Philosophy Statement
I believe that children learn through play. When children play, they have the opportunities to develop different skills. They learn how to develop social and emotional skills because through play, children learn how to take turns. During play, the children are able to develop social skills like establishing and maintaining friendships. Children also learn how to participate cooperatively and constructively in group situations when they are playing. For example, in the dramatic play center in my classroom, I have set up three distinct roles that the students could take turns following. One day I had three students playing in the dramatic play center and two of them wanted to play the same role and began arguing about who would play the role. The third student stepped in and offered the solution of having the other two students take turns playing that role. This example shows how the students can work together during play and build these social skills. Aside from play helping develop social and emotional skills, it also helps the children develop motor skills and language skills. Through play children can develop the skills to listen and use language to express their needs. Lev Vygotsky “believed that much learning takes place when children play” (Mooney p. 83).
Children also learn through exploring. When the children explore, it helps them develop problem solving skills. Exploring also promotes development of the children’s skills in persisting. The children’s curiosity grows as well as their motivation when they explore. Lastly, exploring also helps the children’s inventiveness in thinking to further develop.
As the children’s teacher, my role is to support them in all the ways I can. My role is to create different experiences for the children that help develop different skills. My role as their teacher is not to give the children all the answers/solutions, it is to guide them through difficult situations and remind them that they are capable of a lot. In addition to believing that much learning takes place during play, Lev Vygotsky believed in teaching in the child’s Zone of Proximal development. That meant teaching in a zone that was neither too easy nor too hard for the child. It is also said that “Vygotsky referred to the assistance a teacher or peer offers a child as scaffolding” (Mooney p. 84). From that quote we can see how Vygotsky believed that teachers could use scaffolding in order to help the students achieve their goals. It is because of Vygotsky’s theory that I believe that as the children’s teacher, my role is to use scaffolding to help the children gain more knowledge.
My role as the children’s teacher is also to foster a safe and nurturing environment for the children. It is to boost the children’s confidence enough to promote risky play as well as the comfort of knowing that there will be someone there for them to help them if they need it. My role is to do all these different things in order to build a strong foundation that will help the children in their future. Lastly, my role as the children’s teacher is to continue learning and growing as an educator. My role is to seek opportunities to gain more knowledge that will help me help the children.
I prioritize social emotional learning. In early childhood education, I believe there should be more social emotional learning than academic learning. The early years are when the children begin to learn skills that help create a strong foundation. This is the time when they learn skills that they will use even when they are older. A great example of a social-emotional skill taught during these years is self-regulation. This is one of the many skills that will help the children throughout their entire lives. Social-emotional skills can be taught in a number of ways. A great way to teach these skills is by using a lot of role play in the classroom. Another way could be through the use of books. Storytime can provide many opportunities for teachable moments, especially if there are situations in the book that are similar to situations that might be taking place in the classroom. In my experience, when we prioritize social-emotional learning, we are still leaving room for other academic learning. Having a strong social-emotional foundation will lead to a more confident student, which will trickle down to a student that is open to learning new things and is less likely to give up. Also, I have noticed that prioritizing this type of learning and focusing on the other academics once the student shows interest keeps the student more engaged and motivated.
In addition to prioritizing social-emotional learning, I also like to follow anti-bias education. Anti-bias education is important to me for a number of reasons. One of those reasons is that this education also connects to social and emotional learning. Also, this type of education helps the children develop a strong sense of identity. An example of how anti-bias education looks like in my classroom is when I use books that have characters my students could feel related to.
References
- Mooney, G. C. (2013). Theories of Childhood, Second Edition: An Introduction to Dewey.
- Montessori, Erikson, Piaget & Vygotsky (NONE) (Second ed.). Redleaf Press.
