Journal #4: Teacher Beliefs Statement

My, how my beliefs have grown!  Here's my original beliefs statement, and below is the evolution of my educational beliefs:

In order to understand how students learn, I think students first need to be provided with the opportunities to learn.  External factors (such as adequate sleep, nutrition, home environments, etc.) are often times out of our direct control. (Not to say that we avoid addressing and attempting to remedy these potential deficiencies, but if we are incapable of combating these external factors in our oftentimes limited roles as teachers, we need to acknowledge and accept that our children are plagued by these ills.)  We can, however, focus our attention on providing all the resources necessary in our own classrooms for students to learn at their peak individual levels. 

First, students must feel safe in order to learn.  Besides the (hopefully) obvious protection from physical harm, we must stay attuned to whether students feel safe sharing themselves with us, their peers, and (most often overlooked) themselves.  From cultivating classroom environments in which mistakes are honorable, multiple viewpoints are valued, and challenging and questioning are encouraged, students can feel safe growing mentally, socially, and emotionally. 

Second, students must feel respected.  It kills me inside when I see and hear teachers refer to our young people as “our students.”  Just the nomenclature of “student” strips these people of all qualities unrelated to learning in a school building.  Our kids are so much more than that!  They are artists, athletes, big sisters, interpreters, musicians, caregivers, the list goes on and on.  Our kids need to be recognized as people, not students.  Once our children see that the adults in their lives view them as people, as equal human beings (besides, you know, that whole “I’m in charge of the classroom” kind of thing), their respect level for those adults soar.  In doing so, these adults make enormous strides in bridging any cultural, gender, or age gap between themselves and their students.  Once this happens, students will begin to feel that their ideas and themselves are valued in the eyes of the adult.  (Oh, and it completely cuts down on classroom management issues, too!) 

Most importantly, students must feel empowered in order to create their own knowledge.  Anything – animals, insects, even machines – can learn to mimic behavior, complete tasks, or memorize data, but we as humans have the capability to reflect (haHA!), critique, connect, and reinterpret passive knowledge.  We must continually encourage and show our kids that regurgitating information is not a meaningful demonstration of what one knows – it is when a learner relates to material, adapts it to fit their needs and drives in life, and allows that knowledge to lead them to self-discovery that they accomplish real knowledge!  Even when students create active knowledge, they need to see us model and feel safe themselves in battling uncomfortable uncertainties, wrestling with questions that challenge our beliefs, and, to be cliché, “stepping outside their comfort zones.”  Only then can students create their own knowledge!

Once we see how students learn, we need to ensure our instruction affords and strengthens opportunities for that learning to occur.  The first step is teaching students to consider how they think and learn so that they can be empowered with that knowledge to interpret and reinterpret instruction.  Making sure that students feel that they have control over how they create knowledge from our instruction provides students with ownership of their learning processes.  Once students feel empowered to create their own knowledge, then we, as teachers, lead and guide them to creating new connections and exploring challenging conundrums.  Sometimes guiding and leading involves lecturing and explicit, prescriptive modes of transferring information.  Often times, though, guiding and leading learning relies heavily upon student interest and choice, openness to multiple methods to demonstrate mastery, and “confined freedom” to apply and explore new skills.  (By confined freedom, I mean providing young people with flexibly wide parameters to choose how and what they explore with respect to new material.  Our kids need structure (some more than others) to limit an overwhelming plethora of possibilities, but they also need the freedom to create knowledge as it relates to their lives and their interests.)

Most importantly, our instruction must, as I said before, challenge them to consider new ideas, question their beliefs, and explore the sometimes uncomfortable perspectives of other people (all developmentally appropriate, of course).  It pains me when teachers shy away from conflict the curriculum or their students.  Unproductive conflict can be obviously detrimental to the education process for all involved, but productive conflict – conflict in which we remain open-minded and respectful – is how our society grows.  We don’t grow in conflict-free environments – we stagnate.  From a national level of battling political parties to an individual level of cognitive dissonance, we utilize the gifts of disagreement and differences to forge new territory and blaze a new path. 

But now let’s say that one wants to improve on enabling student learning or enhancing classroom instruction: how does one do that?  Through careful reflection of one’s position.  For reflection to make any positive difference, it must be truthful.  Individuals, teachers especially, need to be comfortable enough with themselves to confront the oftentimes grim realization that, lo and behold, things may not be as they seem.  If teachers are not genuine in their examination of the faults and their triumphs, there is no foundation for reflection; any half-brained attempt to reflect will crumble like a sandcastle.  When we consider our own actions merely at face value, we lose the opportunity to flip our perspectives, empathize with our students, and explore ourselves and our craft through multiple lenses.  Without reflecting critically and carefully hunting assumptions and considering viable alternatives, we only reflect to check reflecting off our checklist or drop the “reflect” buzzword into our resume.  Critical reflection takes energy, effort, and patience, not a half-brained attempt at shrugging off our practice as “proficient” and moving on.

And to transform that half-brained attempt into a full-fledged inquiry involves utilizing systemic processes.  Sometimes those procedures follow the prescriptive systems designed by philosophers and researchers.  Other times, those reflective practices are rooted in personalized systems that enable the individual to carefully mull over interpretations, perspectives, alternatives, and reactions to improve their craft.  Whatever reflective systems make sense for the teacher, they should rely on some type of data.   And no, not necessarily data in the sense of spreadsheets or grade books (but if those are helpful to individuals or individual situations, use ‘em!), but observations, conversations, and other qualitative, informal “data” that can be recorded in some way for future analysis and consideration.  Long story short, to improve student learning and classroom instruction, teachers need to remember that they’ll “get out what they put in.”  If you do what you always do, you’ll get what you always get.  But if you’re willing to challenge assumptions, utilize referential resources, and experiment with new approaches and techniques, you’re in store for something different in the least but probably something great!