tools to be able to find a growing and loving community after school and beyond.

References:

Cowley, S. (2010). Getting the Buggers to Behave, Bloomsbury Publishing, London. Available from: ProQuest Ebook Central.

Hamilton, P. and Danby, G. (2016). Addressing the ‘elephant in the room’. The role of the primary school practitioner in supporting children’s mental well-being. Wrexham: Pastoral Care in Education, pp.90–103.

Hodgman, L. (2012). The emotional environment | Croner-i. [online] App.croneri.co.uk. Available at: https://app.croneri.co.uk/feature-articles/emotional-environment

LeFrancois, G (1997) Psychology for Teaching (9th edition) London: Wadsworth

Abigail Ball : 04 Feb 2020 09:26 |  Tags: Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

My Teaching Philosophy – Damon

The philosophy that will guide my approach to teaching includes key values and viewpoints that relate to the purpose of education, the function of learning, and role of the teacher. Education, in my teaching philosophy, relates to the development of character, not just to the acquisition of academic skills, knowledge, or subject expertise. Education relates to the process of learning not just about ourselves and the world we live in – important may those be – but also the skills and attitudes required to thrive in today’s fast-changing, complex world. My view on this is highly influenced by the philosophy underpinning the International Baccalaureate (IB), programmes in which my children have been educated in Thailand and France. I have also been influenced by the work of psychologists Martin Seligman (2011) and Angela Duckworth (2016), who emphasise the value of teaching well-being and resilience or “grit”.

Learning, in my teaching philosophy, is a participatory and life-long pursuit. Students should be encouraged to understand education as a continuous process of learning, in which they are actively engaged, rather than a passive, mandatory rite-of-passage that they are relieved from with the completion of examinations. As active agents with a key role in driving their learning, students should be encouraged by their teachers to take risks, make mistakes, and learn from them. These views have been influenced by a “Restitution” training course I attended at my children’s school in New Delhi in 2017. This is Diane Gossen’s behaviour management approach, designed for both parents and schools, which is based on intrinsic motivation (see Gossen 2001, 2007).

Influenced by my academic background in Philosophy, I believe that my role as a teacher should include guiding the students to think critically and creatively. The role of the teacher should be as a facilitator and guide, not as a dispenser of facts. This is consistent with the IB’s inquiry-led approach. But I believe it is important not to under-value knowledge, the pursuit of truth or the role of instruction, as emphasised by Kirschner, Sweller and Clark (2006). Reaching the balance between guided instruction and self-driven inquiry, will be an ongoing challenge.

As a teacher, I should exemplify the continuous, self-driven learning I hope to encourage the students to undertake, and make the effort to continue learning about the most effective pedagogies, as well as any new relevant science on cognition and learning. I concur with Carol Dweck – whose work on the “growth mindset” opened my eyes to the importance of students’ ideas about themselves as learners – who wrote, “The great teachers believe in the growth of the intellect and talent, and they are fascinated with the process of learning” (2017, p.197). The extent to which I may put these values and viewpoints into practice will depend on the support I am provided by my teaching peers and the school, but also on in my confidence to find ways to do so. Since I am yet to begin teaching, I have to be open to the possibility that my teaching philosophy is likely to change as I learn from experience, become familiar with my students, and adjust my approach along the way.

References

Duckworth, A. (2016). Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. London: Penguin.

Dweck, C. (2017). Mindset, updated edition. London: Robinson.

Gossen, D.C. (2001). Restitution: Restructuring school discipline. Chapel Hill, NC: New View Publications.

Gossen, D. C. (2007). My Child is a Pleasure, 5th edition. Saskatoon, Canada: Chelsom Consultants Ltd.

Kirschner, P. A., Sweller, J. and Clark, R. E. (2006). Why Minimal Guidance During Instruction Does Not Work: An Analysis of the Failure of Constructivist, Discovery, Problem-Based, Experiential, and Inquiry-Based Teaching. Educational Psychologist, 41(2), pp. 75-86.

Selligman, M. E. P. (2013). Flourish. New York: Atria.

Abigail Ball : 27 Jan 2020 09:11 |  Tags: Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

My Teaching Philosophy – Dominic

My teaching philosophy has been formed, shaped and developed by my touchstones. My touchstones are both professional and personal. They include my passion for my subjects (History and Politics), my deeply-held belief in the importance of good teaching and learning, and my own education – especially the teachers who taught me. My teaching philosophy and my touchstones have helped me meet Teacher Standard 1 and its sub-standards because they have installed in me very high professional and personal standards which leads me to "Set high expectations which inspire, motivate and challenge pupils” (Department for Education, 2011, p10), as well as myself.

