Jarid Holland

Dr. Arroyo

12/9/18

My Teaching Philosophy

Those who go into teaching for the money or summer vacation time are doing it for the

wrong reasons. Teaching is a craft fostered through a love for learning, patience,

open-mindedness, and adaptability; these traits not only make a great teacher but help foster a

love of learning among those they teach as well. That coupled with fun, interactive lessons that

establish and emphasize ideas, guiding students through the basics and refining those basics as

the lesson proceeds is something that is absolutely quintessential. The basics are equally as

important as peer-oriented group feedback (Schmoker, 2001), a method used to allow

student-oriented language to flourish in the classroom, helping those who may be lost during

instructional time. However, I would argue that the most important facet of being a teacher is

patience, understanding, and adaptability; recognizing that not everyone learns and progresses at

the same pace and being able to adjust to those variables when they are presented. (Cherry, 2018)

I am quite a ways away from having a classroom of my own, however, the observations I have

completed over the course of my fall 2018 semester here at The University of Texas at El Paso

have taught me a fair amount. From the temperament and mindset, a teacher needs in order to be

effective, or ways to go about adopting a lesson to accommodate (UDL At A Glance,2010) those

who may struggle to keep up with the rest of the class. I have learned a fair share of information

and will not only strive to incorporate those factors into my classroom but myself as an educator

as well.
 I feel that regardless of the kind of learner you are, interactive lessons that promote

thought and encourage hands-on work (Pappas, 2014) are essential to any curriculum, Advanced

Placement or AP, Dual Credit or otherwise; hands-on activities promote direct interaction with

the texts, generating a higher retention rate, in addition to promoting interaction and participation

among the class as a whole. These kinds of activities can be done regardless of whether the class

has a time constraint of 45 minutes or 90 minutes. Ideas, upon formative group presentations,

become known along with any misconceptions that can then be immediately addressed and

corrected. (Smith and MacGregor, 1992 ).

Accompanied with work is grading; grading being a sore spot for most if not utterly

confusing, as the ways to tackle grading seem almost entirely subjective. I do not believe in this,

quite the contrary, I believe that grading should be solely based on the quality of work turned in

through a standardized grading rubric, combined with a clear grasp of any overlying concepts;

those two factors alone should dictate all grading. Biases in terms of work quality have the

potential to overlook any redeeming qualities in students’ work, leaving little to room for

improvement; thus discouraging students from wanting to put forth effort in future assignments.

This is something that I can personally attest to, having been told multiple times throughout my

high school career that my work just “wasn’t right” — accompanied by a less than satisfactory

grade, and receiving no further explanation, no constructive criticism or criticism in general as to

how I could fix it or improve in some way. Needless to say, I did not try much in those classes.

However, following a strictly behavioristic approach (Berkley, 2018) — encouraging and

critiquing a students’ work through positive feedback, with criticisms for potential

improvements, accompanied with cognitive constructivism (Berkley, 2018) — enforcing the

basics and setting small obtainable goals with student work so that they may progress slowly;

thus refining their skills over time, is key. The implementation of these two approaches

eliminates all room for biased grading, as everyone will stay within set guidelines without much

room if any to deviate from the task at hand. This is something I will strive to incorporate into

my classroom.

I have made it known that I am a firm believer in the basics, having mentioned it a few

times throughout this paper. Establishing the basics of any given topic is a must if we want to

effectively teach someone new, pertinent information; however, the basics is a vague term

requiring elaboration, so let’s elaborate on the basics of the written English language, thus

writing in general. The basics of writing can be broken down into a few key components: syntax,

grammar, standard capitalization, and punctuation — core aspects that permeate throughout

writing as a whole. Without that foundation, how can we expect our students to be capable

writers? In short, we can’t; yet I often see the latter, teachers wanting multiple-page essays—

with lost stares emanating from the students who do not even know where to begin. The released

Program for International Student Assessment or PISA scores for 2015 shows that the US is

ranking 23rd internationally in terms of reading (Pew Research Center, 2018). Reading is a

subsequent step of writing, i.e. the more proficient the reader, the more proficient that person is

at writing. This is something that I can attest to, having witnessed this myself during

observations. If the class was not advanced, audiobooks were played instead of letting the

students develop their reading skills, and those classes that were allowed to read had were filled

with weak readers, as such their writing skills were severely lacking. This is something I hope to

change: no matter the grade level, it is never too late to cover and reinforce the basics; slowly
developing their reading and writing over time through the imitation of writers, poets, and the

use of interactive assignments.

