Philosophy of Assessment

When facing the reality of the classroom in this day and age, teachers must admit that the classroom revolves around assessments. Everything students do in the classroom today ultimately leads to progressive assessments and final evaluative assessments. Although it saddens me that school has become this assessment bubble, I believe it is the only way to effectively teach. I believe that we are surrounded by assessment, and it is a crucial part of our education system. My philosophy is that we need assessment in the classroom to monitor student’s progress and whether we are effectively teaching or not. In order to properly manipulate assessment, I believe that you must use different forms of assessment and guarantee their validity and reliability.
Although I wish school could be a day of fun activities and play time, in order to touch the lives of children, we must assess them. We must assess them because we need to be told what difficulties they are having and what needs to be refined for them. The positive element of assessment is that there are so many types, and you can incorporate enjoyable assessments that enthuses the students to learn and do well. If I assess what I teach, my results should be valid also determining how I use them. If my results are reliable in that the class did poorly on one exam, my philosophy is that the outcome is positive in that there is something that my students unanimously didn’t understand and something I didn’t effectively teach well enough. My philosophy is not only that assessment is vital for the classroom, but using the results appropriately is crucial to the continuing of effective teaching.
The second element of my philosophy of assessment is the fact that I will incorporate several different kinds of assessment in my classroom. As a teacher, you must appreciate the fact that all of your students are different. Not every student excels at structured pressurized tests as a form of assessment. On the other hand, not every student can trigger their creativity and excel on a project. When taking this into consideration I strongly believe in incorporating all types of assessments. Prior to teaching a unit, I believe it is useful to incorporate surveys and diagnostic assessments to determine what your students understand prior to instruction. I believe that you should integrate formative and summative assessments. I believe this is important because by using formative assessments, you can use different kinds that all monitor progress through a unit. This is important to monitor progress so you can determine comprehension and how effective the instruction is. I find that the types of formative assessments that are good to determine progress are group, informal, supply, subjective, complex performance and typical performance assessments, which are great ways to pin point where your students are in terms of understanding. In terms of summative assessments at the end, it is good to use maximum performance, individual, mastery, fixed response and power assessments to evaluate the student’s comprehension at the end of a unit. I believe that you must incorporate all these different assessments such as maximum performance and typical performance so you can compare how your students do on a regular day and how effective your teaching is.
I stick to my philosophy of assessment very closely. I believe that assessment is valuable for the classroom and that you must incorporate all different types of them into your classroom. It is my goal to make assessment and evaluation a positive element to my classroom for me and my students. I want to give many opportunities for my students to do well and achieve in my class and become the best student they can be.

Poverty in the Schools- Ed Week Article

This week’s article that I examined deals with the overwhelming increases of poverty in public school systems. This article is really good about being able to turn ones head. Many people do not realize how much of a current problem poverty has on the schools systems today.
The article not only commented that the South has many poverty stricken families, but that poverty constitutes the majority. This is so important because today, the public school systems are working at the maximum to make an impact on children. With these new statistics, poverty holds back the success of the school systems and the changes they are trying to make. The article threatens the country by saying that if the rates continue; the whole country could be made up of mostly poverty stricken families.
Because of the increase of the enrollment of African Americans and Latinos, high birth rates of Latinos and the increase of Immigration, the public school systems are dealing with mostly students that are in poverty. This social issue is so current because of what was stated previously: how poverty is holding back the public school systems and their strives for success. A very interesting point the article makes is how poverty is a vicious cycle, and the school systems are supposed to be preventing poverty, but now they are overwhelmed with poverty stricken families.
Hopefully, these rates will eventually fall and our teachers today and educate to their highest ability to create students who are willing to succeed and obtain high paying and successful job to take our country out of poverty.

