Reflection on My Educational Philosophy

Throughout my time at Lehman College, my educational philosophy has undergone significant transformations, shaped by theoretical knowledge and practical experiences in diverse classroom settings. At the start of my journey at the institution, I placed substantial importance on giving all students equal learning opportunities. Working with the NY State culturally responsive-sustaining framework expanded my knowledge about how to put these principles into daily practice. This reflection will study my changing beliefs about education and discover essential values for my philosophy while showing how to apply the principles of the culturally responsive-sustaining framework in my future teaching approach: Reflection on My Educational Philosophy.

Changes in My Educational Philosophy

Understanding Diversity as an Asset

A key growth in my teaching beliefs is seeing diversity in my classroom as something positive. I understood inclusiveness was important in my classroom but did not realize how bringing different cultures together could make teaching better for everyone. I learned from the framework that instead of viewing different cultures as problems for instructors to handle, they are positive assets that improve education.

The framework shows that students’ diverse cultural experiences and knowledge must guide both what subjects are taught and how they are taught (Stein et al., 2024). Changing how I think has helped me realize that connecting students’ culture to education is crucial. For example, I will create group work based on students’ cultural backgrounds. This way, all students will learn to value and respect each other in our classroom.

High Expectations and Rigorous Instruction

Another significant evolution in my philosophy is my approach to maintaining high expectations and rigorous instruction. Keeping student expectations high was important, but I did not know how to make that work for every student. My classes taught me how important it is to teach in ways that reach students with different learning preferences.

Creating settings that challenge students academically has guided me to make lessons that ask them to use their analytical and imaginative skills. In my classroom, I want students to work in groups on projects with tough real-world challenges, which will help them learn how to think better while working together.

Ongoing Professional Learning

My view of what professional learning requires has wholly changed. I previously thought of education as a fixed list of what students learn and how. All my time teaching at Lehman College has shown me that teaching keeps changing and evolving. The work’s focus on lifelong learning has taught me I need to keep looking at how I teach and search for ways to improve my profession.

My ability to teach well depends on knowing the latest teaching trends and meeting my students’ requirements. To keep teaching quality up, I will work with teachers, attend training sessions, and check my lessons often.

New Values to Add to My Philosophy

Cultural Pluralism

I want to incorporate new values into my educational philosophy in light of these changes. An essential addition to my education beliefs is a focus on cultural pluralism. This rule encourages educators to see and respect all cultural backgrounds when teaching in class. Educators must create such a space because it helps ensure every student feels included and able to be themselves.

As such, I will bring my students into a learning space reflecting what they know and value, inviting them to share their backgrounds through assigned work and class conversations. For instance, I could organize a “Cultural Day” where each student shares their unique cultural background, allowing everyone in class to learn from each other.

Restorative Practices

I also want to add restorative practices as a key value in my teaching. Creating respect and understanding in the student community requires educators to use restorative practices in everyday teaching. This plan helps students find peaceful solutions while making them feel like they belong. My plan includes defining specific behavior rules and running group discussions in circles when conflicts happen.

This method allows students to share their feelings and helps them solve problems together. My main goal is to build a classroom where each student knows they are responsible for their actions and cared for by others.

Critical Consciousness

Lastly, I will use critical awareness as the main rule that guides all my teaching methods. I will do it by teaching students how to think deeply about how society’s rules shape the lives of different communities. This helps young people work for a better society by inspiring them to test and challenge existing systems (Stein et al., 2024). I will make this part of our learning by adding current social justice topics into our lessons and getting students involved in community projects that solve real-world problems.

Implementing the Four Principles of the NYS Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Educational Framework

Welcoming and Affirming Environment

To improve my teaching, I want to apply the four parts of New York State’s education guidelines that teach about culture and keep it alive in schools. The welcoming and affirming environment principle must be in place to help students feel they belong. This means displaying student projects, having signs in multiple languages around my classroom, and ensuring classroom talks include different viewpoints. When students find familiar aspects of themselves in their learning space, it helps them feel important and want to participate.

High Expectations and Rigorous Instruction

The second principle, high expectations and rigorous instruction, is vital for academic success. My lessons will push students to think critically and dare to try new things in their learning. Different ways of teaching will keep me connected with my students, ensuring that everyone can reach their full ability.

Inclusive Curriculum and Assessment

The third principle, Inclusive Curriculum and Assessment, highlights the need to acknowledge diverse perspectives. I will choose materials representing my students’ heritage for my class resources and spark important talks about hierarchy, power, and privilege. I will let students show what they know in many ways, using projects, presentations, or standard tests.

Ongoing Professional Learning

Finally, the principle of ongoing professional learning emphasizes the importance of continuous growth. I will attend training sessions focused on culturally responsive methods with others in my field and learn from them by sharing knowledge. As part of learning alongside my peers, I will join workshops, become part of learning groups focused on our professional field, and watch others teach to improve my methods.

Conclusion

In summary, my teaching beliefs have improved while at Lehman College. Learning about cultural diversity, healing in schools, and awareness makes me understand how to teach better. Putting the New York State Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Educational Framework into practice guides me to build a classroom that supports everyone’s differences while preparing them to do well in a diverse society.

References

Stein, K. C., Mauldin, C., Marciano, J. E., & Kintz, T. (2024). Culturally responsive-sustaining education and student engagement: A call to integrate two fields for educational change. Journal of Educational Change, 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-024-09510-3

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SECOND PART: Reflection (2 pages minimum)

Write a reflection about how your educational philosophy has changed (or not changed) during your time at Lehman College.

1) You should refer to the topics you discussed in your Philosophy of Education and determine the extent to which your thinking on these topics has changed or remained the same as well as what has played a role in changing your thoughts on the topics or keeping them the same. Give specific evidence to substantiate what you are stating.

2) Explain what new values and/ or principles (up to three) you would now add to your philosophy of education. For each new value, please describe it, explain why it is important, and describe in detail how you would carry it out in the classroom.

3) Explain how you would use each of the four principles in the NYS Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Educational Framework. Do the following for each principle: 1) explain the aspect/s of the principle that are most important to you, and 2) describe in detail how you would carry them out in your classroom/professional life.

how you would use each of the four principles in the NYS Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Educational Framework?

Welcoming & Affirming Environment (p. 26)
High Expectations & Rigorous Instruction (p. 27)
Inclusive Curriculum & Assessment (p. 28)
Ongoing Professional Learning (p. 28-bottom)

WEBSITE YOU ARE USING TO WRITE PHILOSOPHY: http://www.nysed.gov/common/nysed/files/programs/crs/culturally-responsive-sustaining-education-framework.pdf