This section focuses on my teaching philosophy and pedagogy that has developed over my teacher education.

I believe that the purpose of education is to teach children to become self-sufficient, moral, and caring citizens that will be able to contribute to our society.  However, children cannot become this type of citizen without the contribution of a committed educator.  A committed educator is present in order to guide the children’s learning in a thorough and personalized way.  An educator must foster independence and interest in order for students’ learning to continue past school.  I believe this can be implemented through an inquiry-based approach to learning.  By providing students with opportunities for exploration, the children will be able to engage meaningfully in content and spark interest in gaining deeper knowledge of the content.  I was unable to complete an inquiry-based units during my practicum but I look forward to implementing such techniques during my teaching career.

When I think of my ideal classroom environment I think of relationships, flexibility, and honesty.  I believe that in order to create a conducive classroom environment that moves beyond just classroom management, a teacher needs to establish relationships with his/her students.  By establishing and nurturing these relationships the students will begin to feel like they can trust their teacher.  By providing a secure base, students will come to count on their teacher when conflicts arise, and will understand that the teacher will help them deal with these conflicts.  The students need to feel safe in both their classrooms and school, and they need to feel like they have established relationships with more than just their classroom teacher.  Having these positive relationships result in both academic and social gains by the student.  Additionally, having established positive relationships with the students, the teacher’s time in the classroom will run more smoothly because the students will wish to maintain the positive relationship.  During my practicum I attempted to not only build relationships with my students but also with students from other classrooms.  I volunteered to coach the grade 5 boys and girls track team.  It was an opportunity for me to build relationships with older students in the school.

Another example of building relationships from my practicum arose when my school advisor allowed me to change the set up of the desks.  I was very adamant about having the students take part in this and vocalized to them that their opinions were very important to me.  I had made a couple arrangements and presented them to the class.  They choose their favourite and we set up their desks in that arrangement.  I believe by including them in the decision they felt more connected to me and they knew that I valued their opinions.  This helped to strengthen the relationship I had with each child and reduced problems in my classroom.

I believe flexibility is essential in any relationship and in any classroom.  Students need to understand that school is about their learning not the teacher’s teaching.  A teacher needs to be able to be flexible and change their course or plan whenever it appears to not suit the children.  When the classroom becomes about the teacher rather than the student, one can see a drop in interest and most likely a drop in behaviour.   An example of my flexibility was the ability to redirect my students when they had too much energy. This happened quite a bit by the end of my practicum, and we came up with the solution of going outside to run.  The students loved this option and returned to the classroom feeling focused and ready to learn.  Having to stop mid-lesson or cut a lesson because of energy levels was something that I was constantly doing; however, it was about the children and I needed to make sure they were ready to listen and learn before I could teach anything.  The students understood that if they needed a break they could tell me and we would have an energy break in order for them to refocus their attention to the task at hand.  This improved the rapport I had with the children as well as their learning was more focused.

Honesty and respect is extremely important to have in a classroom.  If a teacher is honest and respectful with his/her students, a trust will begin to build.  This type of trust is extremely important in building relationships within the classroom.  No matter the age of students, they deserve to understand why we would like them to complete a certain task a certain way.  This will also help the students’ motivation to complete the tasks.  During my practicum I tried to be as honest with my students as I could.  When I would ask them to complete a task I would explain why we were doing so; when I would ask them to act a certain way in the hallway, I would explain why we were doing so.  I noticed that when I would forget to explain why we were completing a task, the students were less focused and took longer to complete the task.  By exercising this amount of respect my students grew to trust my judgments and our relationships prospered.

As I continue along my path to become an educator my philosophy and pedagogy are constantly changing.  Even in the past year my philosophy has changed.  I have come to realize the importance of flexibility in the classroom.  I have always thought that flexibility was important, but it never struck me as one of the most important features of an educator.  After the completion of my practicum and the UBC BEd program I have come to understand just how much flexibility can affect childrens’ learning.  Flexibility has now become one of the defining components of my philosophy.