Running Head: STATEMENTS OF INFORMED BELIFS 1

Statement of Informed Beliefs Essay

Maygan Harrison
Professor Carol Billing
EDUC 204
Spring 2017
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Introduction

To be a teacher is a great thing, but its not a job for everyone. Its one that critical

thinking is mandatory, biases has to be put aside and you have to become open to everyone.

Teachers will come across many different kids with different circumstances that they must figure

out how to handle sometimes within seconds of the issue being introduced. Its a job that has

new challenges every day, that always keeps you on your toes and learning. It takes a certain

type of person to be able to keep up with everything.

All Student Can Learn

I believe every student has a yearning to learn something. It might not be something

academic but they all have something that will interest them, from reading, to playing sports, to

how things move. With every kid interests being so different from another childs interest creates

a diverse class. How a child does in school is dependent on their early years. It is based on the

childs early microsystem. A microsystem is the activities and relationships with significant

others that the child does. If a child grows up in a home that has both parents who are active with

them playing, counting, telling them colors starting at a young age that child will be further

advanced come time for school in comparison to say a family of a single mom who is always

working and never is able to spend much time with that child not teaching him/her the things the

first child learned. As a teacher of kids with such diversity it is their responsibility to find those

kids who may be more behind than the others and work with them to help them catch up or at

maintain grade level. They need to estimate the students academic level early in the year so they

have the greatest opportunity to help that child succeed. As a teacher you play an important role

in every childs life, no matter what background they have. In the younger grades it is especially
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true that the teachers job is to help with the socialization of that child. The teacher shows them

how to interact with one another, to fix problems, and to be productive citizens in society.

I think learning for many kids comes from actively doing it. It could mean doing a

worksheet, learning kinesthetically or using tools to motivate a tactile learner to teach the

lesson. I plan on implementing a mixture of instructional strategies to reach all my different

kinds of learners. As a teacher I want to be involved in so I can watch and see who understands

the concept and who needs more help. I would like to be able to do some group work so I can

help students more directly in an effort to keep kids from falling behind. Groups also give me a

chance to modify assignments enabling students to fill in missing gaps from things they

shouldve already learned.

I will group students that I think will provide the greatest benefit to a variety of learners. I

will provide different types of assessments on topics before moving on to check for

understanding. I will work with those who are missing the concept and help them obtain to a

better understanding.

Teachers Expectations

The expectations that are set in a classroom guide the class in to being a productive well-

mannered class, or a class that struggles with behavior. Expectations need to be explained by the

teacher in the very beginning of the year. Not only does this help maintain a behaved class but

this will benefit students in how they learn. When a class is on task, teachers spend less time

correcting behavior and more time teaching. They also are able to spend time with those who

might be struggling while the rest of the class is still doing work. Self-regulation is when

someone can control their own behavior and keep on task. This is an important skill to teach and
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expect from early in the year. This will enable kids to keep on task even when they dont want.

Another helpful expectation is they students have good attitudes. An attitude is how someone

choses to react to a situation; this could be positive or negative. Expecting the students to have

good attitudes about things will help keep them from feeling defeated and not trying to learn or

do their work.

Establishing goals for students to meet through they year are also important. They tell

the student that you are watching and expecting to see growth. It also challenges the student want

to do better. Often times kids want to meet goals, they want the reward weather physical or not

of doing the did something good. This also teaches them to work for what they want, and that

sometimes its a little hard. As kids achieve goals set for them they build self-esteem. When I

child builds their self-esteem they become more and more confident in what they do. They also

become to enjoy school and learning because they can see they are doing good at it.

Students Social Ecology Theory

The connection you make in education to a student ecology is what will really help the

student understand the course content. If it has no connection to their world, why would they

want to learn about it? When teaching a subject you need motivation for teaching it and why the

students should learn it. Saying cause its important isnt going to help them understand why

they need to know what you are teaching. The younger the student the smaller their ecology

might be, compared to an older student who knows and understands more. To understand your

students ecology means you have to understand the demographic of the kids in the area you are

teaching and the get to know them individually. Once you can relate to them they will begin to

trust you and want to learn. The more they see how things relate to them, the more interested

theyll be in the coursework. School isnt always fun so you have to make it fun and relatable.
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Maybe your teaching a class full of kids who love Pokmon do a math lesson with them or have

them practice writing by telling you about Pokmon. If you have a lot of minorities in you class

you could learn about their culture, and integrate it into the classroom. The socio-economic

levels in your class would also change how you teach. Lower class which refers to the economic

situation of the family, these kids could struggle on being able to do homework or having

supplies. Conversely, students from the upper class would expect their kids to have homework

help them with it or get them someone to help them. They generally are much more capable to

bring in supplies and even extra materials.

