MY PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
WHY DO I WANT TO TEACH?
This is an easy one for me: I love learning, and I love people! I spent a number of years with the goal of going into medicine, working in biology research labs studying cancer cells, mice, and fruit flies. It was interesting, it was cutting-edge, but I needed to get out of the dark room with the microscopes. After being a teacher’s assistant for some college classes, I realized that I really love working with people! I loved putting myself into their shoes, and trying to help them understand a problem from where they stood. I loved being able to use the science knowledge I had, and explain it in a way that made sense to them. In short, my teaching career was born and I haven’t looked back since.
I love helping my students grow, and I am a junkie for those “aha!” moments when something tough clicks! I remember my first year of teaching and I loved what I was doing, but I felt so down from those days it just didn’t go as I’d hoped. I decided I could have 90 bad teaching days for every 10 good teaching days. Thank G-d, with lots of work, re-evaluating, re-preparing, more work, and more learning, nearly 6 years later I can say that my good teaching days : bad teaching days ratio is MUCH better!
That doesn’t mean it’s easy! I think this is one of the hardest jobs on the planet, and every day I come home, burdened not only by the hefty stack of papers to grade, dozens of student and parent emails to respond to, lessons to prepare for the week, and lessons to evaluate and re-prepare based on how they actually went over, but also by the emotional weight of working with teenage girls and their “growing pains.” However, I love all my girls to pieces, and I feel privileged to share this burden with them as they grow and stretch their wings. I wouldn’t trade it in for anything.
WHAT ARE MY TEACHING GOALS?
I believe that education has two primary end-goals: (1)Topic-Centered: goals related specifically to the content, knowledge, and skills related to the topic of the class. (2) Person-Centered: goals related to the personal and social growth of the student, regardless of the class.
As someone who teaches STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math), I have a number of goals for students who enter my classroom:
Topic-Centered:
She will come away with an appreciation of the נפלאות הבורא. As a דתי woman, I am privileged to have the unique opportunity - and responsibility - to teach science in a בית יעקב environment in a way that is advanced both in knowledge and השקפה. Learning these topics does not have to be separated from our growth in יהדות; the more we understand the depth, complexity, and pure elegance of numbers and of the world around us, the more we can appreciate ’אחדות ה and שהוא בורא ומנהיג.
She will come away with a core understanding of these subjects in preparation for future study. While some students may be in my honors track, and other will be in a remedial version, every student should have achieved the essential understandings so that she will be prepared to take higher level courses in college. This applies to those students who wish to pursue advanced study in STEM and wishes to test out of intro-level courses, and even for a student looking to pass a 1-semester college biology course.
She will come away with a generalized knowledge base in the topic so that she can be a well-rounded, educated adult. Even for students not pursuing a STEM career, having a basic understanding of many of the terms, topics, and ideas we learn will serve them as they grow into mature young adults.
She will have a good ta’am (taste) of the topic. Even if the subject doesn’t speak to her or she doesn’t excel in that area, she will leave the class feeling positive and confident about the subject.
Person-Centered:
She will grow in her own confidence and self-efficacy. Through working hard, discovering her challenges and strengths, and tasting the results of her efforts, she will appreciate the idea that “I can accomplish if I try.” She will learn to be more bold and more likely to take a risk - whether it’s entering an international math competition when she’s never entered any contest in her life, or just studying for a test after she had initially convinced herself it wasn’t worth studying for because she didn’t get it anyway. I like to give my students the gift of a small bracelet when they graduate high school, engraved with the words, “Be Brave.” They understand.
She will be a better team player. She will learn to play to her own strengths, and also be a patient, considerate, and helpful classmate.
HOW DO CHILDREN LEARN? HOW DO I TEACH WITH THIS IN MIND?
Children want to be a part of something, they want to belong. This is especially true for the young adults I teach. Abraham Maslow, noted humanist, goes so far as to say that belongingness is a primary need, right after safety and physiological needs. In my classroom, community is most important. Much of the work is done in pairs or small groups, and I emphasize the importance of every one using her strengths to contribute to the group. Whenever a student is out, I tell her when she comes back, “Welcome back, we missed you! I’m so happy you’re back!” I greet my students every day with a smile. It’s important to me that each student feel welcome, appreciated, and most of all, that she belongs in our class.