The Reward of Teaching Elementary Students

I believe that teaching, no matter what the age level, is one of the most rewarding careers that one can ask for. Teachers are touching the lives of children everyday and motivating them to be the best they can be. I believe that teaching elementary school students is a very special opportunity that I believe every teacher can have. I believe that teaching the elementary age is extra special because you get the opportunity to be with your student’s longer, form the foundation of their content knowledge and positively manipulate their cognitive development because they are so impressionable.
The unique opportunity of teaching elementary school students is that you are graced with the ability to spend eight hours a day with them. I believe that this time gives you more chances to inspire your students because rather than only seeing them for only 45 minutes a day. I believe that the short 45 minutes does not give you an enough opportunities to form a bond with your students and to leave a lasting impression. Many people remember all of their elementary school teachers, but their memory begins to fade when progressing into the older grades. Younger students need the structure of one classroom with one teacher for the length that they are there for. This is an advantage for teachers like me, who get to spend all this time with the same group of students in order to monitor their development and growth as learners.
Much of the content that elementary school students learn is carried with them throughout lives. Not only do you teach elementary school students appropriate socialization, manners and many other life lessons, you teach them crucial content that they will have forever. This crucial content I speak of is the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic. As an elementary school teacher, you get the divine privilege to teach students how to read, write and solve problems. As you get older and go through your education, there is a lot of content you end up not seeing again. The content that elementary school students learn will be utilized for the rest of their education and in many elements of life. Important figures such as the president can dedicate his articulacy to his elementary school teachers who taught him how to read and write. Although he perfected it throughout his education, it is the elementary school teachers that first taught him these skills. We have a huge responsibility on our shoulders because we want our students to be successful and achieve their goals, we must effectively teach these crucial content areas so our students can keep their head above the water and reach their goals.
The fact that elementary students resemble sponges at the young age in comparison to older students gives us so many opportunities to make impressions on them because of the larger amount of allotted time we spend with them. Students at the elementary age level are progressing through so many cognitive developmental levels at a higher rate than older students. This is beneficial for elementary school teachers because we get the opportunity to witness it first hand and are able to form their education around their development and instill in them the roots of a successful student. We get the chance to educate our students in a way that guides them through developmental stages. Because elementary age students are so impressionable, it is advantageous for elementary school educators to mold their education.
It is such a reward to teach these impressionable young students. It is a special opportunity that we get to be able to educate these students for solid amounts of time and teach them crucial skills, and content that they will always utilize.

Major Issues Fighting Schools

As we know, there are many unfortunate issues that schools are faced with today. As educators, the ultimate dream is to envision a country where the school systems do not face any trials and tribulations. The two major issues that I think schools are faced with today are funding, and communication with parents. I believe that the first method in addressing these issues is by preventing their consequences in your classroom and to make sure that the effects are not as magnified in your room.
The first problem I feel is a big issue facing schools is the funding issue. Because of the current economic down falls recently, schools have been caught in the storm. Without funding, schools get punished in several ways. They have to deal with a shortage of teachers, supplies and curriculums. For example, many of the funding problems have caused a budget cut throughout many districts. This budget cut has affected the amount of teachers and programs implemented in the school. It seems as thought the arts have faced the blunt of these budget cuts; there has been a lot of elimination of art, music, and physical education classes. I firmly believe that these arts better fulfill the student’s education and further develop their learning and education. Students need these classes to activate their creativity and passions. Although it is unfortunate and saddens me to cut these terrific crucial programs, there is a solution.
Although I can’t solve the economic crisis, there are some ways I can address the economic problem for my classroom. One solution is by raising money in the town to plan an arts festival so the students can be exposed at least a little bit during the year to the arts. There is an easier solution that teachers can resort to in order to address this problem. I feel that if you teach at a school where these programs are potentially cut, I believe that nothing is stopping you from integrating them in your classroom. I believe that all lessons can include art, music and physical education extensions, which furthers their knowledge on the topic being learned. This is how I intend on preparing for this issue of budget cutting if it occurs in a school I am apart of.
The second major issue that challenges teachers today is a lack of communication between them and the parents. I feel that children are ultimately left behind when the communication between the teacher and the parent is lacking. I believe that you need to become one team with your students’ parents. In order to effectively teach and better educate your students, it is crucial to communicate with their parents in order to better the student’s education.
Although I do realize that not every parent will be equally enthusiastic in working as a team, it is my goal to do my best to form a positive communication between me and the parents. In regards to the overall problem of communicating with parents, I plan on addressing the overall problem by holding parents meeting, and by becoming technologically available.
Indeed I do realize that these are not the only two issues that schools are faced with today, I will make it my goal to address as many problems I can in my classroom so my students will not be faced with the blunt of too many of these issues. I am an educator to touch the lives of children and I will do everything in my power to tame down the uncontrollable in our schools.

