Personal Philosophy
The personal philosophy quote that I’ve chosen is from Michelle Obama’s book Becoming.
“Now that I’m an adult, I realize that kids know at a very young age when they’re being devalued, when adults aren’t invested enough to help them learn. Their anger over it can manifest itself as unruliness. It’s hardly their fault. They aren’t “bad kids.” They’re just trying to survive bad circumstances.”
To me, this quote is a reminder that not all of my students will have great home lives. A lot of them will come from homes where for one reason or another, they aren’t given the attention that they need and deserve. It’s often these students that act out in school, because it’s one of the few places that they can receive the attention that they need. This is why one of the most important things to me as a teacher is to make sure my students know that they are loved, valued, and important in my classroom. I know it sounds a little corny, but I think it can make a big difference to students who don’t get that kind of attention elsewhere.
I think I would implement a bunch of small subtle things. The number one thing would be that I would try to greet and acknowledge each student everyday, rather than just give a class-wide greeting in the morning. Even if it’s just to greet them by name as they walk in the door in the morning, or as they leave in the afternoon, or to ask how their soccer game or piano recital went. I’d also try to stay up on whatever is popular with my students’ age group, so that I can talk to them about things that interest them, and even possibly incorporate it into some lessons!
Citation:
Obama, M. (2018). Becoming. Crown Publishing.
This was an assignment for my Theoretical Frameworks of Education class at Thompson Rivers University. In this assignment, I chose a quote from Michelle Obama that really resonated with my personal teaching philosophy. I am holding on to this assignment, in the hope that I can reread it each year and remind myself of what I feel is the most important part of creating a positive classroom environment, and start each year off with the goal of connecting personally with every single student.