My philosophy of teaching is embedded in inclusive education. At the beginning of second year, I stumbled upon a video called ‘Transforming Inclusive Education’ by Shelley Moore. In the video, she used a bowling analogy to describe how right now, some teachers are bowling and hitting single pins down to try and accommodate diverse students’ needs. Instead, teachers should be bowling to hit every pin down at the same time so that every learners’ needs are being met in the same classroom and through the same pedagogy. This really struck me and made me wonder how taking diverse students out of the classroom to learn is so backwards to what the overarching goal of education is: to set children up for success. When children are isolated from their classmates to learn in a separate room, they aren’t learning how to collaborate and work through things as a community. This is the foundation of my teaching philosophy. To expand, I believe that every child belongs (and should feel like they belong) in my classroom, no matter their abilities, ethnicity, gender, or anything. It is my job to create this space for future generations to work towards living in a world where people can feel comfortable and confident in their own skin.
I am also very interested in inquiry-based learning. I first learned about the idea of inquiry learning from Instagram. @Inquiryteacher popped up in my feed and I was intrigued by the materials she was using. I looked further into her account and discovered that she was a co-author of a book called Inquiry Mindset. I bought the book and read it over the span of this past semester. After reading the first few chapters, I was so inspired and knew that I wanted to learn more about how I can follow and inquiry-based model in my future classroom. Inquiry-based classrooms breed children with strong problem-solving skills, teamwork experience, and natural curiosity drive. I am very eager to learn more about the application of inquiry in the classroom in my future practicum and practice.