My Teaching Philosophy

Theoretical Underpinnings
I pledge that my teaching has the underpinnings of educational theorists
such as Piaget and Vygotsky. I will incorporate Piaget, through the use of
schemas, whereby I will build student learning through building on from
what students already know. I will employ discovery learning within my
learning experiences because students learn best when they are actively
doing something and exploring. I will employ activities that require my
students to be active learners, not passive learners because problemsolving skills cant be taught they must be discovered. Lastly my
classroom learning will be student-centred because the role of the teacher
is to facilitate learning rather than direct tuition. Therefore I pledge that I
will focus on the process of learning through incorporating the use of
collaboration (Woolfolk, 2010).
While I will incorporate Vygotsky because he strongly believes that
community plays a central role in the process of making meaning
(Woolfolk, 2010). Through incorporating Vygotskys, Zone of Proximal
Development, I will know what the student knows, I will be able to address
the skills that are too difficult for the student to master on his/her own,
however these can be achieved through the employment of guidance and
encouragement from a more knowledgeable person. Lastly, I will know
what is not known to the student therefore it will then be incorporated into
their learning. Secondly, through the use of a More Knowledge Other (for
example, me the teacher) I will be able to scaffold to help
structure/arrange the task so that the student is able to work successfully
(Woolfolk, 2010). Lastly, when incorporating group work and having
students at different stages/levels, more advanced peers can help less
advanced members operate within their Zone of Proximal Development.
Pedagogy/Curriculum/Assessment
Learning and the Curriculum, it important to note the following: people
learn through experiences, and through thinking, talking, listening,
reading, writing and creating; people learn by themselves, and in small
and large groups; people learn through enjoyable interaction with peers
and more expert others; appropriate learning environments and activities
for students need to be carefully organised and managed; lastly, teachers
and students need to understand the purpose of learning activities
(Woolfolk, 2010). Therefore I pledge that my learning experiences will
encompass all of the above.
Effective teachers are: problem solvers, members of a learning
community, designers of instruction, reflective thinkers, assessors and
evaluators of learning, learning strategists and lastly users of sources for
research (Woolfolk, 2010).

I pledge that in order to have effective teaching of any given content, I

will: have subject knowledge, knowledge of my learners/students,
knowledge of effective teaching strategies and curricular knowledge
(Taylor, 2012).
The effective teaching and learning principles that I will adopt in my
lessons include that they will be: learner focused, knowledge focused,
assessment focused and lastly, community focused (Taylor, 2012).
I pledge that my learning experiences will: reveal new understandings
about the world and its people; be appropriate to students background
experiences and understandings; support high expectations, respect and
inclusion of all students; encourage students to search for up-to-date,
undistorted information from a variety of sources; promote deep and
authentic learning and higher order thinking; and lastly ensure
connectedness to the world beyond the classroom (Gilbret, 2014).
The teaching strategies which will be employed throughout my teaching
consist of: questioning, explanations, guided activities, modelled
activities, checking students understanding and lastly providing students
with positive feedback.
I pledge that I understand the importance of assessment in order to create
learning experiences that are assessment focused. I am therefore able to
use assessment to understand where the child is at/what they already
know, use this information to drive what content needs to be taught and
lastly I will use assessment afterwards to determine what the student has
learnt.
The above will all be achieved through my effective operation at/in all
stages of the teaching and learning life cycle. Therefore I pledge that this
cycle will be included: in all planning for learning and assessment, in
developing learning programs, in my teaching, in my assessing, when I am
providing feedback on student learning and lastly when I am reporting to
parents/carers (aitsl, 2011).
My Classroom Environment
I pledge that I will build a supportive learning environment in my
classroom by: building a strong classroom community by creating a safe
and supportive environment that facilitates active participation and
engagement of all students. I pledge that I will build self-esteem and selfefficacy within my students, I will employ the use of positive non-verbal
communication such as eye contact and gestures, I will motivate students
and lastly I will value diversity.
I pledge that social justice, equity, and belonging will be created in my
classroom through facilitating principles of equity through my treatment of
the curriculum, individual achievement, and individual behaviour (Bunch,
2011).

I pledge that I will adopt a classroom management strategy where by all

of my students will develop a sense of belonging, it is my belief that
students arent purposely trying to misbehaviour. This misbehaviour may
be occurring because: of low self-esteem, children feel they need to
belong, behaviour is usually purposeful and goal-directed meaning that
the student is choosing actions that will satisfy their own individual goals,
and lastly, faulty choices these types of choices occur if students have
difficulties in the environment they are in, have difficulties with other
people or have misjudged the situation (Porter, 2000).
Through adopting this management style it requires the student to take
responsibility of their own actions, promoting individual responsibility
(Porter, 2009).
The methods that I will employ in order to prevent classroom behaviour
problems consist of:
1. Democratic student-teacher relationships created through:
mutual respect, encouragement of students, student participation in
decision-making, and the promotion of student self-discipline.
2. Reduction of competition in the classroom
3. Use of encouragement instead of praise
(Porter, 2009)
Through employing this behaviour management theory I am teaching
students to accept responsibility for their own behaviour, this will be
achieved through such things as encouragement, contracts and the
imposition of natural or logical consequences. A natural consequences is
the natural outcome of a students actions. While a logical consequence is
arranged by you, the teacher, it isnt like punishment, instead it is a
logical cause-and-effect which is linked to the students actions. However
logical consequences only work if the students care, the solutions and
consequences must be helpful not harmful, and that the focus is on
preventing future occurrences.
Within my classroom I will adopt the Three Cs discipline model; this model
includes:
1. Capability self-belief, students in my classroom believe that they
can succeed, we are aiming for improvement not perfection,
mistakes are seen as a normal part of learning, and as a class,
students will help set class goals and they will also set their own
goals. Therefore we are striving for a co-operative classroom not a
competitive classroom (Porter, 2007).
2. Connection The teacher and the students as a class we will
have class meetings in the morning discussing any problems that
anyone may have. This is because I believe that good
communication is an essential element of my classroom practice
and it firstly starts with being a good listener (Porter, 2007).

3. Contribution involve students in making decisions that affect

them for example such decisions as: the set-up of the classroom;
ordering of subjects; choice of game at the end of the day (Porter,
2007).
Relationships
I understand the importance of building strong and positive relationships
with; students, teachers, schools, parents and lastly the community. It is
for these reasons that I believe that a crucial element for improving a
childs education is if the school and the childs home work together as
one. Therefore I will be building positive relationships with parents through
getting to know the parents, meeting them at school, sending out emails,
making phone calls or sending home personalised letters. I will form
positive relationships, if first, I get to know the parents and their child by
sharing the positive learning experiences that their child has had.

References
aitsl. (2011). aitsl - Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership.
Melbourne : Australian Government .
Bunch, G. A.-S. (2011). Equity, Social Justice, Disability and Secondary Schools.
Canada : Inclusion Press . Retrieved from Inclusion .
Gilbret, R. &. (2014). Teaching Humanities And Social Sciences History,
Geography, Economics & Citizenship in the Australian Curriculum (5th ed.).
South Melbourne: Cengage Learning.
Taylor, T. F. (2012). Place and Time Explorations in Teaching Geography and
History. Frenchs Forest: Pearson Australia.
Woolfolk, A. &. (2010). Educational Psychology (2nd ed.). Frenchs Forest: Pearson
Australia.