Just as the river where I step
is not the same, and is,
so I am as I am not.
~ Heroclitus
Pedagogical Vision Statement
Shiela Lee (January 2012)
From discussions with other educators and reflections on
my own experiences working with children, I have come to recognize that
my beliefs and understandings about learners, teachers, and schools are
ever dynamic and ever changing. While I agree with Sonia Nieto in The Light in Their Eyes: Creating Multicultural Learning Communities that
curriculum should be multicultural to meet the needs of a diverse
student body in the United States, my beliefs about learning and
teaching have changed as I have gained a deeper understanding of what it
really means to live in a multicultural society filled with such rich
history, heritage, and linguistic diversity (2010). More importantly, my
beliefs have changed to more appropriately reflect the reality of
teaching in challenging circumstances, where, for instance, a father of
an English language learner may not sign paperwork for their child to
receive special needs because of the large cultural and social stigma
associated with the label of special needs. Difficult realities like
this that I encountered while teaching in New York City has made me
stop, think, and adjust my thinking about what I can do such that this
learner gets a good, equitable education like their peers. My beliefs
have changed most significantly with the role of the teacher and the
teaching that happens in schools.
A core belief about learners that has become more significant for me is the idea that students are resources in themselves. If we see students as resources in themselves, and they are affirmed as valuable members and resources to the community, students feel empowered to take ownership of their own learning and actively participate in the classroom. I could visibly see this with a student of mine who previously thought she was always doing things wrong and was silenced for wanting to speak about her life experiences. She took a renewed interest in learning when I asked for her opinion in whole class discussions and affirmed her viewpoints. I wanted her to be a part of our community. She wanted to be a part of the community and it is because I believe like Ross Greene in Lost at School that all children do, indeed, want to do good, she was given the opportunity to be included, affirmed, and empowered (2009).
As Lisa Delpit mentions in Other People’s Children, the aim of educators is to recognize and affirm the cultural funds of knowledge that children of different backgrounds bring to the classroom (2006). Rather than seeing their language and culture as a deficit, Delpit urges us to reconstruct the codes of power that govern language and access to education; educators should see the differences students bring as resources on which to scaffold and build instruction. I believe strongly in this because it views students as already possessing strong capacities, as having a legitimate and worthy knowledge base stemming from their own life experiences. When I teach, I aim to build a classroom atmosphere that collaboratively draws upon all students’ funds of knowledge—setting an expectation that respects each member of the community and includes every student from the beginning. I believe that to establish this atmosphere of respect and collaboration among students, it begins with the teacher.
Teachers and schools have a responsibility to adapt assessment, curriculum, and projects to be culturally relevant and continually informing future instruction. Christine Sleeter states in Un-Standardizing Curriculum that to be inclusive of children normally marginalized and excluded, it is important to involve teachers in the thinking and re-thinking of assessment criteria and standards (2005). This involves schools and education municipalities to provide the professional development and support to encourage the involvement of teachers who know the students best. With the current appeal towards standards-based assessment in the United States and a narrowing of the curriculum, it is a challenge for teachers like myself to actively include voices normally not encountered in the curriculum as a way of bringing “transformative knowledge” to the curriculum (Sleeter, 2005, p. 89). Transformative knowledge is the knowledge and ideas of the voice, the perspective of a people that has been silenced by the dominant power. Teachers are not the only ones responsible for establishing an inclusive and affirming space, local schools, a school’s culture, and organizational structures would need to assist and help change the ways in which standards-based assessment has driven the curriculum to be exclusive and alienating instead of broadening and empowering.
I believe that classrooms should be a space for respectful exploration of ideas, for critical thinking and debating, and for instilling a sense of curiosity and courage. This belief stems from my experience teaching in four different schools with different pedagogical positions and learning philosophies. When teaching in New York City, you realize very quickly that schools here are incredibly diverse in structure. To illuminate, some schools use an inquiry or emergent model where the teacher’s role is to pose and draw out questions and students’ interests; other schools use a thematic or interdisciplinary curricular model that has specific disciplines in which the teacher deepens understanding of concepts and helps students make connections across disciplines; an integrated curricular model focuses on integration of skills and plans activities from different domains and multiple intelligences; and the multicultural curricular model seeks out a critical stance on other perspectives and questions missing voices that are not present.
My concept of student-centered learning comes from constructivist ideas that delineate how in the experience of learning, the agents involved—teacher and student—construct knowledge together (Wiggins, 2005). As the agents build on their respective knowledge bases and collaborate to create new ways of thinking, students can potentially become more confident and curious to research, question, and research yet again how to understand a problem or concept with their peers and with their teachers. The students take ownership of their learning. Student-centered learning is an appropriate, relevant, and purposeful way to affirm both agents and actively engage them in the experience of learning. The experience is shared and as the body of knowledge changes, we also change.
