Running head: Statement of Informed Beliefs 1

Statement of Informed Beliefs Essay

Jeff Horton
Instructor: Carol Billings
Education 204: Families, Communities, & Culture

STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 2

Statement of Informed Beliefs Essay
Diversity in schools is everywhere; understanding what makes up a school is a crucial for
todays teachers. As a future educator, I would like to accomplish this difficult task, and master
it, if possible. There are a few things to take into consideration when doing this. I will discuss,
in the rest of this paper, how I would like to deal with diversity in my own classroom someday.
There are five sections in which I would like to touch on and these are: all students can learn,
teachers expectations, students social ecology theory, cultural diversity instruction, and
curriculum for all learners.
All Students can learn
A students ability to learn is affected in many different ways. Some of the ways that the
students learning can be altered is by the agents of socialization. If the student lives at home with
a family that does not speak English as a primary language the student may fall behind in the
classroom as they will have a difficult time understanding what is going on in the lesson.
Students from families that have low income will also struggle in class as they feel that they will
not amount to anything in society. The teacher is also an agent of socialization. A teachers part
is in classroom management as they can help students on both sides, the ones who struggle and
the ones that excel. The teacher job is to recognize these qualities early and if a student is
struggling in a particular area, a teacher can try one on one instruction with the student to attempt
to clarify the information. If there are students in the classroom who are completing all of their
assignments long before other students, the teacher needs to help these students so that they are
not becoming bored in class. Effective classroom managers are those that utilize different
operant methods. This is accomplished by using methods to get certain results by using positive
reinforcement, feedback, and punishment to manage the class. When the students are successful,
STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 3

you as a teacher are successful as well. When I become a teacher, I will keep a close eye on all
the students in my class as they complete assignments. By using Ericksons Theory of
Psychological Development I will be able to recognize early on when a student is either
struggling or excelling easily in class. I will have the tools necessary to identify a student that
may not be understanding one part of the curriculum or if they are falling behind the grade level.
If it is a student that is excelling, getting their work done early, and not using time wisely, I will
be able to see this and adjust their work load to keep them challenging themselves.
Teachers Expectations
Having a clear set expectations for me and also for the students I teach, will help with many
aspects of teaching going forward. If my expectations for my students are precise and easy to
follow then I will have fewer issues with disruptions during class. Having set standards and
rules already in place for both positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement along with an
expected plan of action will allow for me to be able to handle most behavioral issues that will
arise in any class. By using the theory that is described by Martin and Pear (2010) as a guide
for behavioral correction, I can help accomplish this. According to Martin and Pear the best way
to elicit desired behavior is to model that behavior for the students and expect them to follow my
example. The first time they follow the desired behavior praise them. After it becomes a more
frequent behavior the praise can be reduced. This would work very well for developing a
relationship with students, therefore development of an environment of trust and respect.
Another benefit of having expectations that have already been defined is I can deal with
situations in the same manner for each student. Then I do not have to worry about one person
feeling like they were punished differently, than I did for someone else who had the same
behavior issue, this would eliminate the appearance of playing favorites.
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By setting high standards for my students and helping them to set high goals for
themselves, I can help students achieve greater personal success and they will be more likely to
contribute to learning process. Morality of Constraint will assist in the classroom as well
because as a teacher, if I tell my students that I expect them to put forth all of the effort, and I
praise them for specific actions when they succeed and when they fail, I can help them build self-
assurance. Success and failures can be turned into a lesson learned and they can move forward
with an appreciation of what happened and how to improve on it during their next attempt.
Students Social Ecology Theory
Connecting learning to students social ecology is crucial. The students social ecology
is connected to learning in more ways than just one. Ecology is the science of interrelationships
between organisms and their environments (Berns, 2010). According to Urie
Bronfenbrenners Bioecological Model of Human Development, school is in the students
microsystem and this directly affects them. Learning is something every student must do, in
order to succeed in life and in order to get him or her effectively socialized for later on in their
adult life. It is my goal, as a future teacher, to effectively pursue this.
Families, Communities, and Culture all impact the students learning greatly. Since all
of these things are in the students microsystem, according to Bronfenbrenner, it will have a
greater effect than if they were in another system, like the mesosytems. My goal is to help these
students when something bad does happen in their family, community, or culture. I will try to
give everyone a fair chance and learn the most I can about the students religions, family
members and things that are going on at home or anywhere else they go when they are not in
school. I can then take this and apply it to my own curriculum and give everyone a fair chance.
STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS 5

Things do happen outside of school and as an educator; I would like to help the student maintain
a proper education in their own time of need.
Cultural Diversity Instruction
In todays society we can see many different cultures coming together in the United
States. Those who have different ethnic backgrounds, relative to the majority, will have the same
opportunities and expectations as all of the other students in my classroom. These students will
even have the unique opportunity to share some of their cultural beliefs with the rest of the
class. I would also encourage those students in my class that are of other ethnic backgrounds, to
recognize the different cultures that are around them as well. This would include the cultures that
are shared by a majority of the other students.
As a teacher, I need to teach all students with the same dedication no matter where they come
from. When I become a teacher I will show my students how much respect I have for all of their
cultures. I will accomplish this by incorporating cultural pluralism in my classroom. I dont
think that incorporating their cultures means that I will have to teach a whole lesson about their
culture. Each student should know they are unique and important, because knowing them will
help me figure out the best way to teach them. Cultural assimilation differs from cultural
pluralism in that minority groups members adapt the characteristics that are found in the
majority groups. By doing this, the students that have other cultures sacrifice much of their
uniqueness along the way in favor of gaining acceptance with the majority of the population.
Curriculum for All Learners
The most important aspect of teaching is reflecting on what is going to work the best in
the classroom, or more importantly how to improve instruction. It is important to find out
through the interaction with the students whether a particular lesson is working and whether
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they are understanding the content. Also, teachers must the schools expectation in regards to the
curriculum that pupils are expected to know. I will strive to apply the pedagogical content
knowledge to identify common misunderstandings students may make in learning new concepts
and to know how to overcome those errors in thinking (Cooper & Ryan, 2010).
Although organized instruction and classroom rules are very important to sustaining an orderly
classroom, I tend to fall into the learner-directed style of teaching, which accentuates learning
activities that emerge from individual interest, propped up by teacher guidance (Berns, 2007). I
believe curriculum isnt hindered by, but rather is supported and reinforced by a student through
exploration and discovery. This process is known as constructivism, where the teacher
scaffolds, or supports, the childs initiated learning through appropriate curriculum. However, I
dont believe learner-directed and teacher-directed teaching approaches are mutually
exclusive. I plan on using a both of these methods of instruction, where suitable.
Although I am not big supporter of the standardized test, this is the way that the curriculum is
designed for. I find that teachers are required to spend so much time teaching to the test that the
student will be taking, rather than teaching what may be the most important, engaging
information. I believe that standardized tests are leading to disinterested students, and are a
measurement for teacher assessment than student assessment. I would rather there be more
authentic assessment that involves performance based testing and focuses on how a student
utilizes the knowledge rather than how they store it in their minds. As teachers, we should use
evaluations that measure comprehension and critical thinking skills rather than filling circles on a
multiple choice test. It is also an important aspect to provide adequate feedback, whether it be
positive or negative, so that students know where they are at, what they are doing well in, and the
areas which they can improve.
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References
Berns, Roberta M. (2010). Child, Family, School, Community: Socialization and Support. (8th
Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Print.