Teaching Philosophy

I aspire to create a classroom culture founded on the ideals of Piaget’s pedagogy of constructivism, in which learning is student-led. In a room full of individuals with diverse cultures and backgrounds, it is important to me as an instructor to acknowledge their previous experiences. I will embrace their preexisting knowledge fully, allowing for the construction of new informed knowledge by redefining what they already know when they come to class. Encouraging collaboration and the sharing of ideas is essential in a successful classroom, and allows for students to pull each other’s zones of proximal development. By working with those who harbor different knowledge than them, the students will be able to challenge their peers, while simultaneously learning more themselves. I strive to implement this notion of academic inquiry and growth in my classroom in order to allow students to learn in the most optimal way; through taking an active role in their own education. My role as a teacher will be to facilitate these student-driven discussions and gain insight into my students’ approaches to problem-solving and how they make sense of the world. Measuring success in a classroom such as this will come in the form of formative assessments, in which I will evaluate student understanding and improve my subsequent methods of instruction based on their contributions, as a means of teaching responsively. Furthermore, I will deemphasize theories of learning that can be damaging to students. As an instructor, I will ensure that approaches to teaching colored by a nature perspective of learning, such as ability grouping, do not occur within my classroom, as these disproportionately affect marginalized individuals and further perpetuate the educational gap between these minority groups and the majority population. It is important that I denounce the validity of psychometric evaluations as a measure of intelligence, as it sends a message to students that their worth can be deduced from a single quantity of a standardized test score. In my classroom, successful learning will be defined as the expression and exploration of ideas, and how these ideas change over time as a result of collaborating with others. By creating a safe space that allows for unique perspectives of all kinds to be honored, I wish to promote important aspects of education, like diversity and representation, as well as a sense of agency within my students. This inclusive classroom culture will deny opportunities for phenomena including stereotype threat and implicit bias to fester, ensuring that each individual feels comfortable and confident in who they identify themselves to be. Through this constructivist approach, it is my hope that my students will not only lead their learning through collaborating with their peers, but that they know to never limit themselves, as a result of feeling safe, represented, and loved for who they are.