SIB 1 Running Head: Statement of Informed Beliefs

Statement of Informed Beliefs Essay Jenny Villarreal Kae Jensen EDUC 204 Families, Communities, & Culture TR, 1:00-2:15, Fall 2012

SIB 2 Statement of Informed Beliefs Essay As a future educator, I want to learn from my students and have my students learn from me. I want to see how different and unique each of the students in my future classroom will be. Knowing I will be able to teach so many different types of students will allow me to expand my teaching to help my students. There are so many different types of learners and the styles in which they can learn; I am ready to accept the challenge of teaching these students. I will be explaining my beliefs about diversity and how I will address it in my classroom. I will be discussing this by breaking it down into five sections: all students can learn, teachers expectations, students social ecology theory, cultural diversity instruction, and curriculum for all learners. All Students Can Learn All children have the ability to learn and achieve. This is one of the many reasons why I have decided to become an educator. I want to be able to say I helped the students in my classroom learn something and hopefully have them enjoy what and how I am teaching them. I believe if a student can put his or her mind to wanting to learn something then he or she can learn. As long as a student is willing to try something new he or she is putting himself or herself in the environment to learn. To help my future students learn, I will show my students there are tons of different ways to learn something. Students need to know there isnt one way to learn something and they each learn in different ways. Howard Gardner (1999) recommends that teachers adapt the curriculum to the following multiple intelligences he believes encompass human capability: logical-mathematical, linguistic, bodily-kinesthetic, musical, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist (Berns, 2010). I want to help my future students understand what way helps them

SIB 3 learn best. I want them to know there are eight styles of learning and they may learn different from their friends in the classroom. I will try to teach my students using the different learning styles and locus of control so they can shine in their learning. By incorporating the eight styles of learning into my curriculum I am making it possible for all my students to learn and achieve. Teachers Expectations Teachers place a lot of pressure on the students when they are being taught something new and they cant grasp it right away, and the teachers put the same and even more pressure on them when they cant get a student to understand what is being taught. This, I believe, plays a huge part on the ability for a student to learn. Due to the pressure created, teachers have to become creative and keep a routine while helping their students learn. By being creative and keeping routine the teacher is both showing the students stability and showing they can have fun while learning. It is not the students fault if he or she does not understand or grab the content nor is it the teachers. It is more the fault of how the information is being taught paired with the type of learning which fits the student. Both the student and the teacher need to work together to help each other. By helping the teacher teach the student and by helping the student learn what is being taught the responsibility of the learning is being shared between the two. Teachers need to be able to create all sorts of goals for themselves and for their students. It is important for the teacher to identify all sorts of goals for the school year. Goals for the classroom should range from daily to weekly, weekly to monthly, monthly to quarterly, and quarterly to yearly. Goals for the students should be set up in the same manner, but they should be student specific. Goals, I believe, are a huge part of education. Goals let the teachers and the students know how well they are doing and it lets them know, through feedback, what they may or may not need to improve on. To help the students achieve the goals, the teacher needs to

SIB 4 encourage the students through guidance by showing the students what is expected of them and making sure they are staying on task. Students Social Ecology Theory Social ecology is something every teacher should bring into their classroom in one way or another. An individuals self-concept is unique from others because every person reacts differently to a certain situation. Psychologist Erik Erikson (1963, 1980) has explained the personality development of individuals as the outcomes of their interactions in their social environment (Berns, 2010). Erikson has broken psychosocial development into eight stages: infancy, early childhood, play age, school age, adolescence, young adulthood, adulthood, and senescence. Each stage plays a part of the individuals self-concept; acting one way in one stage will affect how the next stage is played. Students are very impressionable and through the modeling around them they obtain certain characterists. A students family, culture, and community impact the students learning in so many ways. Students come into a classroom with all the impacts of the people who have touched their lives in one way or another. I think family impacts students the most of all. A family environment is so unique in every situation; this is the thing I believe will help the individuality of each student. No family is alike; the living situations are always different. Though there may be similarities in the families, there is always something in the situation which makes the family unique. Cultural Diversity Instruction As a future teacher I have had to think about how I will include my students life stories and experiences. Teachers need to show they are curious about who their students are. I believe showing an interest in the students will cause for the students to listen to what the teacher has to

SIB 5 say. Learning about the students lives will help me as a future teacher become a better teacher. I want to have my students share their ethnic backgrounds. By giving my students a chance to share who they are, I am giving them the opportunity to relate to one another in some way. I want my students to learn egocentrism because it is an important key element in life. Because each family is different I know I will have students who have cultural pluralism and students who have cultural assimilation. I will have students who are of a minority group who will act like the majority group in the classroom, but when the get home will show no characteristics of the majority group. I will have other students who will be of a minority group and students entire family will have characteristics of the majority group in the community. I will have to understand what the cultures, of the students, in my classroom are. I will need to make sure I do not say something which can offend the student or their family in which I am taking too. Curriculum for All Learners As I have already stated each student learns differently and as a future teacher, I will have to address this. I have to take accountability for making sure each of my students are learning. Students should not be punished because they learn in a different way than how the information is being taught. All eight of the learning styles should be addressed while teaching. I feel teachers should have to figure out what type of learner each child is because it is not fair to the students if the teacher only teaches one style of learning. Teachers should have to create a melting pot of learning styles in their curriculum. If a teacher was only to teach towards one learning style, it would lead to holding the other students back from what they are really capable of achieving in the classroom. Teachers seem to get into a rhythm and forget there are different learning styles for the students and sometimes they dont even realize they are doing it. Teachers

SIB 6 tend to favor their own learning style because it is what is comfortable for them, but teaching should be making the students comfortable. It is always necessary to have the right attitude, when teaching, to create a successful learning environment. I want to help my students and have my students help me learn all we can. By grouping my students in zone of proximal development I want them to expand their knowledge from what they can do by themselves to what they can do in a group. I want to show them new and creative ways to learn things they have been taught and by grouping the students with different learning styles I would be achieving this. To ensure my students are learning I will use assessments as reinforcement to making sure they understand what I am teaching. I want them to leave my classroom at the end of the year knowing which way is the best way for them to learn. I want them to know what learning style is best for them. By helping my students understand their way of learning, I will be helping them for the rest of their education.

SIB 7 Work Cited Berns, R. (2010). Child, family, school, community: Socialization and support. (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.