My first touchstone is etymological in the sense that is concerns what education means and therefore what it is. The English word education ultimately derives from two similar-sounding but distinct Latin transitive verbs - educare and educere. Educare means to bring up, to train, to teach (as opposed to coach), while educere means to lead forth (Bass and Good, 2004). At the heart of my teaching philosophy is my belief that education is - or should be - both of these noble things. My teaching philosophy is grounded in the belief that good teachers should bring up their pupils, in an academic, intellectual and pastoral sense, while also leading them forth on their own learning journeys. Since the Age of Enlightenment, educational pedagogy and practice in Western Europe has rightly focused on the importance of teaching pupils, as opposed to instructing them. Rousseau wrote that education “is a question of guidance rather than instruction. He (the teacher) must not give precepts, he must let the scholar find them out for himself.” (Rousseau, 1762, p112). This difference between educating, as opposed to spoon-feeding information, lies at the heart of my teaching philosophy.

My second touchstone is my long-held passion for my subject. One of the major reasons I am training to be a history teacher is because I love history and because I want to share this love with pupils of all ages, abilities and backgrounds. This enthusiasm for my subject has helped me meet Teacher Standard 3 and its sub-standards of having excellent subject and curriculum knowledge because I constantly seek to deepen and develop my own subject and curriculum knowledge. I have actively developed my subject and curriculum knowledge in my Initial Teacher Training year by attending numerous subject-specific CPD courses (including a four-day subject-enrichment course run by the Prince’s Teaching Institute for new and newly-qualified History teachers, for which my work(a cross-curricular History and Chemistry lesson) was commended), by co-leading a large group of pupils on a battlefields tour of the Western Front as part of University College London’s high-profile Centenary Battlefields Tour Programme and by volunteering as the school visit’s co-ordinator at the largest history festival in the country.

My third touchstone is my own education and the people who taught me – both inside and outside of the classroom. Although no single individual inspired or influenced my decision to become a teacher, my former drama teacher, Mrs Carly Waterman, a superb teaching practitioner, did much to make my secondary education very enjoyable. I often use Mrs Waterman’s lessons as the benchmark by which I now judge my own teaching. In this respect this touchstone has helped me meet Teacher Standard 1 and its sub-standards because I actively "demonstrate consistently the positive attitudes, values and behaviour" (Department for Education, 2011, p10) which were modelled to me by some of my teachers and which I now model for my own pupils.

Academic references

Bass, R, and Good, J (2004). ‘Educare and Educere: Is a Balance Possible in the Educational System?’ The Educational Forum, Vol. 68, pp. 161 – 168.

Department for Education (2011). Teachers’ Standards: Guidance for school leaders, school staff and governing bodies Crown Copyright.

Rousseau, J, (1991). Émile, Or Treatise on Education Penguin.

Abigail Ball : 02 Jan 2019 10:45 |  Tags: Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What is your teaching philosophy? – Danielle

PDP Task 2 – What is your teaching philosophy? How has this originated and can you evaluate how your educational touchstones will impact on the teacher you aspire to be?

At the heart of my teaching philosophy is the belief that all children can achieve their goals, irrespective of their background, circumstance, or ability. When I was younger I used to have epilepsy; a condition which some of my teachers saw as a hindrance. At the end of my secondary education, these teachers remarked that I would not succeed in a science-related career. As a teacher, I never want a child to feel like they are unable to succeed in something which they are passionate about. In an attempt to ensure that this does not happen, I try to tailor my teaching to adapt to the needs of my pupils (TS5). For example, all of my PowerPoint presentations have been adapted for students with dyslexia by using a font which resembles handwriting, and a background which is coloured depending on the specific needs of the pupil. Both of these amendments were implemented as a means of making reading easier and learning more accessible. Furthermore, in order to help pupils who needed support with calculating surface area:volume ratio due to difficulties with visual-spatial reasoning, I made animals out of multi-link blocks (Taylor & Jones 2013). These animals removed the need for pupils to visualise 3D structures in their heads and provided examples which they could count by marking faces with a sharpie.

As part of my PhD, I regularly helped secondary school students to synthesise paracetamol and aspirin. These experiences taught me that I was highly passionate about teaching science to others. As part of this process, I worked closely with the outreach co-ordinator for the University of Warwick. When thinking about my educational touchstones, this teacher resonates closely with who I aspire to be. Whenever he taught, he always addressed students with such enthusiasm and provided them with a wealth of knowledge that left them feeling encouraged and motivated. Promoting a love of science and inspiring my students is definitely the type of teacher that I want to be. According to Hobbs, enthusiasm for what you are teaching is crucial for engaging and influencing your pupils (Hobbs 2012).

