Teaching Philosophy

I began this teaching philosophy as an academic. Using fancy terminology to show off my
knowledge in learning theories, I expressed how when I taught, I used Vygotskys theories on
social constructivism and Banduras theories on modeling and social cognitive learning. As I
read over the final draft of my teaching philosophy, I found that the philosophy was void of
somethingme.
That being said, my philosophy of teaching is really quite simpleI care about my students, I
want to make them better, and I know that they may not remember what I taught them, but they
surely will remember how I made them feel. My goal as a teacher is for my students to look back
and say Shes quirky, and she sure makes us read and write a lot, but man, do I feel empowered
and smarter after that class.
Teaching has and always will be one of my most satisfying passions. I bridge a lot of what I learn
through my research into my teaching style, and believe that the best teacher is always one that is
the best learner, and provides an opportunity for pre-service teachers to become great future
leaders in the field of education. The student-centered classroom environment that I strive to
create helps me teach students to become a team, and to become leaders. I truly believe that that
should be the goal of all teachers: to create and inspire future leaders.
My teaching philosophy has evolved from my experiences with various educational resources,
scholarship, and conversations that I have encountered over the years as a student of education at
Florida State University. I have engaged in research as an undergraduate completing an honors
thesis that allowed me to delve into the psychology behind adolescent temperament, and allowed
me to seek connection between temperament, GPA, and learning styles. My experience with
teaching 6th and 8th grade Language Arts allowed me to put into practice the theories and
knowledge I received from my undergraduate and masters program curriculum, and my
experience as a doctoral student has continued to cultivate my teaching philosophies. As an
educational researcher, I have found that there is a lack of a bridge between research and
practicum, and my goal is to close this divide.
Because I teach pre-service teachers how to teach literacy in many of the courses that I teach,
much of what I do follows the I do, we do, you do mentality, where my modeling teaching
strategies is the way students learn how to teach. For example, to gain students attention and
motivation on the topic of digital literacy and the issues of teachers and technology today, I have
them watch a Youtube video about teachers being fired because of something they posted on
Facebook. After that, I ask them to do a Poll-Anywhere, which is where you can text a message
through your phone and the answer will show up anonymously on the projected screen on the
website. I ask the question In a 30 word status, write a post that will get you fired from a
teaching job. This gets the students motivated and having fun, but also shows them a clear

lesson regarding technology and social networking. It also exposes students to the technology of
the poll-anywhere website, even though that is not the main goal of the lesson.
One of my favorite lessons is based on genre theory, where I have students individually write for
about two minutes the beginning of a story in a particular genre, like comedy. They then switch
papers within a group and continue their group members story in a different genre, such as
horror. They continue switching, moving into genres such as romance. This has been a successful
lesson I have used in many classrooms, both secondary and college-level, that teaches students
about the importance of genre and how writing changes within different genres.
In my 6th and 8th grade Language Arts classrooms, I utilize social interaction to model
appropriate behaviors, such as waiting your turn to speak during a debate. Another one of my
favorite activities in the classroom that demonstrates a lesson that is active and engaging is the
In-between game, where I ask students to move to a certain side of the room according to
whether they agree, disagree, or are neutral about a statement. This engages kinesthetic learners
that are often not given the ability to engage actively in an assignment. In general, this activity
allows for movement, discovery, social interaction, and active learning.
After reading about popularity in a Times News article, my 8th grade students did this activity,
and I modeled the way that we will speak and take turns debating and using our arguments to
attempt to convince the middle to join our side, ending with a great activity where students
learned from each other, not my lectures. If you can get 8th grade students to ask you to finish the
debate even after the bell rings to dismiss them, you know you had a good teaching day.
The question that I ask myself before the start of every semester, and that I ask all of my new
students, is What difference can I make? I believe in incorporating challenging assignments
into my classes that involve students in real-world problem solving and real-world dialogues.
My students have interviewed teachers, engaged with drug-rehabilitation programs and their
adolescent clients, blogged on a variety of issues, collaborated with students studying humanities
and library sciences, and participated in conversations with visiting experts. I will continue to
expose students to real-life tasks and community-engaged projects, because, I believe, that is
what teaching is all about. How can you teach about the world if you shelter your students from
it?
In any class that I teach, and whatever the subject, I believe strongly in reflecting on my own
practices and continuing to learn and grow as a teacher. I do this by investigating new research
articles, attending workshops and conferences, and surrounding myself around those who are as
passionate as I am about teaching. I also believe in giving a sizable amount of feedback on a
constant basis, even if it takes all weekend, and in creating an organized unit and semester plan
according to Blooms taxonomy and to set objectives where my students begin by remembering
and understanding but quickly move into the more complex, higher-order thinking skills, such as
applying, analyzing, evaluating, and finally, creating.

Students should be able to leave my class knowing how to classify and connect information, with
a developing new schema set that they connected to old schema that they came into my class
with. They should be able to understand these classifications to a point where they can use this
information to create information, and to act upon decision-making in an informed manner.
Finally, I know that they will not learn everything in my class, but my ultimate goal as a teacher
is to instill in them a thirst for knowledge, a continual reflection of what they know and what
they do not know, and to give them the tools to find the knowledge necessary. Most importantly,
they will know the answer to What difference can I make?
Teacher Evaluation Responses for LAE3333:
LOVED this class! I learned academically but also grew as a person and future teacher. I loved
the comfortable tone that Ms. Rybakova set in the classI felt extremely comfortable. I also
loved the extensive feedback that she gave on every assignment.
Youre feedback was the BEST I have every received, so detailed. The assignments are hard,
but helpful. I think I have really developed as a writer and a teacher.
I really enjoyed your passion towards the subject. You really gave awesome advice for future
teachers.
I loved this course and Katie. With what she had to work with she did a wonderful job! She was
motivated, kind, and attentive to every student. I could not be more grateful to have had her, I
loved that she promoted discussion and trusted us as future teachers.
Ms. Rybakova was awesome! Great instructor, always willing to help, and made the course
information relevant, and applicable to our teaching careers. I cant wait for my next class with
her.
Student Letters (unprompted), LAE4323:
(Excerpts)
I just wanted to thank you again for being such a helpful and thoughtful teacherHopefully, I
can have the same effect on them (students) that youve had on me.
I really did think you were crazy the first day of class. A response, a response to a response, a
novel, and a lesson plan every week?!? That being said, doing these assignments have been the
highlight of my semester. This is mostly because theyre actually useful.
When I go into teaching, I will aspire to treat my students the way you teach me. Thank you for
everything.