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Statement of Informed Beliefs

Ana Corujo

College of Southern Idaho

Professor: Dr. Evin Fox

Education 204 Online

Spring 2017
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Statement of Informed Beliefs

Introduction

As I anxiously enter my elementary education journey, I have concluded that being a

teacher has a tremendous impact on many lives. It has impact on family members directly

around me, students, their parents, and peers. A teacher has a very important role in our society.

We live in an ever-changing world and as a future teacher, I will encounter many types of bumps,

diversities, challenges, and victories. I recognize as a teacher, I will be teaching many diverse

students, and I will encounter many different learning styles (Berns, 2008), and I am prepared for

this. As a future teacher, I want my students to know, that it doesnt matter where one comes

from, as their teacher, I will do all that I can for them to succeed and support them along the way.

Students ability to learn

Our nation is made up of many diversities, cultures, religions and ethnicities. Diversities

can range from non-English speaking students or English Language Learners ELL to students

with developmental disabilities. There are learning opportunities for students of all diverse

needs and backgrounds. When something doesnt work, a teacher should be able to adapt the

curriculum and or change material to fit the student, the class, or the topic. No matter what the

childs gender, race, ethnicity, disability or impairment, he or she should be in a class where they

can learn from someone who wants to educate them.

A teacher holds tremendous responsibility, and part of that responsibility is to facilitate

learning. Each student has potential to be great, and each student has the ability to learn, though

some lack interest in learning. Potentially they can have a lot going on at home and I would like

to make the classroom a place so interesting that a child is excited to come to class. Is it

possible? I dont know for sure yet, but I want to strive for that. I want to help facilitate learning,
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provide educational encouragement, and show students how to succeed. At the same time, I want

to create intrigued students and help them develop themselves for an adult life.

As a teacher, I am committed to continue to grow and self-improve. I will give all I can

to be the most effective teacher I can be. I want to continue to cultivate new teaching ideas,

improve my teaching methods. I want to work with my colleagues and learn all I can from the

ones with more experience, and learn fresh ideas from the newer colleagues. I want to create an

environment that will impact students behaviors and achievements and inspire them to want to

learn and ask questions.

It is important for both teacher and student to have educational goals. Goals will keep

the student and the teacher on track. It will help guide a student, and move them forward, as it

will give the student some visualization that could be the difference in keeping a students tasks

and life organized. A large goal should be broken down to attainable smaller goals, and when

small goals are achieved, recognizing those small goals will make a student feel proud of what

they accomplished, and help build self-esteem. Goals can also help make the most of teachers,

students, and parents time precious time.

Students take on many roles. One important role is the desire or motivation to learn. I

believe that a students responsibility is to listen, to share, to contribute to class, be attentive, and

want to learn. We cant force learning, but we can facilitate learning and do our best to inspire

and spark some interest.

Students Social Ecology Theory

Families, schools, peers, and communities have a large influence on the development of a

child. This is referred to the microsystem which is the core part of the Macro system or the

environmental system where the childs immediate interactions happen. Families have more
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influence on their childs education than some families want to believe. Even if families come

from a low socioeconomic status, opportunities for these children still exist. I plan to work with

parents, and hope to demonstrate the importance of parents getting involved in their childs

education. I would like to help the child and the parents feel more at ease with what goes on in

the classroom, and how parents contribute to a childs quality of education. Parents engaging in

their childs academic life will only improve the childs educational experience. Recent studies

(UCLA news 2009), researched 275 families and found that conversation was strongly associated

with the childs future improvements. A parent conversing with their child on a daily basis is

bound to help a child develop more language skills. When a parent is involved directly with what

is going on in the classroom, it shows a willing and interested parent, who wants to contribute to

the childs education and future. This also has a positive influence on the child and the teacher.

As a teacher, I understand that family demographics have changed, and there is no longer

a dominant family form, such as the traditional two parent households. Today there are many

children being raised by a working single parent, grandparents, or even no parents. This type of

family home situations can hinder a childs developmental learning (Berns, 2008). Particularly

those children from single family homes known as latchkey kids, cannot get help from a parent,

because the parents are working two jobs, or are not available. There are also children that have

parents that do not speak English. As a teacher, I want to help demonstrate that it doesnt matter

who ones family is, each student has the opportunity to learn and succeed. I hope to provide a

social setting with good morals and values where students can learn from me as well as their

peers.