Every family has an impact on a childs learning whether negative or positive. A family

who places high importance on education is likely to work hard at having their child succeed. No

situation is the same, you might have a low class family who puts high importance on it because

they know the struggle of making it without a good education, and then their might be an upper

class family who doesnt really care for education and lets their child do whatever whenever. Of

course we know that in the majority of cases upper class families generally do better at school it

all depends. The culture the family has is also a factor if a culture has women depending on men

they might not push their girls to do very well in school compared to a culture that wants girls to

succeed in life on their own. The community overall is a significant factor, they have to show

interests in the schools and put money towards the schools. A community that wants to see

children go to school and do well is more likely to have more kids going and doing well. It takes

a village to raise a child, and that means a community needs to come together and help support

school fundraisers, be willing to look at school bonds and vote.

Cultural Diversity Instruction

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As a teacher its must to have respect for other cultures, you will have the chances of

coming across many different cultures. Being able to use multicultural education is a key to

success in teaching. Even if you arent bilingual you can still show respect to the culture and help

the student who may be struggling with having to cultures. As a teacher, when I use everyday

examples for something I will try to vary them to fit different ethnicities rather than just ones that

I know will fit for white students. I want all the students to be able to make a connection to

something instead of just one race having the personal connection. I will get to know each

student personally and in talking to them see what I kind find out about their home life and

backgrounds. I will meet their parents and see if their parents let me know anything that might be

important to know later on about their life. When assigning work, I will try to make sure it is as

fair as possible and not favoring one race in the content that they should know.

Cultural pluralism is everyone appreciating and showing respect for other cultures. Its

when a society can have multiple languages, religions and ideas. Cultural assimilation is when

the minority culture group is forced to adapt to the majority culture. It is expected that the

minority will learn the dominant language and immerse themselves in the culture. The

difference between the two is cultural pluralism helps and gives support to the minorities. It

helps them learn the language and ways of the dominant cultural. Cultural assimilation forces the

minority to figure things out they dont give much support. Everything is in the dominant

language, where a pluralism culture would have documents in multiple languages. A pluralism

culture would also have bilingual classes and things set up in schools to help those students,

whereas assimilation culture just throws them in and hopes they learn.
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To handle cultural pluralism, I will have discussions with my class about different

cultures, religions and what they might look like. We will talk about how all cultures no matter

how different they may be a a wonderful unique thing that should be respected and appreciated.

With culture assimilation, I will try to support that student and their family as much as

possible. I will work with the student more on-on-one to help them stay caught up. I will be

patient with the student and family if issues arise or they are have a hard time adapting.

Curriculum for all learners

As a teacher being able to make adjustments to the curriculum plan is crucial. There are

many reasons a teacher might have to adjust their plan. Perhaps the students arent catching on to

it as quickly as planned, or possible they learned it much quicker than planned. As a teacher I

will be doing check for understanding often so I can see how students are doing on the material.

If they arent learning it as well I will push back the date of when we are supposed to finish the

topic so I can give them more time to learn it. I will also adjust how I teach the lesson an

incorporate something new. Trying different ways to help make the connection with my students.

Giving regular assessments helps the teacher be able to identify what students are

struggling in and who is needing extra assistance. This can help prevent students from getting

behind and having gaps in their learning. This is also a good way to assess your teaching and if

your methods of teaching are working. If the majority of the class is struggling on the assessment

thats a good sign that you need to change something. When there is only a few not getting good

scores on the assessment it helps you to be able to find the students to work with one-on-one to

help them.
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At the beginning of the year it is important to do an assessment to see where the learning

levels of your students are. If a student joins midyear and assessment should also be given so you

know where that student is at compared to your class, to see if they need caught up, or if they are

at the same spot, or possible ahead. I will continue to do assessments throughout the year to

make sure there is improvement.