My Teaching Statement and Philosophy

Education has done so much changing over the course of many years. New plans have
been put in place for education and simultaneously old plans have been extinguished and left
behind. It is no mystery, then, that as a prospective teacher I will have to be adaptable to change
and be willing to take on new challenges as I am faced with them. If there is anything I have
learned over the course of my own education, it is that teaching does not follow one specific path
nor does it ever really stay on one for long. The world of education is ever-changing; it is in
constant exploration for new and innovative ways to help the children of today learn and grow to
be leaders, critical thinkers, and mindful citizens. This is where my role as a teacher comes in to
playI am to be one of the thinkers, innovators, and creators responsible for finding new ways
of motivating and teaching students the immense amount of information they are to learn over
the course of their education.
One very integral part of education that is in constant revision are the standards put in
place for every grade level and subject. Previously, the California State Standards were the sole
focus of teachers all around the state, but recently the United States teamed up and decided
standards should be uniform and not separate per state. Thus, the Common Core Standards were
born. These standards are currently specific to English Language Arts and Mathematics, though
subjects such as Science and Social Studies are working toward the same goal of common
standards across the board. Common Core presents a challenge to current teachers because it
consists of quite different standards than those previously used. The new Common Core requires
students to use more critical thinking in their answers and provide explanations for their
responses.
As a teacher, I think that Common Core will be a challenge to incorporate into the
classroom because it is still so new to the education world. However, I am excited about making

Common Core a key component of my classroom because, I believe that it will create a whole
new generation of students capable of thinking at a higher level from a young age. Instead of
simply regurgitating information back to me and then tossing out the learned information, my
students will remember the things they learn because they will need to have explanations for
everything. Every lesson I create will incorporate at least one Common Core Standard so that my
students are pushed to achieve as much as possible in the year I have with them. I want to
challenge my students to think outside the box, be creative, and use their imagination to help
them remember the material presented to them. Common Core desires explanations, but my
classes will not need to write out word for word their logic behind the answers they have come
up with. My reason for this is simplenot all students learn best by writing. I plan to teach to all
of Howard Gardners Multiple Intelligences.
I was unaware for a very long time that Multiple Intelligences even existed. When I
finally learned about them, I discovered the reasons why images have always helped me retain
information more efficiently. I am a Spatial learner. Not all students, though, learn the same way
I do which means if I teach in only one way I will be neglecting the needs of many other
students. I think the best way to assess Multiple Intelligences in my classroom would be to have
the students take a quick test which would help me see how they learn best. I would then make
every effort to adapt my lesson plans to the needs of different students by varying the way I
present information. This could include having a math lesson that contains a Common Core
standard or two where the class uses manipulatives to display fractions, thus teaching to the
Logical-Mathematical learners as well as the Bodily-Kinesthetic learners.
Incorporating the Multiple Intelligences into my teaching will also affect the climate of
my classroom. One of my largest concerns with regards to classroom climate is that it is a safe

environment for all students. I will make it a priority to ensure that my students feel that it is
okay to answer questions and get them wrong because in my mind no answer is ever truly wrong.
While it may not be correct to the question at hand, it is the answer to something; my hope is that
the students I teach understand that when they walk into my room they are free of judgment. The
arrangement of the furniture in my classroom is vital to the overall climate as well. I would
prefer to have four to six students sitting in arrangements of tables or desks facing one another,
but with nobodys back to the board. This will foster affective learning as students must learn to
work with one another while allowing them to work as individuals as well. Groups of students
will be selected by me to sit together so that I can ensure there is an equal amount of diversity
placed around the room.
I have noticed that throughout my observations in classrooms there has been a lack of
diversity in the dcor. The students, however, are very diverse. I would like to showcase students
from all backgrounds whether race, socioeconomic status, sex, or sexual preference because in
my eyes they are all just as important as the next. This ties into my desire to have a safe
classroom environment. If posters on the wall and stories told only depict middle class white
children, I will not be including all the students who come from different backgrounds and make
up a large percentage of my class. I think a fun way to include students from all backgrounds
would be to have weekly share-outs on Fridays where the students get to learn about each other.
It will take extra effort on my part to make time for this, but I think it is vital to the climate of my
classroom. My students should walk away from my class feeling that diversity should be praised
and welcomed without fear or concern.
If my students feel comfortable in the classroom environment I have created for them and
they have created for themselves, then it is more likely they will be open to trying new things. It

is my preference to teach elementary age students and as far as new things go they are a real flipof-the-coin. Since they are still so young, they may be more likely to take risks in the classroom
because they are unaware of any consequences that could come from doing so. Other students,
on the other hand, may find taking risks very challenging because they are so shy and are still
learning to open up. It will be my responsibility to facilitate the risk-taking of those willing, and
to accommodate accordingly for the students who feel more challenged by the idea of trying
something new.
One way I could facilitate risk-taking in my classroom would be to always celebrate
willingness to try new things. I will demonstrate that I too am willing to do things that may make
me uncomfortable because I have not done them, or am not good at them. For example, if my
students see me try to draw pictures on the board and realize I am not good at it, they will be able
to see that I still put myself out there and received acceptance from them. They will, of course,
receive the same treatment from myself and from their classmates. Another way I could facilitate
risk-taking is by allowing students to share ideas with a partner, and bounce ideas off of one
another before sharing out with the whole class. It provides the student either with validation that
they are correct, or with a new idea that may help them feel more comfortable to share out. This
could even work for presentations, as many young students will be wary of speaking in front of
one another. Group or pair mini presentations will help them feel more confident in themselves
and be more likely to take risks in presenting new material.
As for myself, I will need to work on my own risk-taking when I enter the education
world as a teaching professional. It will take some definite risks for me to establish myself as a
successful teacher and build up my own confidence. This is something that I know colleagues
will be able to assist me with; other teachers will have experiences I can learn from,

administrators will have the guidance I need when I feel unsure of the direction I should go in,
and the principal will be a go-to resource for me as well. I intend to use my colleagues to my
advantage because I know how difficult the first few years of teaching will be. My colleagues
will be respected by me and I will prove to them that I am a worthy colleague to have as I, too,
can provide new and innovative resources for them to use.
I decided to get into the teaching profession because I realized when I got to college that I
loved learning. If I did not know it as fact before then, college confirmed it. Being a lifelong
learner is at the heart of education. We begin our lives learning, we spend one fourth of our lives
in school learning, and then we realize (or at least, I realized) that we are not done learning yet. I
want to be in the education field because I never want to stop learning and improving myself
along with my skills. At the same time, my constant desire to learn has the potential to rub off on
my students and create in them a trait of lifelong learning. Learning is at the center of everything
we do and the only way we can hope for improvement in the world, which is why I believe it is
vital. It is an exciting thought that I will get to share my love for education and learning with the
future generations and make my mark on their lives in as many positive ways as I possibly can.