Children learn when they feel safe. As Dr. David Pelcovitz, psychologist, says, “A stressed student can’t learn.” Although many of my classes are advanced, I work hard to make sure that everyone, including those with learning challenges, feel safe and supported. That means offering additional tutoring sessions, finding alternative ways of including unsure students in class participation without calling on them suddenly, setting up assessments in a way that is fair and predictable, and always speaking calmly and positively. I also run my classes as mastery classes. That means a number of things, including my signature policy that a student can correct any assignment with no penalty as long as it’s before the end of the grading period. My students can quote me on this one, “Learning is messy. Learning takes time.” I don’t expect every student to get it the first time! I value the learning process and effort, so if a student didn’t do as well as she’d hoped on her math homework, she can have a second (or third or fourth!) chance. My students know they have this safety net, and feel bolder about tackling something challenging if they know it’s okay if they don’t quite get it the first time around.
Children learn in their zone. Psychologist Lev Vygotsky introduced the idea of a zone of proximal development, that students learn best not where it’s too easy and below them, or where it’s too hard and they shut down, but instead in that sweet spot where it’s hard and challenging, but doable with help and scaffolding. This is one I believe in passionately, with many thanks to Dr. Laya Solomon for her guidance in this area! This means differentiating for brighter students who are bored with the standard grade-level curriculum and giving them partnerships and opportunities to explore and advance in the topic in their zone. It also means differentiating for weaker students who need additional support. Either way, it means that students should have opportunities to feel challenged, and then proud of themselves when they conquer that challenge. Since self-efficacy is a major goal in my classes, I build in a lot of positive talk “If I work hard, I can do this.” My students know that Mrs. Rosenbloom’s classes are tough, and that her standards are high, but that they will be supported and that they can be successful.
Children learn when they are engaged. Although there is a time and place for lecture and frontal teaching, I believe that children learn best when they are actively processing the knowledge. I don’t “feel guilty” when I spend a whole period guiding students as they review a topic together; THIS is when the real learning happens! They don’t need me as their teacher if I’m just going to read off my slides. I move away from the “sage on the stage” model, and teach more like a “guide on the side” (Professor Alison King). For me this means including inquiry-based lab activities, pair and small-group work, and lots of opportunities for students to process what they are learning. For my science and engineering classes, a significant portion is spent on lab work. Not only are my students more engaged (because cutting open a frog is fun!) but they end up having a better understanding of the material, and build essential skills in collaboration, critical thinking, and problem solving. In my math classes, we frequently play review games that get the girls moving while doing their math. Who says math can’t be fun?
Children learn when they feel their work has value. You can’t convince a student she’ll need algebra for the rest of her life if she really won’t. I show my students that the topic has value, and that the learning itself has value. I believe that the process is more important than the product, that the skills and self- and social understanding we gain from struggling and learning is immensely valuable, regardless of the topic.
Children learn when the classroom is strong and organized. As much as I hear people saying, “students love to go off topic!” I see from student surveys in my school that they actually appreciate classes more when the learning was strong, consistent, and on-topic. At the end of the day, if they saw that the teacher didn’t really care if they were learning, then why should they? My students can frequently hear me saying, “Our time together is precious! Let’s not waste a minute of it.” It also means that children learn best when their teacher comes prepared to class, starts and ends class on time, and hands back assignments graded in a fair and timely manner. These principles form the backbone of my class. My students know that I have a sense of humor, and I love chatting with them in the halls, but they also know that Mrs. Rosenbloom will NOT be late to class!
Children learn when there is transparency. I think this is especially true of the young adults I teach . Psychologist G. Stanley Hall described adolescence as a time of “storm and stress.” They are shifting away from the black and white paradigm, and realizing that the world is mostly grey. They are quick to spot hypocrisy. I design my assessments to be fair and predictable, and students have access to their grades and can see how each mark affects their average. All of my assignments are graded numerically using a rubric or clear system. I like to maintain solid communication with my students, through written, email, and verbal feedback that is friendly, focused, and frequent.
