Philosophy in the Classroom

As an educator, I feel that everything I believe in and follow, connects together to form my philosophy. All the little things that I do, reflect my approach to the classroom and how the students will learn under my guidance.
Classroom organization is crucial to my classroom. The environment helps set the tone of what kind of teacher you are and how things will be guided. Having a neat classroom that is well structured based on the day’s activities sets a good example for the students to follow. I am a big believer in group work, and mixing up the diversity of the groups every class, therefore I prefer tables that fit four or five students. I like having a big room so the tables can be spaced out. This creates easy access for me to move around throughout the lesson, as well as the students since they will be doing a lot of activities that will involve movement. All of my lessons will be aligned with the districts curriculum as well as the Maine learning results. I will try my hardest to meet all of the students needs by making the appropriate modifications for each student, as well as differentiating my instruction by using all of the multiple intelligences and using a wide variety of resources and activities. A major goal of mine is to create a non-judgmental, encouraging, supportive and healthy atmosphere that allows the students to reflect themselves in their own light, while having the respect of their peers. Students will be assessed based on standards, not on tests. Students are expected to prove to me that they understand how they relate to the material, and how they can use it, not proving it to me by memorize it and write it down on a test.
Without motivation, the students do not learn. Motivating the students is the single most important thing teachers must do. They do this by meeting their needs. Teachers should understand what makes their students go, and use all of their needs within one lesson to catch the interest of all of them. Students are more willing to learn and understand how the material relates to them, when the work is described in ways that they can understand it. I will motivate the students by finding ways to help them understand how the material relates to them. In my class, students will have an appreciation and understanding how their overall well-being is affected with the different health materials I will cover.
Discipline is not a very strong point of mine. I have not spent much time working on it, and therefore have very little experience with it. In the perfect world I hope that my students will enjoy my class and be engaged within the work so that they do not cause any problems for me. Since that is not likely to happen, I hope to discipline in positive ways. Such as the students staying after and helping me create a lesson, or having them write a journal about how the health topics of that day could have helped them have a better attitude during that class.
Most of my assessments will be based on the students showing or proving to me how they are able to understand the material by relating it to real world concepts. I do not believe in tests, and have no intentions of giving them out. I prefer activities that allow the students to practice the concepts instead of memorize them. Assessments will be based on whether or not the students can show me that they meet the standards based on that particular lesson.
Like classroom organization, the climate is part of the classroom environment. Before students are even willing to learn, they must feel safe, intellectually stimulated, and the classroom must meet their basic needs mentally and physically. Students want to learn, but they need the feeling of self-worth. To do this, it is imperative that they learn in an environment that is supportive, encouraging, and fits their needs. My main focus at the moment is looking at all the students as equals, and not playing favorites to any of them. I feel that this will help in terms of creating a healthy relationship with my students, if have a respect for who they are, and are interested in what they do, than I feel the rest will come naturally. I also feel as a health educator, that I will always have an open door policy that allows my students to come in at anytime and discuss any issues they are having or foreseeing. I will always encourage parents to come in and talk with me. I hope to have some sort of classroom wiki, or website that allows them to follow along with the material for each day. The better I know the parents, the more I will understand where the students are coming from. If parents have an issue, I am more than willing to sit down and discuss it and respect their opinions. The only thing I will not do, is talk about another student, or get into a war of words.
In my classroom the main learning focus will be that of understanding how to improve and maintain your overall wellness. This is the goal for every lesson that I teach. Because health is so broad and interconnects in so many ways, I will always have to leave some extra time available in my lessons in case questions or discussion wonder off. I do not mind this, because it means the students are interested and are questioning how it affects other parts of their health. Since health is so important, it will not be a big deal to answer and go off topic. The majority of class time will be spent doing activities that will hopefully reach all the students and give them an understanding of how the material relates to them. I am horrible at lecturing, and do not believe in it. I believe that the students should be doing things that are hands on and allowing them to think about what is going on and how it affects them. I will be constantly assessing the students to see if they understand how the material relates to them. In health, the importance that the students place on the material, all become part of their value system, whether it’s good or bad.
I like to think of my teaching style, like Larry Bird describes his coaching style. Most of the coaching should occur before the game even starts. That means, I should have all the hard work done before my class enters the room. Though my class is like practice, most of my coaching will be done on my own, preparing the material to meet all the students needs and interests with a wide variety of activities that help them to succeed on their own, and only using me as a guide or resource. Like Bird, teachers are leaders and change agents. They find what works for their class and they do it, and their peers who do not catch on, only get left behind (or in other terms, their students). Using technology is critical for future teachers, not only does it have great resources and activities, but it is the easiest way for students to learn. Being a lifelong teacher, and being able to adapt so that they can maximize their students learning is what teaching is all about.
I believe that leadership flies under the radar way to often. I am all about creating leaders and not followers. The best way to create leaders is to set an example of yourself. In health education, if you’re truly passionate about it, this makes it easy. It happens by doing what you teach, always looking out for the whole of the classes health, taking time out of your day to help students with health issues and by pushing the school to constantly improve the school health coordinated program, and create programs that push for more health classes and improving a healthy school environment and setting. The classroom in general requires a leader who gives everyone the same opportunities, and pushes students to reach learning potentials. All my students will have ample amount of opportunities to have a leadership role in the classroom. These students are the future, and their health decisions are based on their willingness to be a leader, not a follower.