I truly feel that my actions, for the most part, align with my beliefs about education. Unfortunately, I have a difficult time saying they always align, because of certain limitations that are beyond my control, which include the amount of time I have my students, when I have them, because I don't set the schedule, and activities that are mandated across the board for our schools systems in NC. This leads me to my top five beliefs about education. I have many strong beliefs about the education of our children in this amazing era of technology and information. I guess I can work them down to five.First, I believe all students have the right to a free and public 21st century education. No child should be limited in access to technologies that will not only enhance their education, but that will teach them technology literacies that will be expected in the work environment. This is a right that the public should expect our school systems to provide. This is why I feel it was so important to have my students exposed to technologies in my class that not only make learning more fun, but that also challenged them.
This brings me to my second belief in education. I believe that students need to be challenged often. Frederick Douglass said, "It is easier to build strong children, than to repair broken men". I truly believe many of our kids coast through school and are not made to really think. If a student "aces" every assignment given, they can do much more than what we are giving them. If we do not challenge them as students, they will be challenged as adults and may not be able to handle the pressure. As I work to make my students "Brain Sweat", I may not have a class of all "A"s, but my students can't say that they were not pushed in my class to get better.
My third belief may seem rather trite, but it is essential to every successful educator. I believe that all students can learn. We live in a day and age were the push is for every child to be mainstreamed into the regular public education classroom. I think in an attempt to create "typical" students we forget that defining typical is difficult to say the least. Instead of standardizing education, we need to personalize education. Every student is capable of learning, it is up to educators and our system of education to place kids in the most conducive environment for them. Unfortunately, students are not always in the proper environment and this is when they may act out or have other problems. This is difficult for me, because in a class period of approximately 40 minutes, I can't have these types of disruptions. This is where as I mentioned above that my actions, for the most part, echo my beliefs in education. I would love to take the time to break down the issue with the student at that moment, but with the number of students I have and the time constraints that are imposed, that student may get sent to redirect and the issue can't be dealt with till much later. This is not very effective and I have struggled with how to best meet the needs of that trouble student, while not sacrificing the time of other students, in particular this year. This is a very personal issue for me, also. My son, though not having the behavior issues i mentioned earlier, is on the Autism spectrum. He was in public education for 2 years. His first year was very tough at times, but he was successful. His second year, he began to blossom, but in his 3 year, with no teacher assistant and class sizes nearing 30 students, he was having a very difficult time. We are fortunate to have the ability place him in a private Christian school with class sizes of around 10. With this, he has begun to love school again. It hurts me that we don't always place kids in a proper environment because of costs, when we can usually find the money to do whatever else we want.
The fourth belief that I hold dear about education is that what we teach must be relevant to our students. Information is everywhere today and our students have no problem accessing it. Our job is to make information relate to the "real world" for our students. If not, learning is usually lost in short measure. Students must understand the importance of what you teach and how they can make connections to their lives in the future.
It is difficult for me to put these beliefs in order from least to most important. I think they really overlap to some degree. I say that because my fifth belief is not fifth in importance. We must understand the importance of culture in educating our students. I read where an educator said, "if students don't learn the way we teach, we should teach the way they learn". If we do not relate to the culture of our students, it becomes very difficult to reach them. I think this is one of my stronger attributes as an educator. I often incorporate
activities where students are exposed to people who look like them, who have maybe some of the same life experiences and who excel in spite of any difficulties.
I think the common themes through most of my statements have been relationships, rigor and relevance. All three are required in order to be a successful educator.
