Kat Dickson

ED 500
13 January 2014
Philosophy Statement
I believe the purpose for education is to create more wellrounded individuals who are knowledgeable, capable, and ready to
effectively contribute to and participate in society. This means that
they are well informed about the topics they have studied; however,
they are also able to apply what they learn to real-life situations and
transmit their knowledge to others. In addition, in order to be wellrounded individuals, they must have an assortment of strengths in
multiple topics, not just a focus on one. I believe that this form of
education produces students who have a desire to learn and grow in
their knowledge and understanding of the world around them in order
to be capable of creating a better society. More specifically, the
purpose for second-language education is to expose students to
different cultures, equip them with skills to interact with others by
using their second language, and to gain an appreciation for different
people, perspectives, and practices. I find this to be essential in our
increasingly global society, as cultures become more intertwined and
access to other people is more available.
With the intention of creating this type of students, I will use a
variety of instructional methods, including lecture, small group or

partner work, and engaging activities in order to reach out to the

variety of my students needs. I will use lecture, minimally, to study
grammatical concepts that are new or being reviewed. Students also
need to learn to work together, thus my intention of implementing
group work on small in-class activities. Students learning a second
language need to practice their speaking, listening, reading, and
writing skills in the second language, both of which they could work on
in groups with other people. I think this type of group work is useful
because they can gain confidence by communicating with other
students at their level.
I think the best classroom management strategies find a balance
of firm, but gracious. I will make rules that are fair and help create an
atmosphere that is inclusive and respectful, but I will be firm in order to
maintain authority and order within the classroom. However, at the
same time I think it is essential to allow room for error and give grace
to students. I want to understand my students and show them that I
realize that none of us are perfect and mistakes happen.
Consequences will be based on the balance of this firmness and grace.
In order to test my students learning, knowledge, and progress, I
will mostly rely on formative assessments, which will take place
informally and daily in class. Summative assessments, such as tests
and quizzes, will be given over material learned in class at the end of a
unit. Some things that may be included on a summative assessment

could be listening exercises, in which the students will hear a

recording, or some other form of spoken Spanish, and have to respond
to questions based on what they hear, or oral presentations so that the
students can practice communicating in Spanish. I do not support
doing projects because from my experience, the students do not
usually do equal work. Even if they do, I do not believe the students
learn as much because they are looking for the material themselves,
as opposed to me transmitting the information to them. Therefore, I
will limit the amount of out of class group projects I assign.