Most Effective Teaching

The best approaches to effective teaching are continuously evolving. They are changing on a daily basis because you must cater to your students and their learning styles. A method that I feel is most effective and can be molded to fit the structure of your growing classroom is the ideals of the constructivist method.
Constructivism is based on the idea that learners can individually discover and transform complex information. The elements that constructivism incorporates are social and discovery learning, scaffolding, and the zone of proximal development. Based on my ideals of a classroom that is a community, interactive, and evolving, I feel it is the most effective method that is based on student-centered learning where they discover and interactively learn.
The first element of this most effective method is social learning where the students learn together and work as a unit. I believe that a class should be a team and community where they learn and work together. Many times in the classroom you have group projects and constructivism utilizes social learning to prepare students for working together and learning from each other for the future.
The second element of constructivism is discovery learning which is similar to the previous discussed social learning. Discovery learning is an incredibly effective element of constructivism. Discovery learning is based on the idea that students are guided through their learning, where they discover answers to complicated problems raised in class. When students discover knowledge, it is very rewarding for them rather than the teacher lecturing. Confidence and motivation is a factor because when the students realize they can discover answers, they are confident in themselves and are motivated to continue on actively learning.
The third element of constructivism is scaffolding. This element along with social and discovery learning add to the effectiveness of constructivism. The idea of scaffolding is to present students with a complex problem where they are guided to discovery learning. I believe students take more from solving a complex problem independently and with their peers rather than the teacher conducting bland lectures and solving through worksheets.
The fourth and final element of constructivism is the zone of proximal development. This zone is the knowledge you are developmentally able to comprehend; it is not what you know or cannot know. It is another contributor to the incredibly effective constructivist method because it deals with further developing knowledge through social learning. I believe it is crucial for students to work together because they work within each others zones of proximal development where they learn from each other and are able to bounce knowledge off one another.
In order to create a community classroom where students gain knowledge from each other through student centered teaching, I feel constructivism is the most effective method. Although lecturing and worksheets may be appropriate at times, an environment that includes social and discover learning, scaffolding and working within each others zone of proximal development is a method that is effective in that it creates a stimulated learning environment where students can grow and expand their knowledge to reach their goals.

