My Educational Philosophy

My educational philosophy has definitely changed since I first arrived at UAB.  In the Fall of 2008, when I first began taking education courses, I felt that classrooms should be teacher-centered.  I mean, after all, I was the one who went to college four years (actually - longer than that, but who's counting?).  I felt that the students should sit down, shut up, and listen to what I had to say.  In hindsight, I'm very thankful that I was not unleashed on any of Alabama's classrooms.  I would've been a monster!  No one would have wanted to have me as a teacher!

Now, my educational philosophy has basically taken a complete one-eighty.  While I'm not completely against lecture (indeed, there are appropriate times for it), I feel that adolescents learn more visually and by hands-on, project-based instruction.  Depending on which statistics you look at, the average person (teen or adult) thinks 75-80% in pictures/images and only 20-25% in words.  Thus, students are much more likely to remember things you show them than things you tell them.

I've also become a much bigger fan of differentiated instruction.  Obviously, different people learn in different (or various) ways.  If a teacher only uses one approach to instruction (which was my original plan back in 2008), many students are going to fall through the cracks.  It is imperative that teachers use several different approaches to teaching content - be it projects, lecture, collaborative assignments, or technology.  By incorporating numerous methods of instruction, teachers are much more likely to reach every student.

Finally, one of my goals as a teacher is to create life-long learners.  If a teacher's instruction is boring or dated, the students are not likely to enjoy the content, which means they will probably not become life-long learners in that particular area.  Hence, it is my goal to make learning FUN!!!  Good instruction engages students through activities that are enjoyable, challenging, practical (i.e. usable in real-life situations), and relevant to the 21st century student (i.e. students who utilize technology on a regular basis).  If instruction meets these criteria, students are much more likely to enjoy the content, which increases the odds of the student becoming a life-long learner in that particular content area.

Thus, it is my goal as a Language Arts instructor to implement creative, enjoyable, and technologically current instruction into my daily classroom activities; to explore new and unique ways of piquing student's interest in reading, writing, and analyzing literature; and to instill in my students a desire to keep reading, writing, and analyzing literature long after they have left the K-12 setting.

Concerning this particular semester - if I'm being honest - I cannot say that my educational philosophy has changed drastically.  For a while now, I have begun to see the importance of differentiated instruction and the value of incorporating technology into classroom activities.  If anything, EHS 401 has simply reaffirmed that belief.  What has been a huge help, however, is learning the 4MAT method.  The 4MAT method has shown me specifically how and when to utilize certain pedogogical strategies and when those strategies are most effective/helpful for the student.  Without EHS 401, I would have never realized that there is a specific time in a unit where showing a video clip (or lecturing, or doing a project, etc.) is more effective than at any other time.  That was a real eye-opener for me.

While this doesn't necessarily have anything to do with my educational philosophy, another area in which EHS 401 has helped me is in pacing myself during a unit.  Before this course, I had no idea how long I should spend doing any one activity - be it lecturing, creative projects, showing videos, etc.  Now, however - thanks to Dr. Meadows and the 4MAT method - I know about how long I should spend in each quadrant of the wheel.  This alone, I believe, will make me a better teacher.

So, has my entire pedigogical philosophy changed because of this one course?  No.  But has it helped me identify weaknesses in my philosophy and shown me areas in which I need to improve?  Absolutely.  The bottom line is that not everyone learns the same way I do.  And in order to be an effective teacher, I have to be able to accommodate different learning styles.  EHS 401 has not only helped me to realize this, but it has also shown me how to effectively teach across the learning spectrum.