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Tabitha Cartwright: Teaching Philosophy

Most essential to my teaching philosophy is the idea of relationships, created both between
teachers and students, and with the material itself. During my first year of teaching, I found that
my interactions with students became the most important part of my experience. I established an
environment in my class that was built on the concept of equality, allowing for a reciprocal
teaching that occurred among all members of the class. My perspective on education is that one
person does not hold all of the answers, including the teacher. As a teacher, it is my responsibility
to create a situation in the classroom in which everyone can learn from one another through
discussion, inquiry, and respectful communication.
Classroom Culture
Creating the ideal classroom environment involves consideration of how students learn
best and what methods the instructor will use in order to engage their students. The active
participation of students in their individual learning process is a fundamental component of my
teaching philosophy. My primary goal in creating my classroom environment is to ensure that all
students feel respected, supported, and safe within the community of learners. By starting the
class with introductions and relationship building activities, I will provide students with the
opportunity to get to know one another better and become more comfortable with class
interactions. As a teacher, I must also adopt these same principles in communicating with all
students and showing concern and respect for everyone will increase their sense of comfort in
my class. Constructing a classroom climate in which students are able to interact without
insecurities will allow for more productive and effective instruction as students work together
towards a common goal, acquiring knowledge. In addition to creating a comfortable and secure
classroom community, I also consider it important to establish the expectations for the class from
the beginning of the school year, setting rules and guidelines for behavior, participation, and
completion of assignments. Although my goal is to create an informal classroom environment,
certain standards for conducting oneself will be presented to students, which they will be
expected to adhere to during all class sessions. All students will be required to engage in daily
discussion by providing thoughtful responses that contribute to both their learning experience
and that of their classmates. These discussions will encourage students to find ways to connect
their personal lives to the texts and to think critically about the subject matter. By participating in
a group dialogue, students will also gain access to the perspectives of others, working towards
learning by social interaction.
Authentic Learning
My overarching goal as a teacher is to inspire my students to discover a work of literature
in my class that motivates them to develop a passion for reading and seek additional knowledge.
In my experience, this is best accomplished when teachers are able to create connections
between the content and students personal lives and interests. Problem-based learning involves
students gaining knowledge as they uncover the solution to a problem that is relevant to them.
An example of this type of activity in the English classroom may include applying their personal
experiences or beliefs to a work of literature. A possible assignment might require that students
read a Shakespeare play, such as Romeo and Juliet. After the reading, students must consider the
plight of the two main characters and devise another solution for the couple, drawing from their
own ideas about romantic relationships. This allows students to establish conceptual
understandings between the play and their personal lives and evokes interest in a literary work
that they might otherwise find too challenging or outdated. Asking students to think in a manner
divergent from what is presented gives them the ability to question their conceptual
understandings and possibly adapt or revise them to build clearer, more accurate ones. By
developing lessons that bridge students academic worlds to their lives outside of the classroom,
I hope to influence them to find some aspect of the curriculum that speaks to them personally
and encourages future learning.
Collaboration
Connected to this idea of meaningful learning is my personal belief that individuals learn
best when they are actively participating in their own education, which is accomplished through
interaction with the material and their peers. Students can draw from these interactions to
construct understandings, collaborating with a group of classmates to coalesce their various ideas
into a more concise body of knowledge. By participating in class discussions or working within
smaller groups, students are able to clarify and expand on their ideas through the opportunity to
engage in discourse with others. My goal is to encourage this type of learning by developing
activities that promote cooperative learning and creating an environment in which students are
comfortable with not only presenting their perspectives and viewpoints to the class, but also
synthesizing their ideas with others.
Engaging Instruction
In regards to establishing lesson plans, teachers must consider the curriculum standards for
their content area and find interesting ways to present this information to their classes. In high
school English classes, a great deal of the material can be difficult for some students, and the
presence of extremely abstract concepts may require innovative teaching methods. My goal in
lesson planning is to approach each work of literature in a different way, developing lesson plans
that utilize a variety of techniques for instruction. For example, when students are reading poetry,
I plan to implement visual representations of the poems by using videos, images, and interactive
websites. By presenting these works in a format that may be new to many students, I have the
opportunity to engage them in the lesson despite their preexisting ideas about poetry. It is
important for teachers to devote a great deal of time to lesson planning as it ensures meeting
curriculum standards and that students are receiving the type of instruction that works best for
their individual learning process. Vital to my goals as a teacher is the creation of lessons that
provide connections between students academic and personal lives. Integrating students
interests into daily activities will evoke more interest and participation from my students,
therefore, influencing their level of learning within my classroom.
Reflection
In order to determine how effective various instructional techniques are, it is essential for
teachers to reflect on their practices in the classroom. Teachers can assess students throughout
the lesson, and if students do not seem to be grasping the material, differentiating instruction
may assist in comprehension. Teachers may also reflect after each class period to decide if
changes are necessary for the following lessons or if additional time is needed for teaching that
particular content. As a means of aiding my reflection, I plan to have students use 3-2-1
responses on their class blog at the end of lessons. In these responses, students will list three
things that they learned during class, provide two questions that they have about the content, and
give one thing that they enjoyed about the lesson. This will provide me with information
regarding how much students learned from the lesson as well as students interest in the lesson.
By acknowledging my strengths and weaknesses in the classroom during these moments of
reflection, I can better assist my students in the learning process by adapting my instruction in
ways that benefit everyone.

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