Creative Science Academy

My personal educational philosophy entails recognizing children as coming to my classroom with their own unique funds of knowledge and social capital, and not merely empty vessels where I will be depositing knowledge onto them. I will learn from my students just as they will learn from me. Recognizing that students come to my class with their own unique assets, my challenge as an educator is harnessing that asset to facilitate a meaningful learning experience. Having an understanding of the intricacies of Piaget’s cognitive development and Vygotsky’s social interaction theory of development, I will be better served to meet the educational needs of my students. Piaget helps me understand and evaluate the cognitive development my students are going through so that I can align my lesson plans with my students’ schema to facilitate their learning. In Vygotsky the importance of social interaction is greatly underscored. From Vygotsky we learn how different social elements play a pivotal role in the development of our students. The question of harnessing students’ assets to facilitate learning is streamlined by understanding the importance of peer collaboration as well as the general community both inside and outside the school.

 Students’ parents and communities also have rich experiences and knowledge bases that we can integrate into the classroom to bring different perspectives and diversify our students' learning. These perspectives will manifest in my future classroom by creating a safe environment that is conducive to learning, collaboration, respect, and understanding. I will utilize purposeful and strategic groupings for students to collaborate, I will invite parents and members from the community to visit our classroom and share their stories, experiences, and knowledge with our students. My classroom will have an open-door policy of not excluding people but inviting people and understanding how social interaction and collaboration will facilitate learning for my students. The physical construction of the classroom as well as the classroom materials will be based on stimulating collaboration and exploration.