Reality to Match Vision...

My philosophy of teaching derives from my belief that every student is an individual. They learn in different ways, they have different strengths and weaknesses, and they need different things from you as a teacher. It is important for the classroom to be a positive learning environment, but it must also be a place where students can grow emotionally and broaden their perspective.
At the school where I am student teaching I have a very homogenous group of students. They are almost entirely white, lower middle class, southern kids. As a whole, they are polite, but unmotivated. They have trouble with their reading and writing skills, abilities I feel are extremely important for success both in and outside of the classroom. Therefore, I have decided to make this my mission, if nothing else, my students will be able to write coherent well thought-out essays by the end of this semester.
I want students to be able to write, but I do not want to make them feel uncomfortable in their attempts. I will engage in the following action plan to work toward the success of my students as well as myself as a teacher:
1. I will provide students with lots of multiple perspectives on whatever I am
teaching, regardless of my own personal thoughts or feelings.
2. I will create an environment where students feel comfortable to ask questions
and express opinions by never putting a child down or making them feel as if they
cannot come to me with a problem.
3. Students will write! Students will have daily writing assignments and essays on
every test. Though time consuming, I will provide them with thoughtful comments
and responses to their work.
4. I will give students many prospects for success. I will do this by assessing
their knowledge and skills in multiple ways, giving all students an opportunity
for success.
5. Above all, I will let students know that I care and respect them. Lots of my
students suffer from a lack of having a stable adult figure in their lives. I will
try my best to look out for and care for each one of them as individuals. Hopefully
by showing them that I have high expectations for them, their motivation to be
successful will increase.

Through these steps I earnestly trust that I will be able to create the environment I desire for my classroom. Though it is very challenging to step into another teacher’s class and change things, I think by implementing tasks gradually and showing that I am fair and consistent with my feedback, students will respond positively and be open to the change.

Wish me luck.