Best Learning Conditions

The conditions in which children learn best are underlined in Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs. The hierarchy of needs consist of two parts. The first component includes physiological, safety, belonginess/love, and esteem needs. The second component includes the need to know and understand, aesthetic and self actualization needs. This discontinuous theory states that each level of Maslow’s hierarchy must be met in order to conquer the next step.
The first component of Maslow’s hierarchy is the deficiency needs. In order for our students to learn and function, they must be equipped with these subsidiary needs. Teachers ultimately must meet these needs first in order for there to be effective teaching and learning taking place.
The physiological need is the first element. It has a simple concept but a complicated application. Teachers must make sure their students aren’t hungry or tired. As a teacher you must take care of these needs immediately; if your student is hungry, give him/her food and if your student is tired, send him to the nurse’s office to catch up on sleep. I believe it is absolutely more important for a student to miss class to meet these needs, than miss a whole day of learning because he/she was hungry or tired.
The safety need is the second element. As a teacher it should be the ultimate goal to keep the students safe by setting up rules and trust in the classroom. If the students do not feel safe in the classroom, they will be too distracted and occupied to learn.
The belonginess/love need is the third of the deficiency needs. Once your students are fed and feel safe, this need must be fulfilled in order for learning to continue. You must make sure your students feel as if they belong and are loved. By uniting your students and creating a classroom culture where every student is an important part, this need will be met.
The fourth deficiency need to be met in order for learning to take place is the esteem needs. As a teacher, you must praise your students and let it be known that they can learn and succeed just as well as the rest of the class. If students are well aware that they can achieve anything they set their mind to, their self-esteem will rise. If the student’s self-esteem is maintained by developing a united classroom, the students will be well-equipped to learn and grow.
The last major part of Maslow’s hierarchy is the needs that take place once the students’ deficiency needs are met. It includes the need to know and understand, aesthetic needs, and self actualization. First, the teacher must create a classroom where the students feel they have a need to know and understand. Once they feel they need to know and apply the knowledge, but also understand it, they can work with the teacher on achieving the aesthetic needs. The aesthetic needs are difficult to meet, but as long as the teacher makes sure that the student is capable, it is possible. The last element is self-actualization needs and this along with the aesthetic needs are the most complicated to achieve. Our students need to be equipped with the positive view that they can reach the ultimate element of Maslow’s hierarchy. These two needs involve having a positive outlook and a complete understanding and appreciation of ones self as a student and person.
As a teacher, it is crucial that every single element of the hierarchy is met in sequence. We all want to be effective teachers, and achieving this hierarchy is an important part of effectively teaching in order for to touch the lives of our students with knowledge that they can learn and succeed with.

Classroom Management

As a teacher, I believe that the biggest challenge you face in the classroom is managing your classroom. Although it is a challenge, if you instill an effective management plan, it no longer becomes a difficult task. In the classroom, there is no instruction without attention and no attention without order. Behavior management is the foundation of a classroom and it must be conquered before effective teaching can take place. In order to build a community where this effective teaching and learning occurs, you must install a solid behavior management plan.
An effective management plan that I plan on implementing includes a mix of operant and classical conditioning. I believe that there is no one single answer to behavior management; an intertwining of ideas is the best option. Besides rules and punishments I believe that by conditioning your students and utilizing reinforcement and punishment appropriately is what develops an effective management plan.
I believe that conditioning must take place in order to help manage your classroom. I don’t believe in conditioning students to fear class, tests, and homework. I want to incorporate the opposite; I want to condition my students to not fear those things so I can appropriately manage the class. I feel that if students are confident in their work and do not fear learning, mis-behaving will not be a big concern. Classical conditioning is the first step in settling student’s behavior problems. An example of conditioning I will use in my classroom is conditioning my students to not respond to assessments with fear. To do this I believe that you must give several assessments that do not pressure the students as much and may not necessarily be counted as a grade or do not count as a lot of points. Through this method, students will not fear tests or mis-behave when they have an upcoming assessment; many students mis-behave through stress and pressure of assessments.
Operant conditioning is the second method that I plan on using in order to incorporate an effective management plan. I believe that punishment and reinforcement used strategically can create a community classroom with well-behaved students. Reinforcement is the first thing I would incorporate in my classroom as apart of the operant conditioning theory. I believe that in order to manage classroom behavior, you must identify the behavior you expect, and then when it occurs communicate with your students why the behavior is desirable, then immediately reinforce it. I believe that you need to communicate with your students in order to find out what kind of rewards they like so you know what to distribute in order to reinforce good behavior. Punishment is the second thing along with reinforcement that I plan to use in managing my classroom in terms of operant conditioning. In order to manage behavior I believe that you should install removal and presentation punishment. Behavior cannot be managed unless you use the presentation of an unpleasant consequence or removal of a pleasant article. Through this method of conditioning by using reinforcement and punishment, you can shape the behavior you desire so you can effectively teach and your students can learn without having to worry about behavior problems.
By establishing order in the classroom through these methods you will be able to effectively instruct. Through classical and operant conditioning a classroom management plan can be maintained in order for learning to take place in the classroom without any unnecessary distractions.