A Pedagogical Philosophy
By Matthew Zwicker, University of Oulu, EdGlo 2019
In such a diverse and globalized world, there is a high demand for teachers to practice sensitive pedagogy aimed at the learning of all students from different cultural backgrounds and all diverse context which affect a student's learning. In a Multicultural Education course I completed while at Northwest University, I developed a pedagogical philosophy which would cater to the instructional approach in the ideologically diverse classroom of the 21st century.
My pedagogical philosophy in how I, as a teacher, will aim for the learning of all students from different cultural backgrounds and situations is a three point system (not process). This three point system is not to be followed systematically (as a list of instructional duties) necessarily, but all three points are to be integrated into one's didactics simultaneously – each point is dependent on each other. The Sheltered Instruction Observation Protocol (SIOP) Model’s components and features are heavily implemented throughout this three points system, although these SIOP parameters not specifically addressed and defined. In view of the phrase “Monkey Hear, Monkey See, Monkey Do,” my three point system is to: Know My Students; Watch Their Progress; and to Engage, Improve, Encourage.
Knowing your students, their vast diversities, characteristics, cultural backgrounds and situations, will greatly influence how you conduct instruction, how you converse with each student individually and corporately, how you carry yourself when around your students, and how you will engage their learning. Knowing your students has to do with familiarizing yourself to their best learning styles, habits, and tendencies. This point will be thoroughly expanded on in sections two and three of this essay.
Watching your students requires a high amount of multitasking in the classroom, and a healthy amount of reflection in assessing their learning. Watching your student has to do with assessment; being an active teacher and not a passive teacher. Teachers must be thoroughly involved in their students’ learning, utilizing formative and summative assessments to check on their learning and not to simply check off a standard. It is imperative for teachers to see every student and his or her own improvement.
While a teacher is assessing each student’s progress, the teacher must Engage, Improve, and Empowering (EIE) the class as a whole as well as each student, as is most fitting for that particular student in relation to his diverse characteristics, educational and cultural background. EIE has to do with instruction, whether done via open lectures, lessons, tutoring, grading and marking assessments, or the like. Teachers must engage each student while in their own learning process, to provide instructional improvement that redirects, reinforces, reassures, recommences, reprehends, or redefines your instructional material that enhances their cognitive understanding. With this in mind, the goal is to empower your students with the knowledge, mental preparation, and instructional discipline to cultivate their ability to learn, with respect to their diverse characteristics, cultural backgrounds and situations.
As this world grows smaller due to globalization and the exchange of international and intercultural communication, teachers must develop a pedagogical philosophy that is conducive to cultivating a healthy environment suitable for the 21st learner. In order to create such an environment, teachers must know their students, analyze the class culture, and choose to engage their students to empower them with the confidence and tools to be autonomous learners. Every student wants a teacher who is excited to be apart of the student's learning.. It is up to the teacher to be the leader of the mod
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