My Philosophy of Education
By Alison Farrand


Aims of Education

Methods of Education

Curriculum

Role of the Teacher

Major Influences


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What are my aims of education?



 
 
 
 
 
 

Education should help children to achieve their full potential as adults.  Education should provide the necessary thinking skills to succeed academically, socially and emotionally.

Before children can love learning, they need to love themselves.  Before they can feel empowered to tackle a subject, they need to feel their own physical power to try to reach further.  Teaching is really an extension of nurturing and parenting. 

In order to build strong minds, bodies and spirits, you have to nurture.  Children need to be just that before they can be expected to grow.  It is not fair of adults to expect children to give up their childhood too early, because, as a culture, we find these developmental steps, and the time they take, to be inconvenient to our busy lives.  As a scociety, we need to stop and spend the time to cuddle our children, so we don't find ourselves later coddling fragile adults.
 
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What are my methods of education?



 
 
 
 
 
 

My methods of education are to use the following:

 
 
 
 
Nurturing
Everyday at the end of school, I shake each child's hand.  It provides for me a chance to check in with each of my students, to thank them for their answers  during the day, or let them know I recognize it was a hard day, and that tomorrow will be better.  It gives them a moment they can count on standing eye to eye with me and having human contact.  It is a grounding experience for both of us, and though they sometimes like to pretend they are trying to slip away without shaking my hand, secretly they love it.  They say like, "I like how Mrs. Farrand does the handshake."   Sometimes I have kids get in line twice. 

Humor
I use a lot of humor in my classroom.  I have even made it a part of my teaching.  I once developed a comedy moment for an exuberant child who needed to be on stage.  He told jokes and led the other children in joke telling.  We turned a distraction into a privilege and a daily event that all of my students looked forward to.


My Humanity
As I tell my students on many occasions, I am a human being.  I am not perfect.  I will (and do) make mistakes, but I take ownership of those mistakes.  I apologize when necessary.  This provides my students with a model for taking responsibility for their own mistakes.  It also shows my children that I do not expect perfection, I expect responsibility, responsiveness and courtesy.


Intellect and Expectation
I have very high expectations for all of my students.  I do not believe in diluting the curriculum or "dumbing it down".  If it is worth teaching, it is worth teaching right.  However, this has to go hand in hand with a knowledge of what is developmentally appropriate, and what is appropriate for particular students within the class.  I have used college math with first graders, and I have used picture books with college students.  I expect all of my students to do their best, and I accept nothing less.  A funny thing happens when they have this expectation placed upon them...they rise to the occasion and take pride in what they do.  I had one student who was handing in incomplete sentences as "final draft" work.  After finding the right motivation and set of expectations, he is now creating a text adventure computer game. 
The Element of Surprise
To view an example of the kinds of surprises I like to "pull", go to:
http://users.rcn.com/farrands/teaching.html#What I've Been up to Lately
Learning Through  Discovery
When children discover and problem solve to build their body of knowledge, they begin to take ownership, not only of the results, but of the process as well.  If children read a book about a nice old woman who plants seeds, then plant seeds, watch them grow, draw the plants growth and write about it over the course of several weeks.  If they then present these plants to their parents in pots they made.  If they read a nonfiction book about how seeds grow and talk about their own experiences growing their seeds, they will have a much better understanding of the subject and a personal connection to it.  This will longer lasting than a simple lesson on seed germination.
The Use of Multifaceted Perspectives
It is essential that multiple perspectives be presented and discussed at all grade levels.  Children can handle gray areas.  They can handle learning about differences of opinions in history.  They face this issue daily on the playground.  Mark says he was already on the swing, but Susie insists that no one was sitting there when she sat down.  Who knows who is right?  Each child says he/she is the one to be believed.  This is an easy analogy to use when talking about the discovery/invasion of new worlds.  It is important to make sure that many different voices are heard in the classroom.
The Incorporation of Multiple Learning Styles
To best teach children, it must be recognized that they are not "widgets" with all the same ways of learning.  Therefore, when planning lessons and writing units, I create lessons that present information in different ways, kinesthetic, artistic, verbal, spatial, logical, etc.  To view an example of this go to:
http://users.rcn.com/farrands/teaching.html#20th Century

The unit was designed to teach third graders about the twentieth century.  It included writing a research paper and forming a human timeline.  The lesson featured in this link was one to help children use music to create a greater understanding of history.
 
