My teaching philosophy consists of four main principles.  First, I try to design my lessons to meet as many principles of the Universal Design for Learning.  Second, I think that technology is an important tool that should be utilized for gaining and holding student attention.  Furthermore, I believe that technology can be used to expand learning beyond the classroom and used to communicate with students and parents outside of school.  Therefore, I aim to incorporate technology into lessons, and maintain a classroom website to provide materials for students and parents.  Third, as a social studies teacher, I think that it is important to help students see the connection between the past and the present so that they are informed members of our democratic society.  Finally, I believe in creating a relaxed classroom environment and creating an atmosphere that is conducive to discussion.

 

 

UDL

First, I believe in making content accessible to all students by utilizing the principles of UDL.  I try to use a variety of teaching techniques to appeal to the wide range of learning styles.  For example, I use PowerPoint to appeal to visual learners, lecture and audio clips for auditory learners, and simulations for mechanical learners.  Furthermore, I try to make the material relevant and realistic so that the students want to learn and are able to connect to the content.  For instance, for major projects, I try to provide students with various options to choose from.  During my student teaching experience, as part of the final project for my unit on the History of Rock Music in Special Topics, I gave students the option to create a “Best of Album,” a brochure, or a research paper.  Students could also suggest a project not listed on the assignment sheet.

 

Recently while working as a long term substitute teacher, I assigned a research project to my Global 10 classes.  The students were given a number of topics to pick from, such as environmental movements and globalization

 

 

Technology

The second major component of my teaching philosophy involves technology.  Although I am a strong advocate of using technology in the classroom, technology does not automatically mean that students are going to learn more or “better.”  However, what technology does is allow for new ways to present materials and to engage the students.  Learning happens when the students are engaged and interested in the material.  For example, in many of my lessons I used PowerPoint slideshows or showed video clips on YouTube.  Moreover, I have used PowerPoint to create a realistic Jeopardy game.  The Jeopardy game includes sound effects from the show, and I designed the game so that it looks nearly identical to the show.  Each time I have used a Jeopardy review game, the students will suddenly look up and focus as soon as I hit play show because the game starts with an animation of the point values and category titles appearing, with the TV show’s sound effect.  I use this as the attention grabber.  To maintain student engagement, I have students work in teams, and make it a competition.   In the past, I have used buzzers to play the game as well as modified it to be played round-robin.

 

As stated, I have also used YouTube to show video clips.   In particular, YouTube was a valuable tool when I was teaching my unit on the History of Rock Music at Parishville-Hopkinton.  Throughout the unit, I would use YouTube to play song clips from the topic I was covering.  Early in the unit, when I was discussing the generation gap and the emergence of rock music, I discussed the controversy Elvis Presley created during his appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.  I was able to find the original clip that caused on the controversy on YouTube.  After showing the clip, I asked students what they thought about it.  I asked in particular if they thought Elvis’s dance was inappropriate.  Then, I found a contemporary controversy, created by Adam Lambert at the American Music Awards a few months prior to the lesson, to compare the Elvis clip to.  Thus, YouTube helped to illustrate my point about the generation gap.

 

I have also used YouTube to play clips from the “Crash Course” video series.  I used it with my Global 9, Global 10, and US History classes.  With my Global 9 classes, I occasionally showed videos from a channel called History Teachers.  The creator of this particular YouTube Channel took popular songs and parodied them to teach various world history topics.  I would use these videos to help reinforce concepts discussed in class.

 

Another video website I used regularly in all of the class I have taught is Flocabulary.  Each week, Flocabulary posts a new “Week in Rap” video, highlighting top news stories from the past week.  In addition, the website posts a number of rap/hip hop songs for various social studies topics. Each Friday, when time allowed, I played the Week in Rap video.  After watching the video, I would have the class briefly discuss current events.  Not only would the students discuss the events highlighted in the video, they would bring up additional events they heard about that were not mentioned in the videos.  With each teaching experience, I on some occasions used Flocabulary's topical videos to review concepts discussed in class.  For example, I have used their videos to review the American Revolution, French Revolution, and core beliefs of Buddhism.  Each time I used these review videos, the students loved listening to them, and on a couple of occasions, I overheard students singing the lyrics afterwards.

 

Technology can be just as useful outside the classroom as it is inside.  The way students and Americans in general are communicating with one another is drastically changing.  More people are using social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, and communicating via text message.  Furthermore, a growing number of Americans have mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets (such as the iPad), from which they can access the Internet.  Therefore, I believe that an effective way educators can communication with students and parents is through various Internet resources.  This does not mean that I believe students and teachers should be friends on Facebook while the student is still in school.  However, teachers can set up online places where they can communicate with students and parents professionally.  With a blog, teachers can post what is going on in the classroom.  If combined with DropBox (alternatively Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive), teachers can also post all handouts from each day, so that students can download an extra copy if needed.  When I hosted Global History and Geography Regents Review sessions at Potsdam Central School, I used my website to post materials and resources for students to download. The students told me that they found the website helpful, and were that they printed off many of the resources and materials I put online.

