Katie Platt

EDUC 612
Summer 2016

Teacher Belief Statement

Even in the short year that has been my teaching career so far, my beliefs as a teacher
have changed because the more experience you gain, the more you are able to solidify the beliefs
you hold. The group of students that I received in September changed my beliefs as a teacher on
how students learn, how best to instruct students, collecting and using data within the classroom,
and reflecting on the year. Each group of students has a different way that they are comfortable
learning and how they learn makes us as teachers change the way that we need to instruct. The
different needs of each group of students, changes the way that we need to instruct the
curriculum, how we collect data that represents our students, and how we use reflection.
My beliefs as a teacher changed throughout this last year. During student teaching, I
worked with many rural students, their needs were extremely different then my students last year.
During my first year of teaching, I worked with many EL students. Both groups had very
different needs and learned in many different ways. I believe that students should have the
opportunity to learn any way that they feel comfortable within the classroom. The freedom of
choice within a classroom allows the students to feel that they have a choice in their education.
The ELL students, that I taught this year, needed to have a lot of repetition. This
repetition allows the students to get familiar with the language and curriculum that we are using
within the unit of study. Language can be a barrier in the classroom, but it lies at the heart of
our individuality, and it serves to partially define who we are (Fox, 60). My students are largely
Hispanic and if I let the language barrier become a barrier within the classroom, nothing would
be achieved in the classroom. However, if I work with the barrier that language can present itself
as, then the students have the opportunity to strive for more. That is why reputation is key,

Katie Platt
EDUC 612
Summer 2016

instead of pretending that language is not an issue, I use their language to build into my
instruction.
Trying to avoid language becoming a barrier in the classroom, I also try to allow students
to have independent work time, which will allow them to work with the material the way that
they feel most comfortable doing. We use a lot of choice boards within the classroom, so that
students can have a choice. I teach North American geography and we use choice boards to allow
the students to have a choice on how they want to work through the material. Some students
would just like to make flashcards and study those, and then I also have students who like to
create projects, which allow them to learn the material. Letting students have a choice on how
they want to learn allows students to take leadership over their own learning. The choice also
allows the students to show me what they care about. For example, many of my boys love soccer
and their projects are always relating back to soccer. These projects allow me to understand my
students and their culture better than if I just lecture at them. I do not want to be the teacher that
is subtracting students culture and language (Valenzuela, 336). In the North American
geography, we study the Mexico and Central America. These units bring great excitement to my
students because they get the opportunity to bring out who they are and have the opportunity to
teach me instead. My students language, background, and culture shine through during these
units.
The current classes learning habits directly affects how instruction will be taking place.
Being flexible on how instruction should take place each year is vital in meeting students needs.
Since the instruction of material can be done in many different ways, it can be flexible to meet
the needs of the students. For example, in my morning language arts class, the student preferred
to take notes in their notebook and did not enjoy as many hands on activities. As a class, the

Katie Platt
EDUC 612
Summer 2016

students preferred taking notes then practicing the skill within their own books and picture
books. My afternoon class was completely different. My afternoon class could not take notes for
more than a couple of minutes. They preferred to know what we were doing then moving on to a
hands on activity. My instruction changed to meet the students needs, so that they could learn to
the best of their ability. During the reflection of the last year, I believe that we did look at
how to best to administer the curriculum, then why (Valenzuela, 337). I tended to look at how
I was teaching each lesson and how I need to change the curriculum to best meet my students
need. However, there were only a few times that we looked at why we were teaching a certain
unit and these reflections happened during our CLTs. Though I believe that I will need to stop
the discussion as to how we will teach and the materials that we use and start the discussion as to
why we are teaching this unit. The conversation can be tough, especially since we have no say in
what we teach. However, with practice and reflection we could have many meaningful and
reflective discussions as a team as to why we are teaching our students each of these units of
study.
The data we use in our CLTs and IEP meetings allow us to reflect on the student and
their strengths and weaknesses. We differentiate and move the students to different teachers, so
that they are with other students who have similar strengths and weaknesses. We do this so that
we can differentiate specifically within the classroom. The language arts classroom also
becomes more of a community because the students tend to struggle and succeed together. This
also allows us to reflect specifically on the data we have during CLT. For example, I can
specifically and critically reflect on the students that I have within my language arts class. Then
when we are making plans for the week, we can take into effect the students that we each have
and how they are as students and learners. However, most of the reflection that takes place at the

Katie Platt
EDUC 612
Summer 2016

CLT meeting concerns how and what we will be teaching, but not the why. I believe that part of
the reason that we do not reach a higher level of thinking and understanding the why of what we
are teaching, is because we do not have enough time. If we do not finish breaking down the
standard and making plans for the week, then we must finish them afterschool. Since we all have
very busy lives, many of us cannot stay afterschool, which means all the work usually lands on
one person. I am not sure how or the best way to reach the conversation as to why we are
teaching, but I believe that it needs to be accomplished during our meeting. It might be tough for
the first couple of weeks, but once we get the hang of it, I believe that it will become easier.
Being a teacher is never easy. There are so many decisions that need to be made within a
few seconds each day. However, I believe that we should always be striving to do as much as
humanly possible to ensure that these students feel comfortable enough to show their culture,
language, and beliefs are represented within the classroom.

Katie Platt
EDUC 612
Summer 2016

Reference:
Fox, R. (2012). The critical role of language in international classrooms. In B. D. Shaklee & S.
Baily (Eds.), Internationalizing teacher education in the United States (pp. 59-76).
Lanham, MA: Rowman and Littlefield.
Valenzuela, A. (2009). Subtractive schooling, caring relations, and social capital in the schooling
of U.S.-Mexican youth. In D. J. Flinders & S. J. Thornton (Eds.), The curriculum studies
reader (3rd ed.) (pp. 336-347). New York, NY: Routledge.