Statement of Informed Beliefs

Veronica Carrington
Carol Billing
EDUC 204 Families, Communities, & Culture
Spring 2015

Statement of Informed Beliefs

Growing up, I had a lot of people to look up to, and when I look back a lot of those
people were teachers. These teacher helped me with guidance and understanding. Being a
teacher is a job not many look at in a respectable manner all the time. I am glad for the teachers
that modeled so many good attributes and pushed me to do my best. I want to be a teacher to
help guide my students and help them socialize and become part of world as hard working and
understanding adults like I felt I have become.
All Students Can Learn
As a teacher, it is our responsibility to teach children a wide range of lessons both in the
classroom and for the world we live outside the classroom. We have the responsibility socialize
these children and to be good role models. Children are very impressionable and it is up to us to
show them they can be great members of our society. We also have the responsibility to
encourage our youth and to give them the foundation for their emotional well-being.
Children all learn at different rates and different ways. The education field is ever
changing, not the material per say, but the way it is to be taught. As teachers we have to adapt
quickly and be able to learn with our students. Teachers have to have a very keen eye for details
in the classroom and the attitudes and abilities of each child. Going over material again, talking
to the child one on one, and being able to communicate with the parents are ways we can ensure
the children will learn.
As a teacher I will be a very active teacher both in talking and in listening. It is very
important to show the students that it is welcome to come with questions. It is also a teachers
responsibility to pay attention to each child individually and to work with them if needed. Also

helping to get parents involved and in the loop with the childs education at all times with letter,
Friday folders, and emails.
Teachers Expectations
Teachers expectation have a very high impact on a childs ability to learn. Teachers who
have a positive and high expectation for their student may influence their students to want to
achieve these goals. The important part is to focus these goals based on the knowledge and
experience of the teacher, the student, and the relationship between them. This also helps with
building management within the classroom. It is the teachers responsibility to encourage
children to follow a standard of conduct and to take responsibility for themselves.
The importance of educational goals is so that there is a set standard in which you want
the child to achieve before moving on to the next stage or level in life. There are many ways to
encourage the children to obtain these goals. One of the most important thing is to maintain an
open environment so that students feel comfortable to ask for clarification when necessary.
Another important thing is to encourage the students with positive reinforcement and to give
them the guidance they need to achieve their goals.
Students Social Ecology Theory
Ecology, is the science of interrelationships between organisms and their environments.
The importance of connecting students social ecology and their learning is a very important to
help our students understand and relate to their peers and the world. There are many instances
where we can connect social problems and relate them to a learning lesson. This is how we learn
things such as social norms and things like manners.
Family provides nurturing, affection and our primary source of socialization. Is the child
getting the right support and criticism from the parents at home? They also provide the

opportunities for a child to manipulate objects, model for them desirable behaviors to initiate
activity, and to be exposed to a language rich environment, which all contribute to a healthy
opportunity to lay a good meaningful foundation for when they start socializing with others in
their communities. It is important to know the difference of culture and ethnicity. Ethnicity is
ascribed attribute of membership in a group in which members identify themselves by national
origin, culture, race, and religion. Culture refers to the acquired, or learned, behavior, including
knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and traditions that is characteristic of the social
environment in which an individual grows up. Because of our vast amount of difference in
cultures around the United States, this creates different views. While some cultures value one
aspect of learning curriculum such as math and science, we can have other cultures that value the
views of exploring oneself through art or music. These influences are passed on to the children
and are carried out when approaching subjects in school and learning. The community is the
main setting for which children live by doing. The facilities available to a child can impact their
ability to learn. Such as, is there a library in the community, are all the people in the community
similar or diverse, and are there advocates for children? These can all impact a childs learning
experience, if they dont have a place to do their homework, where will they go? Will they get
the extra practice they need to develop these skills? Children need a community to develop and
to take what they learn and to use it or practice it with other members of their community.
Cultural Diversity Instruction
When it comes to acknowledging life histories and ethnic backgrounds I would really like
to focus on the main ethnic cultures in the classroom. I also feel I should teach my students about
the ethnic cultures that arent present within their community every day so they get a better
global perspective of the world. I remember in my first grade class room my teacher brought

foods from about seven different cultures and talked a little about each one of them. I think this
would be a great idea to incorporate into my classroom someday. I would also like to share with
them different holidays and celebrations cultures participate in to show them what is important to
different cultures from around the world by presenting a few and talking about them in class or
just having a week to talk and involve all subjects into a day of that culture. I also think it would
be fun to learn to say hello in at least 5-10 different languages and teach them in a song. I think
language is a very important aspect of culture. It may not be a lot for only one word, but I believe
it can open a door.
Cultural pluralism is a mutual appreciation and understanding of various cultures and
coexistence in society of different languages, religious beliefs, and life styles. Many children
benefit from the constant interaction with other cultural groups. Cultural assimilation is the
process whereby a minority cultural group takes on the characteristics of the majority cultural
group. These two definitions are very different pluralism is appreciating and understanding other
cultures whereas the assimilation is taking on someone elses cultures just because they are more
culturally dominant in that part of the world. These are both important to incorporate and to
understand in school. We have to teach our children cultural pluralism and we already assimilate
our children in many ways such as the language we teach in. With cultural assimilation, thats
why I think it is very important to incorporate different ethnic and cultural aspects into the
classroom lessons.
Curriculum for all Learners
As a teacher we have to adapt and adjust our plans to meet the need of the children. There
will many times where there is trial and error. A lot of plan changes will have to be made in the
moment. So I plan on having additional activities planned. Each day is different and depending

on the environment or the overall feel of the classroom that day, the students might learn better
with an activity tied to the subject and learning it on their own rather than reading from a
textbook. I believe this is where the theory of leadership styles comes to play. With teaching a lot
of what the students absorb is how you present the information. Authoritarian style would be
acting as a leader and directing the group. The democratic style would be more of a guide in
helping the children learn and collaborates with them. Laissez-faire style would have the teacher
letting the students do what they please. I believe a lot of what we have to use in our approach
has to do with the overall attitude of the students. With this knowledge I will be able to approach
my students every day in a different manner if needed to support their learning needs and to
adapt and change for their benefit.
Assessments help to inform teachers on what information the students are receiving and
is a helpful way to gage the success of our teaching styles and approaches. Due to the
assessments we may have to change our instructional planning and take perception of the
children to see how we can approach it from a different angle to which they can absorb and learn
the content. We have to be able to learn in different ways because like Howard Gardner thought,
everybody learns differently and so came his theory of multiple intelligences. We have to be able
to change our curriculum and find what suits the students, whether it is to use logicalmathematical, linguistic, musical, spatial or body-kinesthetic, or any of the rest to apply to the
delivery of the topic to engage and teach our students, not only so they can do well on an
assessment, but so they can learn something for life.
Depending on the age group, I like the idea of making groups of children with similar
levels within the classroom to work with one another to push themselves and learn from each
other in every subject when it comes to group activities. As a classroom I think it is import we

also come together and discuss how we got each answer. Like in math, many students find the
answer to the problem like the teacher showed them, but in some cases there are children who
can find another way to solve the same problem, and I think it helps when the students know
there is more than one way to get to an answer. When children see this, I believe they want to
start modeling this thinking pattern and try to develop their own way of thinking outside the box.
It is not as much important that all my students leave my classroom on the same learning level,
but the fact that each student takes a little bit more information and rises just a bit more then
when they came in at the beginning.

References
Berns, R. M. (2013). Child, Family, School, Community: Socialization and Support (9th ed.).
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Print.