Children learn when their teacher is someone they can respect. Children learn when they look up to their teacher, when they feel that their teacher is someone they want to learn from. This is probably the toughest one, since it demands personal growth. I can’t just sit back and let myself run on autopilot. I need to be the best person I can be, so that my students can say, “I don’t care what she teaches, I just want to be in Mrs. Rosenbloom’s class.” I need to work on being that person: someone with honesty, sincerity, and integrity. I need to be someone with knowledge and wisdom, but also a sense of humor and humility. I need to be someone who genuinely cares about my students, and who can put myself in their shoes to understand where they’re coming from.
HOW DO I KNOW I’VE TAUGHT SUCCESSFULLY?
I look at numerical data, including grades and score improvement, but I also look at other student feedback, including affect surveys. I listen to their talk, I notice when students are bored or tuning out, or when they seem bright-eyed and engaged.
At the end of each day, I reflect on that day’s classes and ask myself these questions: What worked? What didn’t? How can I improve this lesson for next time? I open up my HUGE lesson planning spreadsheet, with tabs for each of my classes, and information about each day’s learning objectives and assessments, and make notes and additions for myself. Having everything on the spreadsheet means I’m a little braver at editing and changing my plans based on what worked and what didn’t.
This is my 6th year teaching, and I still see myself as a new teacher every time I walk into the classroom! A new teacher recently remarked to me, “It must be easier now that you don’t have new preparation for your classes.” I thought to myself, “Actually, I am always revising my classes and adding current research, better assessments, more differentiation, more activities, and updating them based on student and supervisor feedback. My classes are not the same year-to-year, and that is something that is a lot of work, but that I am very proud of.”
I use data from personal and school-wide surveys filled out by students. My students know I take their responses seriously, and I ask them to be respectful, but honest. I have learned and improved my classes significantly from these surveys.
I use data from small-scale student surveys. Before a test, or at the end of a unit, I’ll send out an electronic survey with questions that range from “How long did you study for?” “I think I studied effectively y/n” and “I understand this topic better than I did before” to “I am proud of what I am now able to do.” I ask students to reflect and record their shining moments, the times they are most proud of over the course of an assignment or unit. I keep a log of the student responses to assess for myself how the class is going, but also to share with my students at the end of the year so they can visualize their accomplishments.
I use frequent assessments. As I learned with Dr. Laya Salomon, assessments are essential tools to providing information about where a student is holding in their learning and how I can plan to teach them accordingly (formative assessment) and also to give information at the end of a unit to see if the student achieved the final learning goals (summative assessment). In addition, assessments are also ways to let a student know how she is doing.
If I see a student doesn’t do well on an assessment, I ask myself, how can I reach her? When I first started teaching, I would get very frustrated with one particular student who wasn’t doing well in the class. I kept focusing on “what is her problem?” While there may have been a bigger issue going on with this student, I eventually realized that thinking about the student in that way is totally out of my locus of control. Instead, I redirected the question to myself, “Why didn’t I reach her?” Having this mindset lets me focus proactively on helping my students, and I see issues arising as “can’ts” instead of “won’ts” (Dr. David Pelcovitz).
I judge (and update) my classes based on feedback from students who used to be in my classes are now in college. If one of my goals is to prepare students for higher level coursework, then I need to know if they are successful there! I spoke with a few graduates recently who told me that they are “bored” in their classes since they learned it all with me in high school! I am most proud of one student who had a learning disability and was on a modified track for most of her high school classes. She was a very hard worker, and put a lot of effort into my classes. I recently saw her mother at a wedding and she told me that her daughter, now a sophomore in college, is planning to take chemistry this semester as her required science for non-majors. I was surprised - college chemistry is not easy, especially for someone who is not particularly strong in this area! Her mother turned to me and said simply “She learned chemistry with you in high school. She feels confident about what she learned in Mrs. Rosenbloom’s class, and so she is prepared to take it.”