Sometimes serendipity is a powerful tool! Although I had a good plan for the content of our recent workshops, and our teachers and educational specialists brought a wealth of their knowledge and experience too, as we worked together towards some common, manifest goals, new and unexpected gifts were created. One such gift was "the responsibilities of our philosophy." I don't know who first uttered this brilliant five-word phrase, but being wise (having the ability to recognize the value in things), several of us seized upon it immediately, and I stole it for my philosophy statement :)
We have declared our philosophies to the world, now it is time to enumerate the things we are duty bound to do to in order to fulfill those philosophies - these are our responsibilities. I invite you all to restate your philosophies, then to list the associated responsibilities for all to see (including your peers, your supervisors, your students, their parents, the community, the whole world for that matter). We often call this "transparency" and I will start:
"I believe that no student has the right to fail! All students can learn if we provide them a supportive and prescriptive environment, challenge and respect them, and hold ourselves to the standards that reflect the responsibilities of our philosophy."
My responsibilities (including but not limited to):
1) I don't allow myself the right to fail either
2) I go above and beyond the normal expectations of my job to provide support for my students - in my case that means giving them my home phone number, coming in on weekends for tutoring, learning about them so I can help them personally, etc.
3) I set clear and firm expectations in my classes that I hold myself to first
4) I learn the abilities of my students as rapidly as possible so I know how to appropriately challenge them, and I get to know them so I know how far I can "stretch" them
5) I learn their names and address them personally
6) I create a classroom contract and culture that best supports our goals
7) I constantly challenge myself with these responsibilities, and I welcome feedback regarding my progress from anywhere I can gather it
We have declared our philosophies to the world, now it is time to enumerate the things we are duty bound to do to in order to fulfill those philosophies - these are our responsibilities. I invite you all to restate your philosophies, then to list the associated responsibilities for all to see (including your peers, your supervisors, your students, their parents, the community, the whole world for that matter). We often call this "transparency" and I will start:
"I believe that no student has the right to fail! All students can learn if we provide them a supportive and prescriptive environment, challenge and respect them, and hold ourselves to the standards that reflect the responsibilities of our philosophy."
My responsibilities (including but not limited to):
1) I don't allow myself the right to fail either
2) I go above and beyond the normal expectations of my job to provide support for my students - in my case that means giving them my home phone number, coming in on weekends for tutoring, learning about them so I can help them personally, etc.
3) I set clear and firm expectations in my classes that I hold myself to first
4) I learn the abilities of my students as rapidly as possible so I know how to appropriately challenge them, and I get to know them so I know how far I can "stretch" them
5) I learn their names and address them personally
6) I create a classroom contract and culture that best supports our goals
7) I constantly challenge myself with these responsibilities, and I welcome feedback regarding my progress from anywhere I can gather it
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteMy "translation" of my philosophy:
ReplyDelete1. I create a class room culture based on rights and responsibilities and basic human values where every student is treated as unique, therefore I know their names and most important facts about their personal life.
2. I provide equitable and unbiased and challenging chances for every single student through my belief in differentiated instruction techniques which entails working for extra hours and giving them extra classes as much as possible in our double-shift system.
3. I deal with my students in a consistent manner. I almost never allow myself to be moody and to praise them sometimes, and shout at them at others depending on my psychological state at the time.
4. The above things are basics, but what is changing is the teaching techniques that I have to adapt every now and then. I believe my mind only shows one perspective. I need to meet, listen to, read articles of , and communicate with other teachers and specialists constantly to improve my knowledge and consequently my methodology.
“I believe that all students are unique individuals who need to be placed in a safe and supportive environment that helps them develop psychologically, intellectually, emotionally, and socially. Building that conducive environment will allow them to meet their potentials. My role as an educator is to facilitate their learning and to promote respect among them.”
ReplyDeleteMy responsibilities as education specialist:
- Help teachers change their attitude towards some students, especially weak ones, by convincing them that they are all unique.
- Working with teachers to create teaching-learning environment that will help students be themselves. This can be done through individual and group meeting, workshops, and peer coaching.
- Provide teachers with all the resources that they need to facilitate the teaching process.
- Promote respect among teachers which will be reflected in their classrooms and the way they deal with their students.
- Provide appropriate and relevant training opportunities to teachers that help them improve their teaching behaviors.
- Empower teachers with the needed competences and skills that allow them to evaluate themselves and reflect on their performance.
Zeinab
My responsibilities:
ReplyDelete1- Reflecting on my behaviors, practices, words, morals, inside my class room as I consider myself a model for them …
2- I provide my students with differentiated instructions as they have different levels…
3- Respect is a key word in my class… how do you expect respect if you don’t give it…??
4- I take the accountability of studying their economic as well as social background and remind myself all the time how this can affect their learning…
5- I’m fully aware of the diversity and uniqueness of every individual. Thus, I respect their cultural background…their dialects, customs, habits, opinions, behaviors…
6- I provide my students with challenging tasks that let them soar in the zone of the flow …
7- I support them emotionally and try to “stretch my nerves:” to the utmost and be tolerant.
8- I involve my students in the process of creating the constitution of the class..
9- I hold the responsibility of students’ success and failure.. when they pass, I would say it’s my success. And if they fail, I would ascribe that to me.. it’s my failure -not to provide a positive learning environment…it’s been painful…
My responsibilities (optimistically includingbut not limited to
ReplyDelete1. I bind myself as a teacher to theteachings of Islam; thus, relate my actions as a teacher to reward andpunishment here and in the hereafter. This provides me with constantself-reflection and continuous feedback.
2. In the light of the first point, Iam well aware that Almighty Allah trusted me on delivering the best I can to mystudents, which extends further beyond my formal post duties.
3. I always try to establish a rapportwith my students by learning their, worries and interests and by having a hightolerance of ambiguity when it comes to their abilities.
4. I try to make the teaching and learningprocess more natural and realistic by evoking unconventional thinking.
5. I always bind myself to extend the boundariesof my responsibilities toward my students as I gain experience.
Sultan Awwad