Modification
It is essential that there be the recognition that all children should receive what they need, to do their best.  If that is the expectation place upon them, then it must be understood that they will have the support to achieve it.  I will talk more about this in the section on curriculum.
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What does my curriculum look like?



 
 
 
 
 
 
 

What I am actually teaching will vary by grade level and district, but the manner in which I set about the task of writing my own units reflects my basic beliefs about what all curriculums should include.

I believe in teaching in a cross curricular manner, so that all subject areas run seamlessly together, as they do in the real world.  When at the grocery store, I do not refrain from adding up my purchases because I am reading the circular, and reading and mathematics are different subjects.  Children need to see the connections between subjects and the applicability of their growing knowledge in the world at large.

The following themes are central through out the subject areas I teach.

 
Classroom Community
I refer to our class as a classroom community.  When there are scraps of paper on the floor, I will often say, "I'd like someone to help me pick up these papers, even if you didn't make the mess, we're all members of this classroom community, so we all help each other."  That, and the compliments I give to "such wonderful helpers", are usually enough to send more than half the class on "paper patrol".  As with academics,  the expectations set by the teacher sets the tone for the room, regardless of what subject matter is being taught.  I make the assumption that all my students are friends, and that they would not purposefully want to hurt a friend.  That shifts the focus of squabbles away from who did what, and towards developing empathy with the effects actions have on other people's feelings.
Diversity
In my classroom, it is my greatest hope that children will develop a understanding and a respect for the incredible diversity that planet Earth has to offer.  I firmly believe that subjects should not be taught in a vacuum, and that an encouragement and celebration of diversity should be treated in the same way.  The representation of many different cultures and life experiences should be a part of every curricular area, not limited to holidays and biographies.  I want every child in my room to feel that their life is valued.  If I consciously or unconsciously prevent that through the use of exclusionary language, examples, or not speaking up when others do these things, I am not fulfilling my obligations to the education of the next generation.  If I do not welcome diversity and the learning of things beyond my own experience, what kind of a model would I be for life-long learners?
A Desire to Give All Students What They Need
All students have special needs, and it is my job as a teacher to give all students what they need.  This is not necessarily what they want.  It is also not necessarily to give each child the same thing.  As friend of mine says, "Fairness is not giving every kid the same thing, it is giving every kid what they need."  If I had a student in my room who needed glasses to see the board, would I give all my students a pair of glasses because one child needed them?  Of course not! 
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How do I view the role of the teacher?



 
 
Nurturer
As I believe that nurturing is a method of education, I also believe that it is the teacher's role.  Especially on the elementary level, but in the later years as well, it is essential that a child feels cared for and and taken care of, in order to learn.  As a teacher of mine says, "Children don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." 

Saying, "Good morning, I'm so glad to see you today,"  to an incoming child, before giving them work to do, will probably be more effective in eliciting early morning work than greeting a child with a ditto.
 
Model
The teacher must model the kind of behavior he or she expects from the students.  If a teacher expects students to come to school prepared, the teacher must also be prepared for teaching.  If a teacher expects the students to treat each other with kindness, the teacher must do the same.

Teachers do not have to be models of perfection, such a thing is impossible, but teachers must then be models for the kinds of restitution they will expect from their students.  Students must see teachers editing and proofreading their own writing, to truly know these skills are worth learning.    When mistakes occur, students will learn the valuable lesson that, "it's not the end of the world, but I will try harder next time."
 
Facilitator
Good teachers give students the tools to learn.   This is an example of a lesson in which I acted as a facilitator.

I recently had the task of teaching about European Explorers. Rather than standing at the front of the classroom lecturing to twenty-four eight year olds, or giving them a research project and a pile of books about European Explorers (that would probably be written above their reading levels), I created a webpage to give them the information in a manner in which I felt they could handle. 

