Introduction
I think that it is important that every student entering my classroom feels accepted, equipped, known and empowered. This should be accessible for every child no matter who they are, where they come from, where they fall in line of abilities, and more. Through this, each child will have the opportunity to grow both academically and emotionally. I desire to see everyone given a fair shot in their interests along with being pushed to do projects outside their comfort zone.
Equity
As a teacher, I know I hold power. I envision myself using it as a teacher to create pathways for my students to thrive academically and socially in the classroom. In order to do this, I must make sure it is being used to advocate and vouch for the good of my students and not to just exercise my authority and expertise. I recognize that I do hold privilege of having a strong support-base, education and cultural ability to navigate through systems that others may not be able to do without assistance. I believe depending on the contexts I can be an asset for families to be connected to other entities in their community and to point them to other resources such as tutoring, libraries, community centers, health care clinics and more.
Overall, equity in the classroom is a must and I as a teacher can the best person to facilitate this through the way that I present the material and curriculum. For example, collaborating well with school counselors, resource specialists, literacy coaches, and other supportive administration and staff will be important as we work as a team to support individual students who receive their support. Also, equity is possible in the way that I interact and build rapport with the kids and their parents. Connecting to the student's context with academics is really important and lends itself to equity in the classroom so that all students can find education accessible. I believe that giving parents & grandparent opportunities to engage in the school community is key as well. I would like to utilize relationships with parents to bring into the context of my classroom. Parent volunteering, Read-Alouds, sharing an important life skill to the class can be ways to enrich the classroom as well as honoring parents as part of the educational process for their children.
Pedagogy
I believe that equity lends itself to equipping students with the right academic and non-academic tools to communicate their thinking. It is important to make sure that in my classroom I allow space for the class to discuss and write about important and pertinent issues that affect them as individuals and their communities and to give them tools to express themselves clearly through language and other mediums. As I scaffold important tools for them to read, write and communicate effectively, I believe that students will be able to gain more confidence. To me, this is one of the ways I can create equity in my classroom, by giving my students opportunities to lead and facilitate their learning process rather than dictating it for them. For example, being able to effectively present information and their opinions in front of the class at ease using technology and visuals would be an important life skill I would want to integrate in every content area. Also, make it an important practice for students to explain their thinking, discuss with one another, resolve conflict, learn how to agree and disagree peacefully are cognitive and non cognitive skills that I think are important to integrate in the classroom.
I believe that students gain self-confidence when they succeed at something that they believe to be challenging. For this reason I believe that differentiation is necessary for giving students realistic and appropriate challenges. I also believe that, at certain times, mixed-ability grouping is necessary for a variety of reasons, including giving the gifted students the opportunity to explain and demonstrate material in different ways. Ability grouping should always be informed by data, whether it is for mixed or same ability groups, and that is why ongoing assessment is necessary.
Technology
With an advancing world in technology, I think that it is important to integrate the necessary cutting edge tools in the classroom. However, these tools should not be used in place above interacting with one another in the classroom environment. I believe that if technology is used to enhance learning, understanding the material, interacting with each other and expressing oneself, then such tools in the classroom can be very powerful. I do not want to distract students from learning, yet I want them to be exposed to the necessary tools needed to do an effective presentation or to research with a critical eye. One of the many ways I would like to incorporate technology in the classroom is to use programs such as Edmodo in order to teach proper social media etiquette. Students can then work on writing, interacting and learning new forms of interaction on social media. Using Active Inspire with a Promethium Board encourages class interaction with technology and learning new ways to explain one’s thinking. Lastly, using my teacher website as modes to communicate and provide resources to the students in my class as they do their own Webquests, take online surveys embedded in the website, practicing typing and other important skills will be useful.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I am motivated and excited to implement and experiment with many ideas that are driven by research and by the students who are in my classroom. I will to continue educating myself to keep learning and growing in my endeavors to make a difference in the lives of my students.
