TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 1

Teaching Philosophy

Jayme W. Allen-Vetz

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Dr. Scott

CIG 697
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 2

Abstract

This paper discusses my teaching philosophy and best practices in my future

classroom after reflecting on my experiences throughout my teaching career. I discuss

three theorists that I have positively connected with throughout my Master’s program.

The theorists that have impacted my perspective and beliefs regarding educating children

in a school context are John Dewey, Louise Rosenblatt, and Donald Holdaway. I explain

three learning theories that were developed from them and how I aim to utilize the

theories in my instruction and professional career. The three learning theories that I strive

to use in order to enhance my students’ literacy skills are Experimentalist,

Transactional/Reader Response Theory, and the Theory of Literacy Development.

Furthermore, I discuss my beliefs about the concept of being “literate” and conclude this

paper with my next steps for teaching children in my future classroom.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 3

One of the theorists that impacted my teaching philosophy and experiences in the

classroom is John Dewey. Dewey believed that students are responsible for creating their

own learning through active problem solving and collaborating with others (Tracey &

Morrow, 2017). He believed that it is the educators’ role to create an environment

conducive to learning, but students are essentially responsible for their own learning. I

aim towards guiding students to take ownership for their learning, as this will create

endless amounts of curiosity. Experimentalism is a part of my philosophy of education,

as it has a strong emphasis on students learning through problem solving.

Experimentalism gravitates towards change and improving society. I strive to facilitate

learning through guiding my students to understand what is currently happening in the

world in order to have more of a purpose for learning experiences. Finding ways to give

my students jobs for the classroom projects in order to enhance their engagement towards

problem solving is important (Duke, 2014). Creating a safe environment where students

have many opportunities to communicate their thoughts, to be vulnerable with learning,

and to take risks when problem solving is essential for a learning environment. “Research

is increasingly showing that project-based approaches, and their components, improve

students’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes toward learning” (Duke, 2014, p. 13).

I endeavor to create life-long learners through inquiry-based approaches in class. I

plan to stay away from the redundancy of teaching reading skills in isolation through

worksheets and focus more on authentic approaches for learning content and how to read

(Allington, 2013). Students are often motivated to learn when it is about something they

are passionate towards in the world and given opportunities to make a difference.

Facilitating group learning through problem solving authentic scenarios, discussing

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 4

potential improvements, and discovering new possibilities in society provides academic

integration and success in the classroom. Also, incorporating many opportunities for

reading, writing, speaking, and listening in all authentic content areas is crucial for

academic achievement. “Dewey believed that solving problems that arise in groups helps

students to become more effective problem solvers in other areas” (Tracey & Morrow,

2017, p. 59). Problem solving is a crucial universal job skill for all individuals.

I view learning experiences as unique opportunities to individuals because

humans will interpret learning a concept completely different than someone else due to

everyone obtaining their own special schema. Likewise, Louise Rosenblatt impacted my

perspective about teaching reading because of her views about the transaction between

the reader and the text. Rosenblatt developed the Transactional/Reader Response Theory

that has become well known in education contexts today. This theory focuses on the

variety of responses that readers can have during the process of reading (Tracey &

Morrow, 2017).

I will attempt to incorporate the Transactional/Reader Response Theory in my

classroom through helping students make many connections while reading such as: text

to self-connections, text-to-text connections, and text to world connections. Some

strategies that I will use with students to stimulate their connections are storytelling,

readers’ theater, discussions about books, literature response journals, and story maps.

Theses strategies will give my students’ tools and skills to help them learn more about

their views towards literacy. “Readers will often draw on past life experiences, link the

signs on the page with certain words, certain concepts, certain sensuous experiences,
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 5

certain images of things, people, actions, and scents when reading a variety of texts”

(Rosenblatt, 1995, p. 30).

I care about my students’ responses and plan to ask them questions about their

reactions towards a text, so I can better understand their interest in reading. Tailoring

instruction to individual skills, interests, and prior knowledge helps to meet the needs of

diverse learners. Also, getting to know my students’ passions and understanding their

funds of knowledge is vital when teaching them. One way to learn about my students is

through involving their parents and welcoming them to the school and classroom. It is

imperative to involve parents in the learning journey, as it takes an entire village to teach

students.

