Teaching Philosophy
I believe every person can learn, and thus it is my role as a teacher to inspire all students to achieve their personal best, spark higher levels of thinking, and foster a prosocial attitude and approach toward the world around them. How one defines learning often impacts the type of instructional pedagogy one employs. Alexander, Schallert, and Reynolds (2009) defined learning as a multidimensional process that produces a change in a person. While I agree that learning involves change, they did not define what they meant by change. Building on the philosophies of the behavioral, cognitive, and neurosciences, I believe that learning is a change in (1) behavior, (2) cognitive processes such as memory, thought, and problem-solving, and (3) neurobiological changes such as the sensitivity of neural firing and strength of connections. As a result, I attempt to impact student performance and achievement at many different levels guided by the findings in these research fields.
My path as a teacher with diverse student populations forced me to consider various factors that converge for learning to occur. Forall students to achieve their personal best, one must appreciate students’ development, learning disabilities, gifted abilities, cultural, emotional, social, developmental, and learning differences. As a psychology teacher, I constantly find myself examining my teaching methods and my students’ learning through the lens of constructivism and cognitivism. The constructivist approach demonstrates that learners construct knowledge on top of preexisting concepts, and therefore I must draw on the students’ varied previous understandings (Bransford, Brown & Cockings, 2000). Schemata often play a role in the quality of memory storage, and developing a mental conceptual framework enables one to organize knowledge and incorporate new material into existing ideas for better comprehension (Bruning, Schraw, & Norby, 2011).
The cognitive approach taught me the benefits of maximizing how one processes information, problem solves, the benefits of asking students to use metacognition, and strategies to take students from knowing the information to using information for higher levels of thinking. An important component of higher levels of thought is developing an extensive knowledgebase (Bransford et al., 2000). There are many methods identified by cognitive science to impact student memory and retrievalsuch as the testing effect, interleaving, and explanatory questioning techniques (Roediger & Pyc, 2012).
Transfer is the ability to take learning from one context to another or from one content area to another. It is an important cognitive skill and one of the most significant benefits of an online enrichment program. Certain techniques allow for maximum transfer such as mastering a subject, understanding it deeply, practicing deliberately, and applying metacognitive strategies (Bransford et al., 2000; Flavell, 1979). Additionally, metacognition plays a significant role because of the ability to reflect on one’s thinking enables one to improve their future learning (Bruning et al., 2011). I ask students to utilize metacognition through various strategies such as reflective journaling, self-analysis questionnaires, and questioning techniques which force students to analyzing their thinking.
In addition to teaching students the curriculum and thinking, I believe it is important to be a leader in the classroom who can model good behavior, and inspire students. Demonstrating to students my commitment to making the world a better place models the behavior I promote. I believe I accomplish this mission through my passion for the subjects I teach, helping each student maximize their potential, and igniting a change in student thought processes. Banks (2015) stated that teaching students to think critically and question the sources of knowledge allows them to develop the skills necessary to promote positive change in the world. My teaching methods of collaborative inquiry and higher-level thinking help to accomplish that goal.
Education is the path to a better world, and I feel I can make an impact through my instructional practices based on the learning sciences and that my influence can grow exponentially through the future leaders I teach.
References
Alexander, P. A., Schallert, D. L., & Reynolds, R. E. (2009). What is learning anyway? A topographical perspective considered. Educational Psychologist, 44, 176-192. doi:10.1080/00461520903029006
Banks, J.A. (2015). Cultural diversity and education: Foundations, curriculum, and teaching. (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cockings, R. R. (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Bruning, R. H., Schraw, G. J., & Norby, M. M. (2011). Cognitive psychology and instruction (5th ed.). New York, NY: Pearson.
Ertmer, P. A., & Newby, T. J. (1993). Behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism: Comparing critical features from an instructional design perspective. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 6(4), 50-72. doi:10.1111/j.1937-8327.1993.tb00605.x
Flavell, J. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive–developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34(10), 906. doi:10.1037/0003-066X.34.10.906
Pawley, D., * P., Cooper, M., & Sweller, J. (2005). Translating words into equations: a cognitive load theory approach. Educational Psychology, 25(1), 75–97. doi:10.1080/0144341042000294903
Piaget, J. (1964). Development and learning. In M. Gauvain & M. Cole (Eds.), Readings on the development of children (2nd ed., pp. 19–28). New York, NY: W. H. Freeman and Company
Roediger, H., & Pyc, M. (2012). Inexpensive techniques to improve education: Applying cognitive psychology to enhance educational practice. Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 1(4), 242–248. doi:10.1016/j.jarmac.2012.09.002