Critical thinking is another tool that must be established in order to generate competent

readers and writers, but what is critical thinking and why is it important? Critical thinking as

defined by Edglossary.org is the development of reasoning, examination, questioning, creative

problem solving, formulating questions that provoke thought and making connections between

patterns across subjects (Edglossary.org, 2013). Critical thinking helps break down difficult texts

through sound reasoning, pervasive questioning and making connections to real-world events or

different literary works. Being able to break down works also means being able to break down

writing, especially if it is a paper of a difficult nature. The level of thought that comes with

critical thinking helps organize thoughts, create new viewpoints to be discussed, and aids in

overall elaboration. If we want to put this into simpler terms, then we can use Bloom’s

Taxonomy; working through the steps in an organized manner to reach the upper echelon of

reading and writing — being able to apply cross-curricular knowledge, analyze the key aspects

of that information, evaluate the concepts, meanings, and purposes, all to create new ideas,

questions, and come to a universal conclusion. (Center for Teaching, 2018).

To summarize, I want to be a teacher for a number of reasons. The underlying theme is a

change in teaching altogether; eliminating stagnant teaching methods that have been proven

ineffective and instead, focusing more on the basics and building students up from there. Having

been subjected to my fair share of inadequate teachers who stagnate in style, refusing to budge

and adapt to meet the needs of all students, instead of a select few. I want to make a change in

my classroom, starting from the ground up and having my students engage with their writing
through assigned and student chosen texts. Teaching them the joys of reading, writing, and

developing those skills so that they produce work that they are proud of. To do that I must be

flexible in my teaching style, aiming to never come near that realm of instruction where I

stagnate. I want to reestablish a love for learning, showing kids that reading and writing can be

fun when engaged properly, and most importantly, showing that every student is capable of

“advanced level” work — (Pre-AP/AP) level if a little bit of hard work is applied.
 Work Cited

Armstrong, Patricia, (2018). Center for Teaching. Bloom’s Taxonomy. [Graphic]

Retrieved from https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/blooms-taxonomy/

Berkley Graduate Division, (2018). Graduate Student Instructor Teaching & Resource Center.

Overview of Learning Theories. Retrieved from

https://gsi.berkeley.edu/gsi-guide-contents/learning-theory-research/learning-overview/

CAST. (2010, Jan. 6). UDL At A Glance.

Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDvKnY0g6e4

Cherry, Kendra, (2018). Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Theory of Multiple

Intelligences. Retrieved from

https://www.verywellmind.com/gardners-theory-of-multiple-intelligences-2795161

Desilver, Drew, (2017). U.S. students’ academic achievement still lags that of their peer in many

other countries. [Chart 3] How the U.S. Compares on science, math and reading scores.

Retrieved from

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/02/15/u-s-students-internationally-

math-science/

Edglossary.org, (2013). Critical Thinking.

Retrieved from https://www.edglossary.org/critical-thinking/

Guido, Marcus (2017). All About Inquiry-Based Learning: Definition, Benefits and Strategies.

What is Inquiry-Based Learning? Retrieved from

https://www.prodigygame.com/blog/inquiry-based-learning-definition-
benefits-strategies/

Keppell, Mike (2006). Peer learning and learning-oriented assessment in technology-enhanced

environments. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education,

volume 31, issue 4, pg. 453-464. doi:10.1080/02602930600679159

Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02602930600679159

Pappas, Christopher, (2014). Instructional Design Models and Theories: Inquiry-based

Learning Model. What is Inquiry-based Learning

Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/inquiry-based-learning-mode

Smith, L.B. and MacGregor, T. J., (1992). What is Collaborative Learning?* [PDF document].

Retrieved from Evergreen.edu

https://www.evergreen.edu/sites/default/files/facultydevelopment/docs

/WhatisCollaborativeLearning.pdf