A core belief about learners that has become more significant for me is the idea that students are resources in themselves. If we see students as resources in themselves, and they are affirmed as valuable members and resources to the community, students feel empowered to take ownership of their own learning and actively participate in the classroom. I could visibly see this with a student of mine who previously thought she was always doing things wrong and was silenced for wanting to speak about her life experiences. She took a renewed interest in learning when I asked for her opinion in whole class discussions and affirmed her viewpoints. I wanted her to be a part of our community. She wanted to be a part of the community and it is because I believe like Ross Greene in Lost at School that all children do, indeed, want to do good, she was given the opportunity to be included, affirmed, and empowered (2009).
As Lisa Delpit mentions in Other People’s Children, the aim of educators is to recognize and affirm the cultural funds of knowledge that children of different backgrounds bring to the classroom (2006). Rather than seeing their language and culture as a deficit, Delpit urges us to reconstruct the codes of power that govern language and access to education; educators should see the differences students bring as resources on which to scaffold and build instruction. I believe strongly in this because it views students as already possessing strong capacities, as having a legitimate and worthy knowledge base stemming from their own life experiences. When I teach, I aim to build a classroom atmosphere that collaboratively draws upon all students’ funds of knowledge—setting an expectation that respects each member of the community and includes every student from the beginning. I believe that to establish this atmosphere of respect and collaboration among students, it begins with the teacher.
Teachers and schools have a responsibility to adapt assessment, curriculum, and projects to be culturally relevant and continually informing future instruction. Christine Sleeter states in Un-Standardizing Curriculum that to be inclusive of children normally marginalized and excluded, it is important to involve teachers in the thinking and re-thinking of assessment criteria and standards (2005). This involves schools and education municipalities to provide the professional development and support to encourage the involvement of teachers who know the students best. With the current appeal towards standards-based assessment in the United States and a narrowing of the curriculum, it is a challenge for teachers like myself to actively include voices normally not encountered in the curriculum as a way of bringing “transformative knowledge” to the curriculum (Sleeter, 2005, p. 89). Transformative knowledge is the knowledge and ideas of the voice, the perspective of a people that has been silenced by the dominant power. Teachers are not the only ones responsible for establishing an inclusive and affirming space, local schools, a school’s culture, and organizational structures would need to assist and help change the ways in which standards-based assessment has driven the curriculum to be exclusive and alienating instead of broadening and empowering.
I believe that classrooms should be a space for respectful exploration of ideas, for critical thinking and debating, and for instilling a sense of curiosity and courage. This belief stems from my experience teaching in four different schools with different pedagogical positions and learning philosophies. When teaching in New York City, you realize very quickly that schools here are incredibly diverse in structure. To illuminate, some schools use an inquiry or emergent model where the teacher’s role is to pose and draw out questions and students’ interests; other schools use a thematic or interdisciplinary curricular model that has specific disciplines in which the teacher deepens understanding of concepts and helps students make connections across disciplines; an integrated curricular model focuses on integration of skills and plans activities from different domains and multiple intelligences; and the multicultural curricular model seeks out a critical stance on other perspectives and questions missing voices that are not present.
My concept of student-centered learning comes from constructivist ideas that delineate how in the experience of learning, the agents involved—teacher and student—construct knowledge together (Wiggins, 2005). As the agents build on their respective knowledge bases and collaborate to create new ways of thinking, students can potentially become more confident and curious to research, question, and research yet again how to understand a problem or concept with their peers and with their teachers. The students take ownership of their learning. Student-centered learning is an appropriate, relevant, and purposeful way to affirm both agents and actively engage them in the experience of learning. The experience is shared and as the body of knowledge changes, we also change.
Bibliography
Delpit, L. (2006). Other people’s children. New York,
NY: New Press.
Greene, R. W. (2008). Lost at school. New York, NY: Scribner.
Nieto, S. (2010). The light in their eyes: Creating multicultural learning communities. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Sleeter, C. (2005). Un-standardizing curriculum: Multicultural teaching in the standards-based classroom. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Wiggins, G., & McTigh, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice-Hall.
Greene, R. W. (2008). Lost at school. New York, NY: Scribner.
Nieto, S. (2010). The light in their eyes: Creating multicultural learning communities. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Sleeter, C. (2005). Un-standardizing curriculum: Multicultural teaching in the standards-based classroom. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Wiggins, G., & McTigh, J. (2005). Understanding by design (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice-Hall.