Cultural Diversity Instruction

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This country is made up of many races, ethnicities and cultures. In some areas the

diversity is not as noticeable, but it is changing. Having myself attended schools in an area that

consisted of cultural pluralism, is easy for me to understand, accept, and encourage. Currently

we are in a society where cultural assimilation is changing with new cultures moving into

smaller communities. The cultural climates are rapidly changing everywhere in our country. If

one is not prepared to adapt to this change, teaching may not be the best place to be. I would

encourage diversity in my class by engaging my students in learning about their peers and where

they are from. Talking about different countries, cultures, customs, and even diversity conflicts.

Have a multi-cultural day, where each student teaches the others about a different country or

culture. Even potentially create a pen pal type program with students from other countries, where

we can engage in video chatting or conference with a class in another country. I find that

educating each student about diversity is key and important.

Curriculum for all learners

As a future elementary school educator, I believe it is important to provide a meaningful

and motivating curriculum for all learners, to try and meet the learners needs and to help

develop them. The curriculum should not only provide understanding of a subject matter but,

also, skills that are relevant to daily life. I feel that during those unexpected events, introducing a

skill relevant to daily life is an excellent back up plan.

Having been introduced to Vygotskys and Piagets theories this semester, left me

undecided between which one I liked more. They are both different, yet seem like they can go

hand in hand and work together.

Vygotskys socio cultural theory suggests that social interactions leads to continuous

step by step changes in childrens thoughts and behaviors that can change from culture to culture.
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That interaction with peers is a way of developing skills in a child. One of his special concepts is

the zone of proximal (or potential) (Berns, 2008) or scaffolding, where teachers demonstrate

how to solve a problem and then allow the child to master alone, while being there for support.

On the other hand Piagets stage theory, feels the child can be more independent and

that development is self-centered and can construct knowledge from their environments. As I

began to understand a little more, I began to think that though Piagets and Vygotskys theories

contradict each others, together, they can complement each other when it comes to methods of

determining the developmental level of a child. Piaget and Vygotsky both studied child

developmental psychology, Piaget emphasized nature, and Vygotsky emphasized nurture. Both

believed that nature played a significant role in how one learns and that a childs exposure to

things is what influences what we value in our learning.

Testing is important to assess levels of how much knowledge has been acquired.

Curriculum should not only be geared towards standardized testing, as I believe it is unfair, to

evaluate all learners in one class on the same level, when there are so many style of learners.

I believe that in a successful classroom more than one teaching style should be used, to

incorporate all learners since they do not all learn the same way. Some students need more

explanation, such as drawings or pictures for example, vs reading text out of a book. Some

learners need more examples to grasp the idea, and yet others need more hands on training.

As a teacher, being in contact with each student learner, asking questions, finding out

what is or is not working for the students will help better guide a student. For those students

falling behind or not performing, getting in touch with the parents early on will not only help the

child but also provide some guidance to the parents. Though I have not seen how self-

evaluations work in a classroom, I do believe that getting feedback from the students, help
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improve the educator-learner relationship. It also will improve how to evaluate where the learner

may be stuck or have difficulties.

Conclusion

As a future educator, I want my students to know, it doesnt matter who one is or where

one comes from, the opportunity to learn is there, for anyone that is willing to work for it. By

supporting students, and working with parents there is nothing that together cannot be

accomplished. I am flexible, and will continue to learn and adapt to changes in the classroom. If

something does not work, I know I change and adapt and help each of my students along the

way. If it means doing something more than once for it to be understood, that is ok. The hope is

for everyone to learn and continue to add on to their learning. Life presents many opportunities,

and there is nothing like knowing one can continue to learn if he or she wishes too. My

responsibility is to support my students in their learning process.

References
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Berns, R. (2016). Child, family, school, community: socialization and support (10th Ed.).

Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.

Anderson, S. (2009, June 29). Conversing helps language development more than reading alone.

Retrieved April 17, 2017, from http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/conversing-with-child-more-

effective-94603