Ashlee



// Ashlee Letendre //
 * Philosophy of Education **

I understand that students come into the classroom with all different discourses. I believe that it is important to incorporate their cultures into the classroom environment. In my classroom each student will be encouraged to share their heritage with the class in order for us to create a comfortable environment built on acceptance and learning from one another. Communication is key, so as a teacher I will work with the parent or guardian for each student in order to keep honest and reliable roads for communication from school to home.

Each student is unique, therefore every student learns differently. I will take this into consideration when planning lessons. I like to use many different strategies and learning styles in order to accommodate all the students in my classroom. The multiple intelligences will be used in order to have many styles attended to. Students with special needs will be accommodated accordingly in order to ensure that each student is receiving the education fairly.

I believe that student benefit from doing, therefore I will have many hands on activities for students to engage in, meaning they will create there own projects in order to showcase their knowledge on a topic. Technology will play an important role in our classroom, because in today's society it is a pressing issue to be able to understand and work with technologies and most of all technology is fun and engaging for students!

I find it for students to be accountable for their actions. My classroom management strategies will revolve around this important aspect. Overall, my philosophy revolves around the students as individuals.



I believe the parts of a plant are an excellent way to describe the aspects of a classroom. As shown in my image, each part of the plant, including the seeds and the sun, are labeled with an aspect that promotes student and classroom success (flower). My framework is a mix of Charlotte Danielson’s four domains, as well as Robert Marzano’s Dimensions of Learning.

//Seeds//: The teacher and students are the seeds. With the appropriate nourishment, the seeds will grow.

//Roots//: The roots are set in **classroom environment** because without a caring, comfortable, and accepting environment students will not grow. The classroom is a place for students to feel safe and welcomed. A loving classroom environment incorporates each discourse and student learning style. //Classroom management// is included in the classroom environment because students need to be held accountable and need to know that the rules in a classroom are enforced to keep them safe and respected in the classroom environment. I believe that a structured predictable environment is important for students to succeed. Students do not always have a predictable home-life therefore when then come into the classrooms they should know what to expect and this includes //classroom management and behavior management.// //Sub Categories:// //Classroom Management and Classroom Behavior:// I believe that classroom management is an important factor in an classrooms environment. I believe that in my classroom I will present my most important rules along with ideas from students of rules they believe would be important. This will allow for the students to voice their opinions on what they find most important in order to create a safe, respectful, and comfortable environment where students can grow in their own way! I think a respectful classroom means a classroom where students are rewarded for their uniqueness and way of thinking, as well as held responsible for their actions. It is important for students to know that their grades are NOT a behavior management tool. They are responsible for their grades and their performance, but this will not be tied to their grading (which is addressed in instructional practice and differentiated instruction). In order to have a successful classroom environment, all students must feel safe. I have no tolerance for bullying, ever. I think the act of bullying is not only unsafe, but it promotes negativity. Students will understand this no tolerance from the first class meeting. I think the video below is a great visual on antibully and will allow for discussion in the classroom! media type="youtube" key="nWJut7KQhI4" height="315" width="420" //Stem//: The **instructional practice** takes into account the students needs and learning styles in order to better their success. A teacher continuous to grow and learn in order to benefit the students, which means that a teacher is researching different learning styles and lessons that are entertaining and valuable for the students. The instructional practices are aligned to the standards followed by the school community and enhanced by professional development and planning and preparation. Students with special needs and students who are gifted will be appropriately accommodated in the classroom, meaning that the teacher will work with staff throughout the school to find ways to accommodate and challenge the students in order to promote success in their education. As a teacher, I will continue with professional development in order to find multiple ways to promote students higher level thinking. The use of open-ended questions will allow for students to express their creativity and display their knowledge of the topic at hand. This will give me as the teacher an idea of who is grasping a concept and who is not, like na informal assessment in order to plan my instruction. Students will be given rubrics BEFORE projects in order to see the way they will be graded, making it consistent and fair. //Sub Category:// //Differentiated Instruction:// My strategies for differentiated instruction will come into play in the instructional practices area and in assessment, but will be added to and improved in the leaves where professional development and practice is improved. The leaves in a plant stretch out to grab sunlight in order for the plant to grow larger and stronger. Teachers need to stretch out and grab information to help themselves and their students grow, this means teachers need to go to professional development and continue their research to better their classroom. They work to promote higher level thinking in their classroom. The assessment of students will be differentiated in order for students to be graded fairly. The link below the picture will allow you to go to a video that will explain differentiated instruction. I believe this video is great for parents to understand my need to differentiate in the classroom and show them how I will meet the needs of their learner (The video had disabled embedding the video)

Differentiated Instruction //Leaves//: The leaves of a plant reach out to take in //sunlight//, or in my diagram **meaningful use of knowledge**. The meaningful knowledge is acquired through **professional development and planning and preparation**. Teachers are always finding ways to better themselves and their students by continuing their education. New forms of technology should be included into lessons as well as many different multimodalities (at the bottom of this wiki you will find some fun learning links. some of these will be incorporated in the classroom but most are fun for students to use at home with their parents. This will create a connection between the classroom and home). There are a certain number of hours that need to be filled with professional development and most teachers complete the hours to fulfill the requirement, but these hours of development are benefiting them and their students because the knowledge is taken into account when planning and preparing lessons that will be helpful to student growth and success. Objectives for the lessons will be created prior to the lesson, in order for student to see what they willbe learning. The teacher will find creative was to assess students in order to know what the students are acquiring.

//Flower//: Without all the parts of a plant working together the flower will not blossom. All the important aspects of a classroom work together to enhance **student and classroom success**. The students will grow, or blossom, in a classroom that incorporates all of these categories.

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Links to Fun Learning!


 * [[image:https://docs.google.com/a/buffalo.edu/document/pubimage?id=1zXxm__w7_xkkDvSpMClw7Aoy11jbzWcXMP28zX7CLc0&image_id=14tMsfRyrmF2AMRXaQC1XslagFXj_wKc]]

[|Tumble Books] || [|Discovery Kids] || [|PBS kids] ||
 * [[image:https://docs.google.com/a/buffalo.edu/document/pubimage?id=1zXxm__w7_xkkDvSpMClw7Aoy11jbzWcXMP28zX7CLc0&image_id=1E5zF6KLCTl5dVGUPtbj1CmY2EFx0n3c width="85" height="174"]]

[|BrainPop] ||

[|National Geographic Kids] ||

[|Free Play Music] || These links are learning links that can be used inside and outside the classroom. Parents would like to find ways to get involved in their students' education and links like this allow them to work at home with their child at home. There should always be a strong connection between the classroom environment and the home environment. teachers and parents are both very important and the lines for communication and help should always be open!