Kelli Stiltz Teaching Philosophy

Philosophy

My philosophy of teaching is that all students are individuals and learn in their own unique way.
It is the job of a teacher to take each individual child and provide the academic, social, and
emotional support necessary for him or her to grow and achieve. I believe that this can be
accomplished by practicing a student-centered classroom. In a student-centered classroom,
teachers must establish effective student and classroom management whereby students feel
positive, safe, and valuable coupled with developing respectful and professional interpersonal
relations with each and every student in the classroom. This means making your students’
success a priority and understanding that your job extends beyond the normal school day hours.
Often times, students can easily identify teachers who sincerely enjoy working with them, who
support them academically, socially, and emotionally, who thrive on contributing toward their
success as students in the classroom and as individuals outside of school, and who truly enjoy
coming to school everyday to teach. Teachers in a student-centered classroom must advocate for
their students and demonstrate a sincere interest in their well being as individuals.

This type of classroom also involves using data and understanding the different modes of
learning to help make educational decisions in regard to differentiating learning activities and
assessments. It is personalized so that each student in your classroom has his or her own
independent learning experience. In my classroom, I use student choice often to help promote
this independence. Often times I give students choice in their homework assignments that may
have varying difficulty levels, students have some class periods with items they must complete
and items they may choose to complete, and students have projects where they can choose a
variety of options to complete the project requirements. I also take into consideration that my
students learn in different ways. For example, some may be more visual learners than auditory
learners. I try my best to tailor my instruction and activities to reach these different modes of
learning.

In addition to a student-centered classroom, I also believe teachers should promote the growth
mindset. Students who have a fixed mindset believe that their learning and intelligence is
unchanging. A student with this may say, “I give up” after unsuccessfully completing a problem.
Students with a growth mindset, however, believe that their learning and intelligence can be
improved or continuously developed. A student with a growth mindset may say, “I’ll try a
different strategy” after unsuccessfully completing a problem. In my classroom, I constantly
have my students reflect on their learning, set academic and personal goals, and have students
focus on the process of learning. In addition, it is important to focus on the language used
amongst teachers and students. In my classroom, I always discuss the power of the word “yet” as
in a student may not understand a concept, yet. I stress the importance of how changing our
words can help change our mindsets.

Lastly, one aspect that I see as being most important for student learning and success is building
positive relationships and trust with my students. Through my different experiences in diverse
classrooms, I am convinced that making positive relationships lead to a more effective learning
environment. The combination of relationships and instruction can increase engagement,
motivation, and success. When students realize that you care about their success, I believe that
they will value more of what we, as teachers, have to provide them.
Kelli Stiltz Teaching Philosophy

Content/Methods

As a math teacher, I believe my classroom should be a place for conjectures and exploration. An
effective math teacher does not lecture to students the entire class period; rather they understand
that all students have different ideas and strategies to offer and believe that every student should
be engaged and an active participant in the lesson. This can be accomplished most effectively by
maintaining a collaborative learning environment. This environment assists in fostering mutual
respect within my classroom. By working in groups or pairs, students are able to have constant
dialogue exploring different ideas and thoughts about math and building their confidence in their
skills to work through and learn from mistakes. Integrating technology into my lessons also
offers multiple representations and differentiated lessons. Often times, students who struggle to
understand concepts that are taught in conventional ways excel in lessons that use different
technology and hands on manipulatives. When these tools are used appropriately, the students
receive a more enriched learning experience.

I also use the inquiry-based method of teaching in my classroom. This is a method that involves
posing questions, problems, or scenarios to students and the teacher’s role is to act as a
facilitator. The teacher is there to help guide students as they try to find the answers they are
inquiring for. While I recognize that not every concept is learned best with this method of
teaching, some of my favorite lessons are ones where my students discover a concept using prior
knowledge from class. A recent example of this was when students learned the formula for the
surface area of a sphere. They each received an orange; had to peel the orange; determine how
many circles (with the same diameter as the orange) they could fill with the peelings; then use
what they know about area of circles to determine the formula. When my students discover a
formula or concept for themselves, they gain a deeper understanding of how to apply the
formula/concept to basic practice examples and to application/real world practice examples. This
method and type of learning for students not only enhances their math knowledge but it also
requires them to utilize their critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

Assessments

My outlook on assessments is that they are used to gather meaningful and purposeful information
about my students that relate to content and learning objectives. Specifically, I use a variety of
formative and summative assessments to assist in determining progress, achievement levels, and
to see where gaps may occur. Formative assessments are used daily throughout my instruction to
not only see if my students have achieved the day’s content objective but also for me to reflect
on my own teaching and if I need to make adjustments or review the material the following day.
Some formative assessments may be graded but most are done through questioning strategies,
classroom discussions, observations, and self or peer assessment. Summative assessments are
used at the end of a unit in order for me to specifically assess content standards. These
assessments could include an end of unit test or project. Regardless of an assessment being
formative or summative, each type of assessment has a focus on helping me check for conceptual
understanding, procedural skill and fluency, and application of the concept.