My Philosophy of Teaching and Explanation of Using Technology in the classroom.

“My goal is to have children learn from experience. I want them to think for themselves.” (Senese & Tozer, 2015) Students need to know of culture and diversity, but they need to experience for themselves what they believe about individual areas of thought. If a teacher was merely to regurgitate their beliefs, it would be a disservice to students because there is not free contemplation. In my classroom, aspiring to have students generate viewpoints via research, occurrences and analytical assessment is an attainable goal. While still adhering to the Arizona Content Standards, students will work together to create an environment of discovery where every student is welcome to learn. Acceptance of globally-culturally diverse studies and seeing the value and equity in every culture and peer is a trait that I strive to instill in my students.

Students come with experiences that are relevant to life beyond the books. In schools, the real world is suspended if we let it rest. However, bringing experience and realia into the classroom can help students retain content because of a connection to the information and it peeks their interests in becoming problem-solvers of the issue at hand. Students being able to experience realia is important to their success as a culturally diverse class because the ideas and objects being brought into the class can influence how students think their community and other areas function.

The notion in which students of minority and low-income areas often perform poorly on tests is well known. But the fact that they do so because we systematically expect less from them is not. (ASCD, 2008) If all learning styles are being met with an appropriate activity, I believe all students will be able to satisfy academic requirements through diverse and scaffolded lessons which incorporate multicultural content knowledge. (McLeod, 2017) Students in my class will be grouped to create a sense of diversity and will open their minds to create discussions about their differences in life and opinion. All students have pre-existing knowledge of how the world works. Tying these ideas into their learning style will create students that are prepared to take standardized tests by using their personally created strategy to overcome testing which does not include their style of learning.

Integrating technology into the classroom can be as simple as using multiple physical materials or using computers and simulators. Technology is anything that can be used to enhance the learning or teaching of a student. For example, if I were teaching a math lesson, I could use counters, a technology used to show physical math. On the hand of using computers, students could use smart boards for subject review as a class. Tablets can be used to access programs to target specific learning styles which will vary in the classroom. As technology is integrated, students will know how to find additional resources and will take learning into their own hands as learners. Encouraging students to use their resources will create habit forming adaptations to their learning that captures knowledge and allows a general use of technology throughout subjects. In the future, I will use technology to enhance my lessons and to bring realia into the classroom. For students, I will have, at minimum, one center full of physical technology and one center for using computers. I will have students use computers to not only access knowledge but to understand and formulate relevant connections with how to use technology without guidance.