EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

Literacy is a topic that is heard more and more in the context of content areas.  At one time, it was believed that it was only the english teacher's job to promote literacy.  In this ever-changing educational system, the term literacy is being stretched further and further to cover more areas.  Literacy is no longer just being able to read, there is much more.  Students must be able to comprehend what they are reading.  Materials such as textbooks do not facilitate this requirement.  Teachers need to incorporate different types of literature into their curriculums in order to promote literacy.

It is the responsibility of all teachers to make sure that their students are literate.  Just because a child can read a paragraph, they are not necessarily literate.  If they cannot comprehend what they read, there was no purpose for reading the paragraph.  Teachers can no longer pass the blame for illiteracy to their colleagues.  The educational system fails to do its job when students are allowed to go through school being illiterate.  Schools need to do a better job at monitoring students and their level of literacy.  Each teacher must do his or her part for the sake of literacy.

Content area teachers can facilitate the needs of the students by introducing literature into the classroom setting.  This may even help the teachers out because the students would bring different perspectives to a discussion following the reading of related material.  Allow the students to view the content areas from different perspectives than just those given by the textbooks.  A student of history will have a better understanding of slavery if they read a slave's diary than reading a paragraph from the textbook on the same topic.  Literature enables students to draw in new knowledge while comparing it to their prior knowledge.  Students become more literate and teachers get better class discussions; it's a win, win situation.

Teachers can institute literature in their classrooms by having students read a variety of books that relate to a topic.  The literature does not have to be non-fiction for the students to gain something from the reading.  Students will be able to better relate to the topic if they have read some literature that helps them relate the content knowledge to their lives.  Relating material not only raises student's interests, it allows for the material to be better comprehended.

Many times, students resent teachers who try to act superior over them.  Although I believe that teachers should be friendly to students, I do not think that they should be friends.  Teachers should treat students as more of a colleague than a lesser being.  It is my belief that if teachers would treat students with more respect, students would return the gesture.  As the saying goes, treat others as you want to be treated.  Although there are circumstances where it is hard to show students respect, it should be a goal of all teachers to show respect to their students.  I believe teachers would see an improvement in behavior and grades if they treated all their students with respect.  Given students respect will give them a sense of ownership in the classroom.  Teachers could allow students to choose a topic that interests them in a content area and let the class learn about that interest.  It must be remembered that students have a final say over what they will actually learn; if students do not wish to learn, they will not.

Many teachers have problems deciding what kind of assessment works best for their classroom.  I believe that projects and essays are the best way to assess a student's knowledge.  Multiple choice and true/false exams really do not test a student's knowledge, they test word recognition.  In addition, students may perform well on these tests when in actuality they learned nothing.  Teachers should make sure that there are several different types of assessments used during a class so that all types of learners will be accommodated for.  There is no perfect form of assessment that can be used for all classrooms; teachers must find what works best for them and their students.

Educators today have to work harder than ever to make sure that no students fall through the cracks.  This takes a toll on the mental as well as the physical health of teachers.  This is a profession that requires a special kind of person.  Not only do teachers have to worry about teaching their content areas; they must also worry about their students being literate.  Literacy is a part of all content areas.  It is very easy to incorporate literacy into any lesson plan, any content area.  Teachers must realize this and incorporate more literature-based material into the curriculum and use the textbooks less.  Teaching is not about what is easiest for the teacher; it is about what is best for the student.