Informed Beliefs 1

Final Statement of Informed Beliefs

Cassandra Hernandez

College of Western Idaho

EDUC-220-001W

Professor Tau

28th April 2023

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Introduction

My love and drive for education has grown a lot over the years. As it has grown, I have

discovered the importance of education and the importance of being a great educator. This is

important to me, with educating our youth who someday will be the world's future. We have a

strong duty to give these children the best education possible to help them be successful in a

competitive world all around us. I am driven to go down this road to educate because I feel I can

be beneficial teacher to many children who tend to slip through the cracks of our education

system, to teach and treat all my students equally. This is where I am going to form the

foundations of my informed beliefs as an educator.

All Students Can Learn

Every student has the ability to learn and get an education. Not every student will learn the

same way or at the same rate, but it does not mean they cannot learn. That is my responsibility as

an educator to ensure my students are learning in my classroom. That they may leave my

classroom with adequate growth from when they first entered my classroom. A way I can make

sure this happens to make sure that no classism happens in my classroom. I will do my best to

level the learning field for all students no matter what economic class their family belongs to. I

will do my best to be happy, encouraging and be able to listen and adapt when it comes to

benefiting my student's education. To create a productive but inspiring classroom environment

that will help students to learn to love their education. I as an educator can make sure that my

students learn, by making sure I take time to check on all the students' understanding of the

concepts I am instructing. I can also make sure when giving instructions on concepts I teach in

assorted learning styles to help make sure all the students learn in ways that they understand and

work for them. According to Gardner there are eight different learning styles. “1. Logical-
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mathematical: skills related to solving logical problems and performing mathematical

calculations (generally qualities of scientists, mathematicians) 2. Linguistics: skills related to the

meaning, sound, and rhythm of words as well as the use of language (generally qualities of

authors, journalists, poets) 3. Body kinesthetic: ability to coordinate parts of the body and

manipulate objects skillfully (generally qualities of athletes, dancers, surgeons) 4.Musical:

ability to produce pitch and rhythm and appreciate musical expression (generally qualities of

musicians, composers, singers) 5.Spatial: ability to form a mental model of concrete objects and

manipulate parts in relation to each other (generally qualities of architects, engineers, artists)

6.Interpersonal: ability to analyze and respond to behavior, feelings, and motives of other

people (generally qualities of psychologists, teachers, salespeople) 7. Intrapersonal: ability to

understand one’s feelings and motives, using such knowledge to adapt one’s behavior

accordingly (generally qualities of actors, lawyers) 8. Naturalist: ability to discriminate among

living things and be sensitive to the natural environment (generally qualities of botanists,

zoologists, ecologists)” (QTD Berns, 2013). My responsibility as educator is to also manage and

lead my classroom, which I plan to do by making sure my students learn early on my

expectations in the classroom. Also, with reminders located around the classroom to help

students to remember what I expect out of them when it comes to behavior, how we treat one

another, honesty, and reminders to believe in themselves. I will be able to manage my students

by setting rules and sticking to them. So, that way they know I will not let rules slide and help

keep the distractions and red choices to the minimum so we can be as productive as possible

during education hours. This way each student can do their best to obtain their own

Individualize goals.

Teachers Expectations
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Techer expectations plays a huge role in a student's education. The educator's expectations

can be a positive influence on the students or even a negative one. This is why it plays such a

huge role in students' education. So, as an educator we need to make sure our expectations will

align to make sure they benefit for what is best for the students learning. If I create elevated

expectations of my student's education. It will positively impact my students to believe in

themselves to meet my expectation as their teacher. I also need to be able to know when to adjust

things to make sure these are true expectations that my students can achieve, and to be there to

help motivate and guide them through their work. Being a democratic teacher will help my

students understand my expectations but also help guide them to meet my expectations. Setting

Cooperative goals, for my entire class will help benefit the students to learn to work together for

the common good. They learn especially important socialization skills they will need in the

future. Setting individual goals for each student will help them to meet their own personal goals

we set together. That way it self-motivates them to learn at their own pace and area of knowledge

each student started in my class. Also, setting some competitive goals can be beneficial to help

motivate the students who benefit from being competitive to reach goals before other students. It

can help motivate the students who struggle with motivation without competing. It will be easier

to set goals the first couple weeks of school. Once I get to know a little more about my students

to see what goals would help benefit them the most.

