Jessica Foster's Teaching Philosophy

 

My teaching philosophy is something that is ever-changing, as I experience new and interesting aspects of my career. When I graduated from Central Michigan University with my undergraduate degree, I thought more in the abstract than I did in the concrete when it came to teaching, which makes sense. I had no concrete teaching to go off of to create my philosophy.

 

Currently, I find myself in my sixth year as a teacher. Over that amount of time, I have taught 7th grade in a low income area just kitty corner from Detroit, have been a substitute for underprivileged school districts where they are just begging for subs, have taught grades 9-12 in English in a rural Alternative Education program, moonlighted as a literacy interventionist on the coast of Lake Michigan to middle school students, and have ultimately found myself in a steady position of seventh and eighth grade Language Arts teacher for a school district that I am rather fond of.

 

Throughout that time, I have reflected a lot. What philosophy do I take in teaching, still being rather new to my district, but veteraned in different ways to teach? What can I say as a 28 year old that may still ring true one, two, even ten years from now? I suppose that the only thing that is consistent in teaching is the ability to adapt, so my philosophy is one of continued learning. I have learned more from my students and from trying out new methods and researching different techniques during my career than most people would in other careers. Teaching is such an evolving field, that if anyone says otherwise as a teacher, they aren't paying attention. My goals as a teacher stem directly from this.

 

As a teacher, my goals with my students are to increase understanding in my subject, to increase their literacy skills, and to help them to understand and embrace the skills that they will need in order to become successful students and employees someday. This is a pretty tall bill, but as an E.L.A. teacher, these are all aspects of Language that are in the forefront of my mind constantly. Teaching students new apps, getting to them on their level, engaging them, and understanding them all becomes derivative when these larger goals are brought into focus. I would hate to ever give my students busywork or to tell them they had to complete something that seemed to me to be pointless. I refuse to do that. In that way, I feel that I am a very discerning teacher.

 

These goals are a product of my study throughout the past years as well. When I am in my classroom, the biggest question that middle school students always have for me is "Why?" "Why do we have to do this?" "When is this ever going to affect me later in life?" I want to be able to difinitively answer them and have a good rationale for everything that we do. This is very important to me. 

 

Teaching is very important to me personality. I am the job, as some may say. My self-worth is based upon what I am able to do for others. When students achieve something, I am proud and I feel happy, completed. This is something I take very seriously. My love of teaching began in high school when I used to tutor middle school students. It only seems fitting that now I am a middle school instructor. I like to see it when something clicks. There is a look that a student gets that makes my entire career worth it. I want to make a difference.

 

I think that specifically, as a middle school teacher, we also have a responsibility to our students to teach them responsibility and morality sometimes. Many times, students get uneven instruction in this at home, and middle school is a time where academic integrity is really established. I feel that as an English teacher, issues like plagiarism and cheating, as well as befriending those that need it, is something that falls into all middle level instructors’ fields. Perhaps this is one of the reasons that I love teaching the most: it isn’t always about the content of the field. It’s about the person that someone becomes. I’d like to think that they learn a little from me in the process, but I also want my students to know how much I care about them, and how I am a part of a supportive community for them.