Philosophy Statement

In my opinion, a skill full teacher is a seasoned teacher. Becoming a seasoned teacher takes time. The question is how to become a skillful educator fresh out of school to better achieve a dream classroom each and every year? I plan to immerse myself in the in a multitude of tactile opportunities that will provide rich experiences and knowledge to connect with the community, parents, and most important the students in my classroom. Dr. Jeanne Ellis Ormrod specializes in learning and cognition. Her textbook Essentials of Educational Psychology gave me great insight on ways to approach becoming a skillful teacher in and outside the classroom. Ormrod focuses on how learning is a constructive process which is made up of three main parts: long-

I believe for a classroom to be successful the environment must emit success and for it to do so lots of thought and planning takes place. Having visual and auditorial learners in a classroom, their environment can either enhance their learning or have a negative impact. By creating a classroom climate of warm light by either natural sun light or lamps creates a safe and inviting environment. The physical arrangement in the classroom should not crowded giving everyone their own space. This allows for autonomy and self-expression. Earth tones in the classroom is ideal because they are nurturing to the human brain. Having loud, busy colors in art work or décor can cause unhealthy responses from students. Typically lots of reds and yellows are not inviting and project short attention spans. Distractions can also be results from items on the walls and ceiling. For limited materials displayed thought out the room, the material should be coherent and uniform compared to randomly projecting

I do plan to use positive reinforcement in my classroom to promote a healthy and positive behaving classroom. Throughout Ormrod’s text book, I learned a great deal of different reinforcers. The first reinforcement Ormrod discusses is the primary reinforcement which is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs that focuses on everything a classroom climate should entail to be successful starting with the well-being of the students. Children need self-actualization (acceptance), esteem (respect by others), love/belonging (friendships), safety of self and belongings, and physiological (shelter, food, water, sleep, air, love). All of Maslow’s Hierarchy are needs each and every student desires. However, students don’t always get these needs met at home. I can’t just have a healthy classroom environment, I also need to have healthy classroom management to insure my students are getting their needs met so they can expand their minds. I plan to set intentions to follow the Hierarchy needs and create a classroom environment that is respectful of all students and teachers. In contrast with primary reinforcers are secondary reinforcement, where they do not provide any physiological needs, but more of a behavior influence. Secondary reinforcers are concrete, social, and active reinforcement. Examples of concrete reinforcers would be candy, money, stickers, and a smiley face for a good job on