All About Me!I am a graduate of The College of New Jersey with a Bachelor of Science degree in Early Childhood Education and Psychology. I am currently licensed to teach grades P-6 in the state of New Jersey. I grew up in Woodbridge Township, NJ, where I still live with my parents and two younger sisters.
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My Teaching Philosophy
As an elementary educator, a firm belief I hold is that students in elementary classrooms can and should be challenged to a developmentally appropriate level. Young students do not need to be coddled or babied when it comes to learning; being able to teach age-appropriate and developmentally appropriate lessons does not mean the students must play with small plastic replicas of real objects, or adults should supervise children’s every moves and help them the minute they find some struggle. Students are able to do many things for themselves such as pour their own drinks from proper containers, use scissors with adult supervision, dress and clean up after themselves, and learn from their actions when they behave in a way that does not conform to classroom expectations. Children are completely capable of learning for themselves, and my role as the teacher is to facilitate the learning process for them.
I also believe strongly in being flexible in my lessons and allowing for rearrangements to be made on the fly when “teachable moments” arise. Prescriptive, heavily planned lessons are definitely effective, but they lack an understanding that sometimes other events will grab the children’s attention in the middle of a lesson. When that occurs and a different lesson presents itself, I want to be able to put my planned lesson on hold and use the events in that moment to teach my students. I also want the freedom to have teaching moments with individual children based on their interests or learning level. According to NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practice position statement, “Responding to each child as an individual is fundamental to developmentally appropriate practice” (2009). Every child brings an important dynamic into my classroom and their diverse needs and interests will be taken into account.
Another belief I hold about curriculum planning in my classroom is that lessons should be heavily activities-based to give children the opportunity to learn things for themselves. Personally, I was a child who didn’t truly understand a lesson until I was able to work with the content myself. Just being told what I was supposed to know or understand was never effective and research has shown that to be true for many other children. At any age, students should learn through hands-on activities that are developmentally appropriate. It helps them “develop physical competence and enjoyment of the outdoors, understand and make sense of their world, interact with others, express and control emotions, develop their symbolic and problem-solving abilities, and practice emerging skills” (NAEYC, 2009). In early childhood, hands-on activities should include plenty of play, remain very child-driven and include access to many materials for art, play, and discovery in the classroom available at the children’s disposal.
Finally, I believe ardently that my classroom and the lessons I teach must include diversity and examples from all types of cultures. Children who are exposed to diverse cultures from a young age learn how to see the world from all different perspectives. Even cultures that my students are not part of will be shown in my classroom, to demonstrate to children the diversity they can look forward to experiencing in the world as they grow up. I will ensure my students learn how wonderful it is that people can be so similar and yet so different, and I will strive to create a classroom culture where differences are appreciated as a part of human nature.
I also believe strongly in being flexible in my lessons and allowing for rearrangements to be made on the fly when “teachable moments” arise. Prescriptive, heavily planned lessons are definitely effective, but they lack an understanding that sometimes other events will grab the children’s attention in the middle of a lesson. When that occurs and a different lesson presents itself, I want to be able to put my planned lesson on hold and use the events in that moment to teach my students. I also want the freedom to have teaching moments with individual children based on their interests or learning level. According to NAEYC’s Developmentally Appropriate Practice position statement, “Responding to each child as an individual is fundamental to developmentally appropriate practice” (2009). Every child brings an important dynamic into my classroom and their diverse needs and interests will be taken into account.
Another belief I hold about curriculum planning in my classroom is that lessons should be heavily activities-based to give children the opportunity to learn things for themselves. Personally, I was a child who didn’t truly understand a lesson until I was able to work with the content myself. Just being told what I was supposed to know or understand was never effective and research has shown that to be true for many other children. At any age, students should learn through hands-on activities that are developmentally appropriate. It helps them “develop physical competence and enjoyment of the outdoors, understand and make sense of their world, interact with others, express and control emotions, develop their symbolic and problem-solving abilities, and practice emerging skills” (NAEYC, 2009). In early childhood, hands-on activities should include plenty of play, remain very child-driven and include access to many materials for art, play, and discovery in the classroom available at the children’s disposal.
Finally, I believe ardently that my classroom and the lessons I teach must include diversity and examples from all types of cultures. Children who are exposed to diverse cultures from a young age learn how to see the world from all different perspectives. Even cultures that my students are not part of will be shown in my classroom, to demonstrate to children the diversity they can look forward to experiencing in the world as they grow up. I will ensure my students learn how wonderful it is that people can be so similar and yet so different, and I will strive to create a classroom culture where differences are appreciated as a part of human nature.