Ms. Ikerd's Teaching Philosophy
As a teacher of adolescents, my first priority is to create a community of learners, in which all students feel welcome, safe, accepted, respected, and valued. In my classroom, students will be stimulated, engaged, motivated, and challenged so that they can grow and develop intellectually, socially, emotionally, and physically. I understand that I will need to be flexible and adapt to the diverse needs of my students. I will consistently strive to collaborate, learn, and develop innovative instructional strategies that prove to be effective. My instruction and teaching will reach far beyond the classroom as I give my students the educational values and skills to mature into 21st century learners, successful global citizens, and respectful, passionate individuals.
My philosophy of teaching involves five main principles:
1. Utilize a variety of assessments (formative and summative) to drive and guide my instruction based on diverse student learning needs.
2. Promote project-based learning in my science classroom by incorporating STEM concepts, inquiry, and creative problem solving into my instruction and assessments (in conjunction with the Next-Generation Science Standards). Promote literacy in my language arts classroom by incorporating reading, writing, speaking, listening, and visual representation into my instruction and assessments (in conjunction with the Common Core standards and state/national literacy standards).
3. Implement a variety of technology and media resources, life and career skills, core subjects and 21st century themes, and innovation skills (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity), as part of the Framework for 21st Century Learning, in order to develop a community of next-generation learners.
4. Incorporate literacy elements such as reading, writing, visual representation, speaking, vocabulary, graphic organizers, etc. into the curriculum to promote interdisciplinary literacy skills for all students and to promote enhanced literacy in order to decrease the GAP.
5. Encourage, motivate, and inspire my students by sharing my enthusiasm and passion for learning, and by connecting the core content to students’ real-life experiences.
Instructional strategies and methods of learning you might see in my classroom:
· Collaborative learning
· Learning centers or stations
· Differentiated instruction
· Jigsaw
· Inquiry
· Discovery learning
· Student-centered instruction
· Project-based learning
· STEM learning
· Manipulatives and hands-on learning
· Literacy-integration
· Technology-integration
· On-demand writing
· Writing to learn
· Writing to demonstrate learning
· Writing to publish
My philosophy of teaching involves five main principles:
1. Utilize a variety of assessments (formative and summative) to drive and guide my instruction based on diverse student learning needs.
2. Promote project-based learning in my science classroom by incorporating STEM concepts, inquiry, and creative problem solving into my instruction and assessments (in conjunction with the Next-Generation Science Standards). Promote literacy in my language arts classroom by incorporating reading, writing, speaking, listening, and visual representation into my instruction and assessments (in conjunction with the Common Core standards and state/national literacy standards).
3. Implement a variety of technology and media resources, life and career skills, core subjects and 21st century themes, and innovation skills (critical thinking, communication, collaboration, and creativity), as part of the Framework for 21st Century Learning, in order to develop a community of next-generation learners.
4. Incorporate literacy elements such as reading, writing, visual representation, speaking, vocabulary, graphic organizers, etc. into the curriculum to promote interdisciplinary literacy skills for all students and to promote enhanced literacy in order to decrease the GAP.
5. Encourage, motivate, and inspire my students by sharing my enthusiasm and passion for learning, and by connecting the core content to students’ real-life experiences.
Instructional strategies and methods of learning you might see in my classroom:
· Collaborative learning
· Learning centers or stations
· Differentiated instruction
· Jigsaw
· Inquiry
· Discovery learning
· Student-centered instruction
· Project-based learning
· STEM learning
· Manipulatives and hands-on learning
· Literacy-integration
· Technology-integration
· On-demand writing
· Writing to learn
· Writing to demonstrate learning
· Writing to publish