Natalie Haynes

ELM-490
October 27, 2019
Personal Teaching Philosophy Reflection

 How your teaching philosophy has developed and grown throughout student teaching.
One of my teaching philosophies that I listed was that, students should feel safe to voice their
opinions, to take risks and to fail. In our class we do not shout out answers. Students quietly
raise their hands and then when they are called upon, they give the answer. The only problem
with this is that it’s the same 10 students raising their hands. Is this because the other students do
not know the answer? No, many of them do, they are just scared to fail! One change that I’ve
implemented is that whenever a student raises their hand and is called upon and they try to
answer the question, wrong or right, they get a tiny sweet thrown to them. The amount of
engagement has been amazing!
Another important aspect of my teaching philosophy is to allow them to use different learning
styles. I have tried to make this a possibility with most lessons we do. I give an opportunity to
have a visual, for them to hear me read the directions or a book, I allow them to be hands-on with
things. One example of this would be when we were doing our lesson on units of measure. We
can talk about milliliters and Liters all day, but how much does it actually weigh? I wanted them
to see, I wanted them to feel. So, we pulled up pictures of things that weighed 100 milliliters, 50
milliliters, 500 milliliters, 1 liter, 3 liters, etc., then we pulled out weights so that way they could
have something tangible to get the idea of each weight. We watched a video on it, we wrote
about it…we hit almost every learning style and you know what? They got it!
 How technology can be used to create better learning opportunities for all students.
I must admit, when I first started my student teaching program, I was pessimistic about all of the
technology that our district uses in the classroom. But, after months of using it, I think it’s great.
Technology helps to make sure that each student is working at their own level. I love that! Each
one can grow and not be stuck because they are bored waiting for everyone to catch up or be
stuck because they don’t understand but we have to move on. An example of this is our ELA
curriculum. We use a program called i-ready. At the beginning of the year, we do our first
diagnostic in ELA and Math. It gives us an idea of what level the student is at. From there we
can place them in heterogenous groups for writing groups, math groups, etc. We can also
monitor the students progress from their daily lessons they complete on i-ready. Students are
given lessons based off of their diagnostics and the lessons teach them at their level. When they
learn a new skill, they pass a lesson. Without technology, it would be really hard to differentiate
on so many levels and with each and every student.
 How you will implement the Christian worldview values of compassion, promoting human
flourishing, and behaving legally and ethically in your future classroom. (Feel free to add
additional Christian worldview values you would like to integrate, as well.)
I really want to make sure that every student knows that we are all family in our classroom. We
are our own community and we treat each other with love and respect. We are responsible for
our actions and doing the right thing. I want to make sure the students understand what a sincere
apology is and not only how to give one but also how to receive one. It will be important to me
that all students understand that everyone makes mistakes and we do not judge them because of
it, we accept them and help them to find the right answer.
The other part of implementing Christian worldview is that of the role of the teacher. If I lead by
example, and am following my walk with God, they will see the work he has done in me to be an
amazing teacher. Teaching in a public school, but having a Christian worldview way of
teaching, I don’t need to pray with these students everyday, but I can pray for them. I can pray
over my classroom and the other faculty that my students encounter throughout the day. My role
as a teacher is much more than teaching them academics but teaching them how to be good
people.

Video Reflection – One Drive

https://1drv.ms/v/s!AnW2UaevfWRgalzroZPfeyniK4M