I think that it is important that every student entering my classroom feels accepted, equipped, known and empowered. This should be accessible for every child no matter who they are, where they come from, where they fall in line of abilities, and more. Through this, each child will have the opportunity to grow both academically and emotionally. I desire to see everyone given a fair shot in their interests along with being pushed to do projects outside their comfort zone.
Equity
As a teacher, I know I hold power. I envision myself using it as a teacher to create pathways for my students to thrive academically and socially in the classroom. In order to do this, I must make sure it is being used to advocate and vouch for the good of my students and not to just exercise my authority and expertise. I recognize that I do hold privilege of having a strong support-base, education and cultural ability to navigate through systems that others may not be able to do without assistance. I believe depending on the contexts I can be an asset for families to be connected to other entities in their community and to point them to other resources such as tutoring, libraries, community centers, health care clinics and more.
Overall, equity in the classroom is a must and I as a teacher can the best person to facilitate this through the way that I present the material and curriculum. For example, collaborating well with school counselors, resource specialists, literacy coaches, and other supportive administration and staff will be important as we work as a team to support individual students who receive their support. Also, equity is possible in the way that I interact and build rapport with the kids and their parents. Connecting to the student's context with academics is really important and lends itself to equity in the classroom so that all students can find education accessible. I believe that giving parents & grandparent opportunities to engage in the school community is key as well. I would like to utilize relationships with parents to bring into the context of my classroom. Parent volunteering, Read-Alouds, sharing an important life skill to the class can be ways to enrich the classroom as well as honoring parents as part of the educational process for their children.
Pedagogy
I believe that equity lends itself to equipping students with the right academic and non-academic tools to communicate their thinking. It is important to make sure that in my classroom I allow space for the class to discuss and write about important and pertinent issues that affect them as individuals and their communities and to give them tools to express themselves clearly through language and other mediums. As I scaffold important tools for them to read, write and communicate effectively, I believe that students will be able to gain more confidence. To me, this is one of the ways I can create equity in my classroom, by giving my students opportunities to lead and facilitate their learning process rather than dictating it for them. For example, being able to effectively present information and their opinions in front of the class at ease using technology and visuals would be an important life skill I would want to integrate in every content area. Also, make it an important practice for students to explain their thinking, discuss with one another, resolve conflict, learn how to agree and disagree peacefully are cognitive and non cognitive skills that I think are important to integrate in the classroom.
I believe that students gain self-confidence when they succeed at something that they believe to be challenging. For this reason I believe that differentiation is necessary for giving students realistic and appropriate challenges. I also believe that, at certain times, mixed-ability grouping is necessary for a variety of reasons, including giving the gifted students the opportunity to explain and demonstrate material in different ways. Ability grouping should always be informed by data, whether it is for mixed or same ability groups, and that is why ongoing assessment is necessary.
Technology
With an advancing world in technology, I think that it is important to integrate the necessary cutting edge tools in the classroom. However, these tools should not be used in place above interacting with one another in the classroom environment. I believe that if technology is used to enhance learning, understanding the material, interacting with each other and expressing oneself, then such tools in the classroom can be very powerful. I do not want to distract students from learning, yet I want them to be exposed to the necessary tools needed to do an effective presentation or to research with a critical eye. One of the many ways I would like to incorporate technology in the classroom is to use programs such as Edmodo in order to teach proper social media etiquette. Students can then work on writing, interacting and learning new forms of interaction on social media. Using Active Inspire with a Promethium Board encourages class interaction with technology and learning new ways to explain one’s thinking. Lastly, using my teacher website as modes to communicate and provide resources to the students in my class as they do their own Webquests, take online surveys embedded in the website, practicing typing and other important skills will be useful.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I am motivated and excited to implement and experiment with many ideas that are driven by research and by the students who are in my classroom. I will to continue educating myself to keep learning and growing in my endeavors to make a difference in the lives of my students.