Philosophy
High Expectations
Teachers must always expect great things from their students'; emphasizing
the structure of a subject, a concrete understanding of the basis of
each thing taught. This is necessary for all levels of students, allowing
them to learn deeply, and to explore the subject matter themselves as
specialists in their own right. Students learning about rocks are Geologists;
I believe that teachers should give them this respect in their learning,
they deserve credit and credence. Making clear the context of what is
being taught, letting students see what they are learning in relation
to the whole rather than just in fragmented, disjointed pieces helps
them to want to learn, to try to work toward a goal.6
In my experience teaching writing to first graders, many of whom speak
English as a second language, I insisted that they write as much as
they could think of about themselves on their monthly autobiographies.
They were writers, and they knew more than anyone else in the world
about the subject of themselves. When teaching subjects about which
many had little prior knowledge, I frontloaded the information using
strategies such as Guided Language Acquisition Design (GLAD), providing
visuals, songs, technology, movement, and words to boost their knowledge
and understanding. I scaffolded them by allowing them to use temporary
spelling, having them tell me ideas verbally and helping them to write
what they had said. I wrote commonly used words on the board, and kept
in view Pictorial Input, Inquiry, and Sentence Patterning charts, chants,
and encouraged them to write everything they could think of, and then
expecting them to write much beyond what they had written in the past.
These first graders became confident writers, they did not allow their
inexperience with writing words, or with the English language to limit
their expression, they just wrote.