Donald Holdaway’s view about learning to read affected my instructional

practices in the classroom because of his Theory of Literacy Development. One of the

explanations of this theory is for teachers to design instruction that promotes

developmental literacy learning in the classroom (Tracey & Morrow, 2017). “Holdaway

recommends creating a rich literacy classroom environment, fostering children’s

independence and self-regulation, and immersing children in meaningful language

experiences with high quality children’s literature (Tracey & Morrow, 2017, p. 90). He

advocated that reading aloud contexts naturally foster important literacy skills such as

vocabulary, concepts about print, and acquiring letters, words, and story elements

(Tracey & Morrow, 2017). One of the ways that I will implement the Theory of Literacy

Development in my classroom is through creating a generous amount of time for students

to explore and read a variety of texts. Frequent, wide book reading on a daily basis

encourages students to enjoy reading (Hudson & Williams, 2015). Along with providing
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 6

my students with ample amount of time to read in class I will give them opportunities to

choose their texts, respond to their readings, and discuss their books with classmates.

Students are more likely to learn words and concepts through conversations with other

individuals (Hindman, Snell, & Wasik, 2015). Another method that I will use to promote

developmental literacy learning is to expose my learners to high-quality read alouds so

they will be immersed in more complex language as opposed to what they might hear on

the playground or at home (Hindman et al., 2015). One way that I will stimulate

students’ exposure to the quality language of the texts is through modeling the strategy of

asking and answering questions out loud before, during, and after reading regarding the

content.

As I approach the end of my Master’s program in Curriculum and Instruction, I

perceive literacy as a complex, powerful idea that positively impacts individuals on a

global level. I agree with Copeland & Keefe (2011) that we’re setting ourselves up for

failure if we attempt to indefinitely define literacy for places, times, and people. Literacy

is a human right and develops throughout an individual’s life. It has the potential to be

powerful on a personal or global level, as it could open many opportunities. It doesn’t

develop in isolation, as literacy helps individuals connect to a community and different

aspects of life. Therefore, education opportunities should be equally feasible to everyone,

but unfortunately our history has interfered with this freedom. My hope is for everyone to

have opportunities to be immersed in an education conducive to their needs and

experiences in order to be productive citizens, life-long learners, and passionate in their

field of expertise.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 7

My preferred vision of literacy teaching is to purposefully implement formative

assessments for my learners because it provides ongoing feedback that improves

instruction through adjusting to the learning journey of individual students. Another

preferred assessment practice is performance based because students can apply the skills

learned from the lesson or unit to a final authentic product. Furthermore, incorporating

Eclecticism in my practice through collecting useful information from a variety of quality

educational sources and theories in order to meet the literacy needs of every student.

Society, technology, and the demands of the work force are constantly changing and they

play a crucial role in the education system. Keeping an open mind, researching many

quality sources, and incorporating beneficial theories are teaching skills that are

important to me. If one strategy doesn’t work to help my students understand I will

implement a different approach in order for learning to occur at the highest level. I aim to

be mindful of my students’ different learning styles because each child is capable of

succeeding and has their unique journey of learning.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY 8

References

Allington, R. L. (2014). How reading volume affects both reading fluency and reading
achievement. International Electronic Journal of Elementary Education, 7(1), 13-
26.

Copeland, S. R. & Keefe, E. B. (2011). What is literacy? The power of a definition.

Research & Practice for Persons with Severe Disabilities, 36, 3-4, 92-99.

Duke, N. K. (2014). Inside information: Developing powerful readers and writers of

informational text through project-based instruction, K-5. New York, NY:
Scholastic Teaching Resources.

Hindman, A. H., Snell, E. K., & Wasik, B. A. (2015). How can book reading close the
word gap? Five key practices from research. The Reading Teacher, 68(7), 560-
571.

Hudson, A. K. & Williams, J. A. (2015). Reading every single day: A journey to

authentic reading. 68(7), 530-538.

Morrow, L. M. & Tracey, D. H. (2017). Lenses in reading: An introduction to theories

and models (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Guilford.

Rosenblatt, L. M. (1995). Literature as exploration (5th ed.). The Modern Language

Association of America.