Teaching Philosophy
I developed a deep respect and love for education at a young age. While in High School I achieved my Girl Scout Gold Award through the development of a literacy program and children’s library in an inner-city church within my community. Through this experience I was able to see firsthand the positive role that education can have on a young person’s life and I became committed to the idea that every child has the ability to learn when given access to the right type of instruction and resources.
As an undergraduate student at the University at Buffalo I majored in History with a focused minor in secondary education. During this time I was given the opportunity to study abroad in Florence, Italy. While living in Italy my passion for history grew and I feel that this experience has shaped me as an educator, as I strive to make history come alive for my students just as it did for me while studying abroad.
As a Social Studies educator I have a variety of goals that I use to guide my teaching practice. First and foremost I believe it is my job as a teacher to ensure that all students are given the opportunity to learn and succeed within my classroom. I want my students to not only understand the content that I am trying to impart on them, but also learn and utilize critical thinking and analytical skills which will allow them to become a lifelong learner. I also strive to foster and promote good citizenship because I believe that a key part of social studies education should be based around current issues which students can analyze and interpret. Furthermore students should then be able to share and communicate their ideas with others, strengthening important communication skills. Lastly, I believe it is important that my teaching aligns with the common core standards as well as the state and district standards for social studies and I make every effort to ensure that my students not only meet but exceed these standards.In order to achieve these goals I use a variety of methods and techniques within my classroom. I use tested and effective teaching techniques such as explicit and instruction and cooperative learning to teach basic skills as well as discussion and higher order thinking skills within my classroom. I try to use differentiated instruction as frequently as possible and attempt to differentiate in terms of content, process and product. I strive to incorporate a wide variety of sources and learning tools within my classroom from political cartoons and articles to online simulations and new educational technology. Lastly and I believe most importantly I am constantly connecting content learning to real world experiences and current events to make the content more relevant and relatable to my students.
In order to measure the effectiveness of my teaching I assess students in a variety of ways to ensure that students remain engaged, yet are still mastering the necessary skills and content expected of them. I have developed a variety of assessments and projects that require students to think and apply knowledge as oppose to merely restating it. This is done through innovative ideas such as multimodal projects like imovies, zines, and class websites as well as more formal assessments such as in depth essays and research projects. I also believe it is important to have an open line of communication with students to ensure that any questions or concerns they have are being addressed. To help facilitate this I practice journaling and direct questioning with my students to ensure that any questions and misunderstandings can be resolved in a thorough and timely manner.
Overall I teach in the way that I do because I want to make a difference and have a positive effect on the students that enter my classroom. The future lies with them and I want to give my students a chance to succeed and learn so that they are able to do whatever they set their minds to. Furthermore I teach because I love social studies and the content within it, but also because I see the problems that we are facing as a society and that we need an educated citizen base to make the future a better place. Our students are our future, and I hope that by imparting on them the knowledge and tools to succeed they will make the world a better place.
