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Philosophy of Education
Adam Ramirez
The diverse backgrounds and experiences of students create an equal
diversity in their educational needs. Treating every student equally entails much
more than providing equal resources, both tangible and intangible. Treating every
student equally involves taking the time to learn about his or her desires,
strengths, needs and capitalizing on this information to produce lessons that
build on their knowledge and promote his or her continual development.
Differentiation should not be employed only to address students with official
intervention plans; by very virtue of the fact that every student entering a
classroom is different, an educator should feel a necessity to create lessons and
assessments that allow each student to demonstrate his or her unique aptitudes.
The method that I have found works best to meet this daunting task involves
flipping the traditional structure of lesson and assessment by probing for the
information, both content-related and personal, that can contribute to the desired
educational goal and build on this knowledge to construct appropriate lessons for
every student. Following the progress of students at different levels certainly
constructs an unorthodox classroom structure, but one that I am convinced is
best for achieving equity.
The advent of technological advances greatly facilitates the ability to promote
equitable education in the classroom. The use of online databases to upload
educational resources such as videos, guided lesson plans, and a myriad of
assignments opens the door for teachers to create a classroom in which students
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can take the role of researchers and fully take advantage of the instructor as a
facilitator to acquire knowledge that has previously been synthesized by other
sources throughout the world. The reaches of the Internet void the necessity to
reconstruct or to tell the story of educational content. Students today have the
capability to find an answer to a question at the click of a button. The onus,
therefore, is placed on the educator to ensure that the screen a student is
viewing displays accurate information and that the student can use this
information to inform his or her critical thinking skills.
With a strong focus centered on equitable education accompanied by the
assistance of technology, an innovative pedagogy has taken shape in my
classroom. Lesson plans are not constructed for a class of thirty, but instead for
an individual. The early stages of the school year are dedicated to accruing as
much information about my students needs, desires, strengths, and challenges
at the fastest rate possible so as to assemble a database that can inform the
tasks I will ask each individual student to perform. After creating lesson plans for
every individual student, it becomes my job as the facilitator to ensure that I
spend substantial one-on-one time with every student in every class period.
These interactions foster problem-solving skills beyond those requiring rote
memorization. Structuring group activities to take place after every individual
student has crossed a certain threshold of proficiency accentuates the positive
effects of these tasks. Every individual is different; I am confident that the manner
in which lessons are planned should reflect this reality.