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Informed Beliefs Paper

Joseph Lamping

College of Western Idaho

Educ-220

Professor Tau

12/4/2023
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In this paper, I will be discussing how all students can learn what expectations a teacher

should have for a successful classroom. I will also be discussing student social ecology, as well

as cultural diversity and curriculum for all learners throughout the SI will be giving examples

to help explain some of the statements I make, as well as theories from well respected theorists to

help explain the rationale of the statements I am making. Theories from well respected theorists

to help explain the rationale of the statements I am making. What the fuck

ALL STUDENTS CAN LEARN

Every student has a different way to learn and it’s important to find a way to

accommodate all different types of learning. “students with educational resources that were

compatible with their learning styles had significantly higher pass rates than those with

incompatible profiles” (Oliveria) Some students may learn more with hands-on activities,

whereas other students might have a tendency to do better with worksheets and verbal

instruction. As a teacher, it’s unfair to expect students to be able to always fit with your teaching

style or the curriculum teaching style. I think something that could be very encouraging,

something , something Obviously you can’t completely change the curriculum but you can

encourage students to find their own way to learn and then help them find the resources that

can help that.Something that can be very encouraging is Giving students a variety of ways to

complete assignments. Now it’s unrealistic to give a student a choice between writing a five page

essay and taking a multiple-choice test. However, when it comes to simpler things such as

learning vocabulary or working to remember certain dates for history class, it’s good if you

provide them with multiple ways to complete that task, whether it’s make their own set of

flashcards, or study Quizlet, or any number of things as long as, they cater to students with

different mindsets.
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it’s impossible to assure that every student will always learn in every single one of your

classes. However, I believe keeping that in mind is a step in the right direction. Obviously, some

days will be better than others. Some lessons will be more interesting than others, and will draw

out more participation from your students, however it’s important that you are able to teach the

most fun lessons in the world as well as lessons that may not be as entertaining for your students.

Something that I personally will do to ensure all my students learn is to encourage students to

reach out for help throughout the entire learning process. Through my observation, I’ve noticed

that many students are nervous to ask their teacher for help or even downright embarrassed that

their peers might think less of them because they need help. I think it’s vital as teachers and as an

educating community we remind these kids and provide them ample opportunities to understand

that it is more than OK to ask for help and it’s the best way for us to understand what and how

we can accommodate the students.

As a teacher, I plan to lead my classroom sternly, but fairly at the same time. I wouldn’t

consider myself a very serious closed off kind of person. I personally remember being a student

and remember that the teachers always seemed to have the best classroom management and

weren't always the ones that were the most strict and laid down the law. Every chance they got

sometimes it was the teachers gave the kids a break when they feel like they deserved it or the

teacher encouraged with not only negative reinforcement, but also occasionally positive

reinforcement, whether that was extra credit, or some sort of prize, whatever the thing may be,

it’s important as a teacher to find ways to not just discourage these kids from doing one thing,

but also to encourage them in a positive way.

Teacher's Expectations
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disorganized expectations, create disorganized, learning environments. It’s important

with students, especially the students that I’ve observed recently at South junior high school, to

lay down the expectations of the classroom, the school, the assignment, and everything in

between. Students, especially at younger ages are constantly searching for direction guidance and

yes, even sometimes authoritative structure . Many people who have studied kids and tried to

understand them better will tell you that kids and humans in general crave structure so it’s

important to maintain a structured classroom because then that will carryover into all aspects of

the learning process if you’re not structured as a teacher, how can you expect your students to be

structured as a student if you don’t lay out clear expectations and examples for students, whether

it be classroom expectations on behavior or assignment expectations on an essay if you are not

very clear and concise with those expectations, it’s a recipe for disaster in terms of getting the

results that are expected. You also have to be careful as a teacher not to be excessive in the sense

of laying out expectations for situations that may or may not happen. For example, if you had a

student the previous year, who did something crazy and through their phone at another student

and gave them a blackeye it’d be unrealistic to create the expectation that no student is ever

allowed for any reason to have a phone in your classroom even if it’s just in their pocket because

there is a possibility that they can throw it out another student, whereas maybe you can say I

have this phone receptacle area that will hold it till the end of class so then you know that not

only are they now not distracted by their phones, but they are also safe from any flying phones.

And I know this story or this example might seem somewhat superficial or unrealistic. However,

this is a direct example from the teacher, who I observed this semester.

Educational goals are also vital for students because similarly to the behavioral ones

without goals that these students are clearly striving for, it's harder to see the light at the end of
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the tunnel. Something I personally struggled with the first time I went to college was seeing

where I would end up after all of these classes. I got very dragged down by the load work by all

the small riding tasks all these different little things that at the time I was having a hard time,

seeing what they were all building up to so as someone who is hoping to be a teacher but who is

currently and has been a student for many years I know that sometimes it’s hard to see the bigger

picture and it’s hard to see where all this is going, so if you can’t set these expectations early and

often with these students, of course they’re more likely to give up on you and your instruction.

So, for example, if you tell these students hey, we are going to be doing these small journal

entries throughout the year that will eventually culminate into your entire essay, but the better

you do on these journals the easier it will most likely be for you to write your essay that is a

realistic goal that can give these kids more of a purpose in the direction that they’re going.

STUDENTS’ SOCIAL ECOLOGY THEORY

Social ecology is something that it’s very important for teachers to understand. When

trying to connect with a student's understanding, their social ecology is a huge benefit towards

understanding them more as a student and as a person in general. If you understand your student,

so ecology it’ll be much easier for you to create lesson plans and lectures that will speak more to

them then, if you just try to make a one size fits all approach. For example, if I’m aware that my

students don’t have a great relationship with education or their school as a whole I’m not going

to just assume that they’ll take pride in and really want to try to work hard in my class, whereas

if I do understand that and I do try to work around it. I can then make my class something that

these kids do care to work hard and be cooperative for or I can give them some sort of

encouragement that isn’t you’ll get a better grade at the end of this some students truly don’t care

about what some students really just don’t find that important so if you threaten them with bad
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grades, then that’s not necessarily going to do anything to encourage them to continue to learn in

your class.