Students’ Social Ecology Theory

The cofounder of Head start, a preschool for low-income children Urie Bronfenbrenner was

influenced to produce his theory from this quote he had said “Much of contemporary

developmental psychology is the science of strange behavior of children in strange situations

with strange adults for the briefest possible periods of time.”— Urie Bronfenbrenner (QTD
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Berns, 2013). His Ecological Theory takes a bioecological approach to human development, and

how their biological factors play in children's development outcomes. His theory helps bridge

various aspects of learning and socialization together to help children in low-income homes to

get a good sturdy foundation like their peers in different economic classes. It is especially

important to connect students learning to their social ecology. This can help an educator to better

understand what the student knows and help them instruct the student in a way that they will

understand. Just like, experience-dependent are neural connections that are developed from

responses of experiences. These experiences are different for each student and make a significant

difference from the different environments they are raised in. With us connecting social ecology

we help prepare the students to be able to socialize and interact with others when they grow up

and start working in the competitive global market. Socialization also helps students develop

their own personality, and self-regulation and teaches appropriate social roles. Families, cultures,

and communities make a significant impact on students learning. Families who come from high

socio-economic backgrounds like children in higher class background families can afford private

schools, and children have pressure added from keeping the high family status as they grow.

Middle-class families are taught to look towards the future and have more experience and still

more education than the lower-class families. Children from lower class families are typically

known as “slow learners” or students with behavioral problems. They have less access to

educational needs and experiences than other students and typically come from single parent

households or from uneducated parents. Depending on the culture of the family and parenting

styles can also make impact also like Collectivistic which is where it is important to be

cooperative focus on affiliation and interpersonal relationships. Also, Individualistic who

mostly focus on individual goals, and accomplishments and competitive behavior. Coping styles
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like active or passive, play a role in how families impact students learning. Even the way

students view people in authority is based on their family culture like Submissive, or

Egalitarian. Down to how students communicate is based on their culture Open/Expressive or

Restrained/Private. The students' communities make a difference in the child's ability to learn.

If they are in a low-income neighborhood there is less property tax money coming into the

schools to help give the children, the materials they need to learn and have larger class sizes

compared to a middle-class community. Where they have more money that goes to the student's

education and smaller classes sizes.

Cultural Diversity Instruction

A theorist named John B. Watson produced a theory called behaviorism. Behaviorism theory

is when only observed behavior is only valid data for psychology. Watson argued that behavior

that was reinforced or rewarded would be repeated, but behavior that was ignored would stop

happening. These behavior reinforcements needed to be started at an early age by the parents. As

an educator I can acknowledge and build on life histories and experiences of student's ethnic

backgrounds by taking the time to get to know my students' ethnic backgrounds and promote the

importance of diverse backgrounds to my students. We can take time to learn about different

holidays or celebrations worldwide and about their history. We can take time to learn how to say

hello and goodbye and nice to meet you in other languages and listen to songs and stories from

other diverse cultures to help bring exposure to all the students who enter my classroom. This

will help the students to learn acceptance of others who are different from ourselves and help

them understand why our perspectives might be different from one another. The difference

between cultural pluralism and cultural assimilation is that cultural pluralism is when a culture
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maintains its distinct culture and they participate in society with a separate culture. Cultural

assimilation is when a culture assimilates the values or behaviors of another culture.

Curriculum for all Learners

How can I as an educator adjust my curriculum, as necessary? I can take time to plan my

curriculum and make sure I create adjustments to make the lesson easier, harder, with more or

less time. So, just in case as I am teaching a lesson, I realize some of my students just are not

understanding the concept or they are just understanding the concept quicker than I anticipated I

am not in rush trying to figure out how to make adjustments to my lessons I already have them

planned out and can adjust quickly when need to be. I will make sure I take time to ask questions

or do a little test to check my students' understanding of the work we are working on in the

classroom. That way I have a baseline to see what we need to work on more of if they are secure

enough to move forward with the next lesson. Assessments are a great tool to help teachers

create their instructional planning and delivery. It shows what the students know or what they

still need to learn. It also shows the best teaching styles that are working for certain groups of

students to help you know as educator how to base the teaching style for each assignment to help

the students grasp the concepts better. I plan to ensure my students' learning has improved from

the moment of entering my room then when they leave. Is starting the year with baseline

assessments to get an understanding of where my students are individually. I will continue to do

these assessments quarterly to watch their progress throughout the year. So, I know if I need to

make individual adjustments or full classroom adjustments with the curriculum.

Conclusion
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“What the teacher is, is more important than what he teaches.” —Karl Menninger. As

educators it is important to remember the importance of teaching and the impact, we have on all

our students, to either succeed or fail. To be a good role model or a bad one, and it is up to use to

instill good foundations to all our students to help mold them to their future selves. All students,

no matter their culture or background, can learn. Not all students learn the same way and we

must adjust our teaching styles and plans to help our students succeed. Teachers are a powerful

resource for students and have such influence in their students' lives and education. We must do

our best to leave positive impacted and help guide them to find a love of knowledge.
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