To achieve this goal, I have used activities which are engaging and varied (TS1) (Goodwin and Hubbell 2013). For instance, in a Year 8 lesson, instruction sheets and dice were used as a means of motivating pupils to learn about the carbon cycle. A similar strategy was used to teach a Year 9 class about the History of the Periodic Table. According to a formal lesson observation, such activities were successful in securing a high level of student engagement. Further to this, I set up and ran a Science Club within one of my placement schools, with the aim of cultivating an interest in science beyond that of the National Curriculum (TS3). As part of this club, students designed paper rockets and tested their flight stability and aerodynamic performance. By testing a range of different conformations, the students were able to identify that fins were needed to avoid the paper rockets spinning out of control. Pleasingly, as the Science Club progressed, more students were asking to join. This indicates that I managed to foster and maintain pupils’ interest in science (TS3).

References:

Hobbs, L., 2012. Examining the aesthetic dimensions of teaching: Relationships between teacher knowledge, identity and passion. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(5), pp.718–727. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0742051X12000224.

Taylor, A.R. & Jones, M.G., 2013. Students’ and Teachers’ Application of Surface Area to Volume Relationships. Research in Science Education, 43(1), pp.395–411. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-011-9277-7.

Goodwin, B. & Hubbell, E.R., 2013. The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching: A Checklist for Staying Focused Every Day, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lgpRBAAAQBAJ [Accessed on 06/05/18].

Abigail Ball : 08 Oct 2018 08:39 |  Tags: Philosophy Science Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What is your teaching philosophy? – Thomas

What is your teaching philosophy? How has this originated and can you evaluate how your educational touchstones will impact on the teacher you aspire to be?

In teaching physics, I believe the skills that can be gained through the study of physics (mathematical, problem solving, thinking) should be emphasised whilst also entertaining students' curiosity and guiding it in the right direction.

Physics has the ambition of explaining nature through simple models. Whilst this task is not yet complete, the understanding of current models can, and should, be made accessible to all students such that they can begin to develop a scientific way of thinking as well as an appreciation for the task that science is striving to achieve.

At college, studying physics particularly, I started to develop strong ideas about what education should be. My teacher afforded me the autonomy to do my own learning in class. My teacher also recognised how often I would spend time helping fellow students in class and hence gave me more freedom to take an active part in lessons, even going as far as getting me to teach some parts. The main 'philosophy' that I want to bring forward from that experience was to allow students some level of autonomy and to take responsibility for their own learning. Having autonomy, along with fostering a natural amount of inquisitiveness is what Claxton notes as being the hallmarks of a successful learner (Claxton, 2008). I have tried to build autonomy and engagement into topics that are typically considered ‘boring’, by providing just a simple framework for students to work and explore within. In the topic of rocks with year 8, the lessons focussed around demonstrations of the rock cycle and allowed the students to explore the process practically and use the framework of the sheet to express their own scientific ideas. This worked incredibly well and created a lot of excitement in an often dry topic.

The classroom environment should be a space in which students feel safe to ask questions and satisfy their own curiosity. For me, creating an atmosphere of scientific curiosity is of the utmost importance, but the concept needs a concrete definition. Jirout and Klahr (2012) suggest scientific curiosity should be defined as "the threshold of desired uncertainty in the environment that leads to exploratory behaviour” (Jirout and Klahr, 2012, p.125).

I believe that education works best when the students have some control of the direction of their learning, to be allowed to satisfy their curiosity. Within lessons, I’ve adopted the use of a Question box to allow students to ask me questions about the topics they are studying (as well as other topics entirely), so that educational tangents can be discussed without distracting from the lesson. I’ve also furthered students curiosity through a science club demonstration of the physics of hovercrafts to further their love of learning, which the students all enjoyed immensely and allowed me to write a piece in the school newsletter. Furthermore, I've been lucky enough to be involved with scientific outreach, demonstrating the chemistry of scents to 3 groups of year 6 students at a local primary school - using Lego models and practicals to inspire students about chemistry.

REFERENCES

Claxton, G. (2008). What's the Point of School?: Rediscovering The Heart of Education. London: Oneworld Publications.

Jirout, J. and Klahr D. (2012). Children's scientific curiosity: In search of an operational definition of an elusive concept. Developmental Review, 32(2), pp. 125-160.

Abigail Ball : 21 Jun 2018 12:56 |  Tags: Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem