Running head: STATEMENT OF INFORMED BELIEFS

Statement of Informed Beliefs Hatch, Karen Instructor: Carol Billing Education 204: Family, Communities, Culture, Online Spring 2013

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I currently teach preschool and have to create a curriculum weekly. I have a general outline that I have to follow but other than that, all the assignments and projects are up to me. I believe that this is going to enable me to bring me new ideas to help my students learn. I try to find assignments and projects that are at grade level and that would be something that would keep their attention. I believe that in my future class, technology will bring a whole new dimension to the classroom. I am not able to utilize that in my class now but am looking forward to it in the future. I think that kids are so in tuned to technology that if we dont jump on board we wont be able to keep their attention. With tools such as PowerPoint, Wiki and Voki; educators have different resources available to them that will not revolve on just lecture. Students get bored going to class day after day and listening to 50 minutes of lecture. If educators can involve technology and more hands on experiences I believe that it is on the right track to have students learn. I think that it is the teachers responsibility to make the classroom interactive and to have classroom participation. I can take it a step further and have a classroom web page that the students and parents would be able to access to leave comments and questions. I believe that teachers need to be involved with the students while they are in class. It is better to be proactive than reactive. Its also important for the teacher to want to get to know all of their students so that they can notice a difference in behavior and academic progress. I want my students to respect me as an authoritative adult but I also want them to know that they can come to me for anything. I want to have open communication so that if a problem persists we can find a solution together so that it doesnt lead to unwanted actions and behaviors from students. My future goal is to teach high school at the Secondary level. Most students find history to be boring and dull. I dont want that. I want them to see history from a different point of view.

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For instance, the text book only grazes over specific dates and important moments of history. I want to take a step beyond that and give them a first person account by bringing in biographies and auto-biographies so they can see what it was really like during that time frame. Movies are also engaging for students because than they can visualize the clothing, setting and experiences. We can learn so much more about history than what is written in a textbook. I dont want them to leave class only learning dates, I want them to be able to tell family and friends about a person in that time and how their life was affected by an even such as a young soldier during the Revolutionary War. Some of those boys will be close to the same age as the students and if you can bring that to them it is much more relatable than just knowing that the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776. I dont want to just sit back and lecture. I want to be a hands on teacher who helps their students with assignments and projects. I think that it is important to be involved and to try to make learning fun for them but to also instill that learning is important and crucial to their futures. Teachers Expectations A teacher wears many hats in the classroom. They have to be an educator, a mentor, a disciplinarian, a leader, and also a classroom manager. They are required to do so much for their students that many step up and fulfill the requirements, while many also fail. I believe that throughout all of our educational experiences we all had good teachers and we all had what we considered to be a bad teacher. What made the teacher good or bad? How do we as future educators be on the good side not the bad side?

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A teacher has such a strong influence over their students for that time period that they are together. The teachers that I consider the best in my memory are the ones that genuinely had a love for teaching, truly cared for their students and their well-being, and made the class fun, not just a lecture class. The classroom also felt like a safe and secure place to be. I knew that I could trust that teacher and believed that the teacher had my best interest at heart. I have also been on the flip side and had a Geometry teacher who was a basketball coach and would assign us our work first thing and then would leave the class to go to the weight room to hang out with the other teachers. I had to learn Geometry from my stepdad to be able to pass the tests and to this day I still hate Geometry. In my future class I want to have an open classroom for my students. I want to have a trust established and to make the classroom an effective classroom. I want to be able to institute some learner-directed philosophy not just teacher-directed. I want to be able to provide an environment for learning so that my students can be successful. For example I can provide the time to learn and to pace the class accordingly. I was able to witness this in my observation class as the teacher was doing an Idaho History presentation and the class went over the time allotment but because they were engaged and still wanting to learn and ask questions, he continued on so that he wouldnt lose that opportunity to teach them. I can also provide the materials so that it is acceptable for the different levels of readiness. By allowing the students the students to have time and have appropriate curriculum, we are giving the students the tools that they need to be successful. Not every student is on the same academic level and if I only teach to a high level and neglect the other students I am doing a great disservice to all of my students. I am taking a way a chance for their success but I am also showing them non-verbally that they arent as important as the students who are more successful.

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Educational goals are very important. If we dont have goals, we have nothing to measure with. It is important to assign goals to students and myself as well, so that we both have an understanding of what is expected of us. Goals can help see if there is progress or regression and what we need to do to keep the momentum flowing towards the positive side. I believe that as teachers, the most important part of being an educator is to make the student successful. Success isnt just measured in A, B, C, but also in who they become as a human being and how they interact in society. We can offer so much more than just teaching them the alphabet and how to count. We get the great responsibility to have the ability to be a positive influence in who they become as an adult. Students Social Ecological Theory In todays society there are many outside forces that help shape a child. The child can learn their learning habits from family, peers, and community. All of these can help or be a detriment to a childs future education endeavor. As a society, it is important to make sure that we give as much as we can to see these children become productive members of society. Socialization begins with the idea of self-concept, which is an idea that his or her identity is distinct from that of others. As you get older, your idea of your self-concept can be changed from members of the family, peers and people in the community. The family is the first people to help introduce socialization to a child. Part of the socialization of the family also comes from socioeconomic status. This status can lead to many different things for children. For instance, if a child comes from a lower socioeconomic status they may not be able to have some of the same opportunities that children with a high socioeconomic status may have. Some of these opportunities may include a higher level of education, extracurricular activities and safety in

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some instances. This can be difficult for children of different levels to interact and cooperate with one another at times. A child will also form their norms and values from their families. This will help the child learn what is and isnt acceptable according to their family. A child that is taught respect at an early age will most likely apply that to things in their future; whereas a child that isnt taught respect may have other issues in their life and may have a harder time socially in the future. Children of a higher socioeconomic status are more likely to have continue on with their education. A childs peers can help form and shape a childs socialization of learning during a critical time in their life. Peers help children learn different socialization skills such as rejection, acceptance, differences, fairness and compromise. The peer group functions as a stabilizing agent in that it provides information about the world and oneself from a perspective other than that of the family. (pg 52) Peers can help shape of children view the world and can have a strong influence of their behavior and attitude. For children who hang out with peers who are like minded in educational endeavors they are more likely to succeed in their own education as well. The community can play a large role in a childs learning as well. A community is defined as a group of people sharing fellowship and common interests, a group of people living in the same geographic area who are bound together politically and economically. A community can be a few people or thousands of people. A small town community can reinforce certain political and ideological thoughts and ideas on children and try to keep other ideologies out of the community. In a larger metropolitan idea it is easier for children to have broader or open ideas about what is happening. Friends can also differ in a small town where everyone knows everyone and socialization with everyone is a must.

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These are a few examples of how a childs socialization occurs. Some of the factors can be positive or negative but its the combination of all of them that will help the child grow to become who they are meant to be. They can have a strong influence on how the student learns and how important education is to them. Cultural Diversity Instruction I strongly believe that a persons culture and ethnic background is very important. It is the core of who we are as individuals and also as a society. Ones cultural heritage involves the learned behavior, including the history, language, traditions, rituals, customs, beliefs, attitudes, morals, and values shared by members of a social group. (Berns) It is important as teachers to accept different cultures in our classroom and to treat everyone equally. As a future educator, I will have to be sensitive to the different cultures and backgrounds of the students in my classroom. I will also need to monitor myself from making cultural stereotypes. I think that it is important to do research and find out about the different cultures that I may encounter. I also believe that its important to have awareness, not just for how to interact or respect the student, but also how to engage and have conversations with parents during conferences, meetings, etc. It is also important to understand the difference between Cultural Pluralism and Cultural Assimilation. Cultural Pluralism is defined as mutual appreciation and understanding of various cultures and coexistence in society of different languages, religious beliefs, and lifestyles. Cultural Assimilation is defined as the process whereby a minority (subordinate) cultural group takes on characteristics of the majority (dominant) cultural group. Teachers need

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to understand the differences of these words and where they may see them in the classroom or even during any of the before/after school hours. I also believe that it is important to understand the idea of the melting pot. This is defined as that society should socialize diverse groups to blend into common culture. I hope that as a teacher I can avoid this. Children need to know that there background is just as important as everyone elses and that they shouldnt be forced to act or behave like their peers just to fit in properly. I hope that I will be able to have an open and diverse class. I would like to be able to offer different assignments that can showcase different cultures and where a persons own culture may have originated from. Sometimes that is how we learn how closely related we all are. A student who learns about a new culture may learn that they are more similar than they believed but they also may learn that the differences or just as ok. Those differences are what make us interesting as a society. Curriculum for All Learners A teachers curriculum is so much more than just the lesson plan of the day. The term curriculum is predetermined by the teacher and has an emphasis in reading, writing, arithmetic, science, and social science. Teachers in Idaho are now starting to follow a core standard curriculum which allows the freedom to teach what they feel is important and how they want to as long as they are able to teach the core standards. As a teacher, I will have to create a curriculum that is appropriate for all my students. It is important to realize that all the students will be at different levels of achievement and will also come from different socioeconomic statuses which can make a difference when teaching. I

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would also like to follow the teacher-directed approach, where the teacher plans all the activities for the children. I also believe, though, that you can also incorporate a learnerdirected approach that would allow the students to choose the activities for them to follow. I think that as a teacher I can assign an assignment but then allow the student to take the reins and choose topic, type of presentation, etc. Assessing students progress is essential to the success of the classroom. I believe that the student has to know that they are achieving for. I will hand out a grading rubric on projects that are graded differently than normal worksheets. The grading rubric will specify what the student needs to do to achieve the highest grade. Using the grading rubric will also help me as a teacher assess the student academically and see where there may need to be intervention or help. The grading rubric can also assist me to see if I need to change my approach in teaching. It is also important to have different learning styles available to students. A teacher needs to remember that not all students learn the same way. According to Howard Gardners Theory there are 8 different learning styles: logical/mathematical, linguistic, bodily/kinesthetic, musical, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. Knowing these different learning styles can help me as a teacher teach to students who may have difficulty learning by just teacher direction. I will present the instructional curriculum which is needed for the student to learn academically but will also present the hidden curriculum; teamwork, responsibility, fair play, democracy, and respect. This non-academic curriculum will help the students become contributing members to society when they are adults. The use of technology should also be part of the curriculum. Students rely so heavily on technology that I think it is a disservice to not have technology available for them to use. Some

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examples are computers, IPAD, tablets, PowerPoint, Whiteboard and even cell phones in some schools. I think that this interactive curriculum will be very beneficial for many students. Throughout the year I will be able to assess students performance and intervene when I deem necessary. I will also have to be aware that I may need to change my own teaching style based on that classs need. I plan on monitoring myself to see if I need to adapt the curriculum to better suit the needs of my students.