 

In addition to, or as an alternative to a blog, teachers can use Twitter to communicate with students and parents.  Twitter, although considered a social networking tool, can be a useful tool both inside and outside the classroom, as teachers can write quick posts, updating students on changes in the class schedule.  For instance, if the date of a test needs to be changed, a teacher can post it on Twitter for students to see.

 

*Addendum

After I originally wrote this piece, I have had two additional teaching experiences (Potsdam Central and P-TECH) that have allowed me to take advantage of two popular learning management systems (LMS).  These were Google Classroom and Schoology.  Thus, while I still believe blogs can be a good way to communicate with parents about what is going on in the classroom, using a LMS is more efficient for communicating with students outside of school, posting handout and materials, and submitting assignments.  Additionally, both Google Classrom and Schoology have mobile apps for iOS and Google Android devices.  Thus, since most students have access to a mobile device running either operating system, they can access class materials, send their teachers a message, and complete assignments from almost anywhere at anytime.

 

There are various ways teachers can take advantage of a LMS.  At Potsdam, I used Google Classroom.  While many students were hesitant to use Google Classroom at first, they eventually bought into the idea because of how I used it.  I allowed students the option to submit assignments either digitally through Google Classroom or through traditional paper copies.  Furthermore, I used Google Classroom to post class notes and PowerPoints so that students could access classroom material when they were absent or for studying.  With the P-TECH program, I used Schoology.  I found the Schoology interface to be more intuitive than Google Classroom's website.  Just like at Potsdam, I gave students the option to submit assignments electronically through Schoology or through traditional paper copies.  In addition, just like at Potsdam, I posted all class materials (notes, PowerPoints, handouts, etc.) on Schoology for students to access when they were absent or to help them study.  One of the added benefits of Schoology is that it has a built in private messaging system.  Students do not need to leave the website to send a e-mail if they have a question, they can do so directly through the Schoology platform.  Furthermore, students can send messages to other students in the class.  This is particularly helpful when working on partner/group assignments.  At both Potsdam and P-TECH, the students told me they found it incredibly helpful to have an online place to access materials they missed when they were absent.  At P-TECH, students took advantage of the private messing system whenever they had questions about class materials, test dates, etc. whenever they were not in school.

 

Connecting the Past and the Present

As a social studies teacher, I think it is important to help students see the connection between the past and the present, so that students can be informed members of a democratic society.  To do this, I try to discuss current events, and compare them to events of the past, and the roots of the event.  For example, in discussing the current tension between the United States and Iran, I point students to the origins of the problem, such as examining the partitioning of the Ottoman after World War I between Great Britain and France and the Iranian Revolution of 1979 in which the US-backed shah was overthrown by the Ayatollah Khomeini.

 

Furthermore, as a social studies teacher, I believe that it is important to help students learn to present their opinions in a way that is conducive to discussion.  I think that one of the problems within the United States today is the inability of politicians and many Americans to discuss issues without degrading into fights.  Instead, I want to help students learn how to discuss their opinions without resorting to fighting and name-calling, and teach students different ways they can make a difference in society.  For example, I want students to know that voting is not the only way they can participate in a democratic society.

 

 

Classroom Environment and Management

In terms of classroom environment and management, I believe in creating a relaxed atmosphere, while maintaining control over the direction of discussions.   I want students to be comfortable discussing opinions and ideas with one another.  If the discussion goes well, I try to take on the role of moderator, so that I can help students clarify ideas and keep the discussion on track.

 

In regards to seating charts, I find them important to use at lower grade levels.  At the high school level, however, I generally do not use a seating chart.  There are exceptions to that, however.  Depending on the size of the class, I will sometimes use a seating chart for the first few weeks of school so that I can get to learn the students' names.  On other occasions, when the need has arisen, I have had to create seating charts.  A couple of times, when it is only one or two students being disruptive, I have given only those individuals assigned seats.  A couple of times with some of my larger classes, when the class started becoming unfocused and unproductive, I have given the entire class a seating chart.  When I have done this, this corrected the problem before it could get out of hand.

 

Over the last seven years, whether it has been working in my own classroom, as a long term substitute, or as just a substitute, classroom management generally has not been a problem for me.  There are two main reasons for this.  First, I take the effort at the beginning of the year to get to know the students.  By doing this, I can find ways to relate the material to their interests and I can adjust my teaching style to match the students' learning style.  Second, I make extensive use of

effective teaching techniques.  For instance, I always write a class agenda on the board, along with objectives, so that students know what the plan for class is that day, as well as let the students know what they are expected to be able to do after the lesson.  Each class I begin with a bellringer to review the previous day’s material, and I end class with a closure activity to review that day’s new concepts.  While I try to give the students plenty of room to feel free to discuss the material and explore topics, I do maintain some form of structure in the class so that there is order in the classroom.