I gave the students explorer folders filled with activity sheets with questions to answer (this helped them to focus their information gathering on the website) and blank maps to draw ship routes on. We then used a projector to explore the site as a class. They enjoyed it so much, that they all clamored to use the computers at snack time and indoor recess, so they could have more time to look at it. I was able to position a boy who needed glasses at the computer to "click" for me while I helped the students read the text, glean the information, present Native American perspectives and explorer anecdotes. 

After doing all twelve explorers (over a couple days), they paired up, drew names, and dressed in costumes to put on plays about "their" explorer. The other students had to guess who they were portraying. We listened to music from the 16th century and ate foods that the explorers would have eaten on the ships. They had a fabulous time. 

Could we have done it without the computers? Yes, but the use of technology enriched the experience.  They learned a lot more about the European Explorers in the first place because of the format in which the information was presented, and when they went home for the day, they brought the web address home with them to show their families what they had been doing in school. 

A facilitator is a teacher who sees the tools for learning available to to the students, and gives them guidance and help along the way.

To see this website go to:
http://users.rcn.com/farrands/explorers.htm
 
 Encourager and Eternal Optimist 
I believe that children need to be encouraged.  They need to taste success to fuel their desire to succeed.  I feel that I must find a way to make this possible, but it must be authentic.  Children can see through "easy" wins.
Children need teachers who will not give up on them.  Teachers should ask themselves, "Am I doing enough to reach out to this child?"  Every child has a "hook", the thing that will open him or her up to the joys of learning.  I feel that it is my responsibility to find that hook.
Be a Driver, Inspiration, and Disciplinarian
Children need firm and fair boundaries, but they also need room to explore and find things out for themselves.  There will come a point where the boundaries need to be extended.  Teachers (and parents) often have a sense when this shift occurs, but children need the language to talk about their needs without whining or acting out. 

Children need the language to talk about their feelings.  They need to be encouraged, reminded and expected to take responsibility for their actions, their words, and the impact these both have on the people around them.  Disciple should be a natural function of this.   The ultimate goal is that children will behave respectfully because they know how the use of conventions (such as please, thank you, and I'm sorry) makes people feel, and not because it is a password or a Get Out of Jail Free Card.  I say to both my son and my students, "Is there anything you'd like to say?" Rather than, "What do you say?!"  I never want to encourage a child to be untruthful, I would rather have a child say "I am not ready to say I'm sorry" than say it still harboring anger.  That said, that does not mean a child may behave however he or she chooses.  Students must take responsibility for the effects their actions have on other people by, at the very least, acknowledging these effects.
 
Decisive
A teacher must be like a force of nature, capable of long term planning or lightning-speed decision making.  A teacher must be able to have an idea, and quickly bring it to fruition.  This takes vision, but it also takes elbow grease.  A teacher must be able to make decisions and judgment calls, and have the courage to take responsibility for them. 
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Who are my major influences for the development of my philosophy of education?


  • Like Pestalozzi and Rousseau, I believe that people are intrinsically good.  I believe that they should experience nature and their environment and learn from it.
  • I agree with constructionists, like Marilyn Burns, that children should discover and construct their own meaning to form knowledge.  I agree that the teacher is well served to act as a facilitator to this process.
  • I disagree with B. F. Skinner and other behaviorists.  I do not believe that children solely respond to their environment, without exercising any free choice in the matter.  I do not believe in bribes.  I often use rewards, but not pre-stated ones, where a child is acting in a specific manner to get a specific thing.  I do not feel this serves children well.  I feel that motivation and discipline should be mostly in the forms of self-control and should be self-directed.  I will not be in a child's life handing out stickers forever, I want the child to see the pleasure in a job well  done, or feel remorse if he or she has acted in a way that hurt someone else. 
  • While I agree with some aspects of Platonic beliefs in the innate knowledge of human beings, and that teachers should elicit what children already hold inside, I object to Plato's ideas of a predetermined destiny for each child's learning.  I believe that with education and nurturing, a child's future is limitless.
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To contact me, please email me at farrands@rcn.com or afarrand@sch.ci.lexington.ma.us