Families, cultures and communities have more of an impact on students' learning and

morals, then just about anything else in this educational society. “Ultimately, the results show

that variation in parental warmth exists across fathers and mothers with differing impact on

adolescents” (Chung) As someone who grew up in a family of educators I was always very

aware that school was important to my family and therefore it had to be important to me.

Sometimes the only reason I would complete an assignment was because I knew if my dad saw

that I had that assignment missing I would be in trouble for that. Not everyone has that not

everyone’s parents care about what their student is doing in school, and I know for some that

sounds troubling and absolutely should however, that is the reality that mini schools face

nowadays. as someone who works in a school and has been observing the school for the for this

class I can personally tell you I have witnessed calls with parents about failing grades and the

parents response to the teacher is simply are they going to get kicked out of school or not which

is flabbergasting to me and I’m sure to a lot of other people however it then makes sense when

that student looks at you and his like I really don’t care about doing this math test I’m going to

face no consequences if I don’t do it. Even things like how the school they go to is perceived has

a profound impact on how much these kids care about learning. At the school I’ve been

observing South junior high. It is a common rumor that the kids here are bad and they don’t do

well in school. They are poor and so many other negative discouraging things and some of those

students Obviously don’t like it but they eventually have a tendency to embrace it because they

start to relate with those rumors or stereotypes. It becomes a situation where the student is like
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OK well if everyone already thinks that the school is bad and we’re dumb then let’s show them

how bad and dumb we can be.

CULTURAL DIVERSITY INSTRUCTION

As a teacher, I am truly so excited to build off the life histories and experiences of my

students in their ethnic backgrounds. Part of the reason is because I am hoping to pursue a job,

teaching history, and something that I believe would really encourage students to participate in

an assignment, as well as learn more about themselves is doing an assignment where the students

have to do. Research about whatever culture they are a part of. I personally think that a lot of

students especially ones in melting pot areas like over here at South have a tendency to not find

a lot of pride in themselves or their families or the communities and I think a great way for

people to find more pride in themselves and build self-esteem. “Moreover, self-esteem was also

found to fully mediate the relation between learning about intercultural relations and

achievement” (Oczlon) is to learn about where they come from in their ancestry so if you have a

student hasn’t ever really done much just kind of floats along and then one day they learn that

they come from Vikings who used to dominate the seas and create these massive trade routes,

then maybe that would encourage some sort of pride in them being like these are my people. This

is where I come from and I have the desire to live up to these great things that these people who

came before me did. I Also, always plan on encouraging open discussion about your history in

your culture because it’s the best way for someone to understand you. I even know at my current

job as an in-house supervisor. I will always ask my students for some sort of short background of

themselves and how they ended up here and what they have done in the past few years just has

nothing else then to allow these kids a moment to feel heard, and like someone truly cares about
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what they have to say, and what they’ve been through because once you give students a chance

to, feel like you care they’re much more likely to work with you.

Cultural pluralism is a very positive thing for communities that have a lot of diversity.

This is because cultural pluralism encourages all cultures to work together and learn from each

other, while also maintaining their history in their culture, it allows students and people in

general to become part of a group without completely losing their individuality, which is a great

way to have more productive groups. Imagine if you have a random group of five people and you

have five random tasks. Would you want those five people to all have very similar experiences

and the same job with the same outlook on everything, probably not. This would cause a lot of

Situations where maybe there’s a task that none of them are familiar with, and then no one is

able to provide a new perspective or a new way of thinking to solve this issue. This would be an

example of something that’s more along the lines of cultural assimilation. Where is if you had

five completely random people who were doing five random tasks, and all of them were from

buried different backgrounds they work different jobs they Have different ages then it would be

more likely that if a situation came up with a task that most people weren’t familiar with you’d

be more likely to find someone who was familiar enough to provide a new perspective on how to

complete the task. Cultural assimilation encourages classims and for people to essentially lose

their culture, and just become a part of whatever the majority is at that moment. Which is very

similar to America, and what they tried to do with Native Americans. Think of how many great

things would be lost if all Native Americans immediately decided to assimilate into American

culture and completely lose their own.

CURRICULUM FOR ALL LEARNERS

As a teacher, I will always make sure there are multiple ways to learn and engage with

the material I am giving students for example, I will not just be posting a singular PowerPoint on

my Google classroom or just exclusively chapters that I expect my students to read I will be

providing PowerPoint along with videos or maybe a Quizlet or Kahoot to go with the

information that you were reading in the chat text chapters. I had a teacher this semester that

used a platform called inquisitive, which I personally really liked but something along those lines

I think would be a great opportunity to help out kids who don’t necessarily learn the same way as

the majority of their peers. I also plan to use something I read about called Inclusive leadership

which can enhance performance and participation in any group (Qurrahtulain)

In terms of my delivery, I don’t plan on being one of those teachers who just stands in

front of their class for 40 minutes and lectures the entire time. I plan on switching it up on

different days whether it’s maybe one day is lecture, and then the next day is a Video in the next

day it might be a game, and if I have a student seems to be struggling with one former another or

all even all of the forms I will be much more likely to reach out to that student and try to work

with them to find a better educational solution for them. Because maybe the student has an

insight that I am not aware of, and they end up providing me with a lesson that now works

Tenfold better than what I was previously doing. I think my biggest asset as a teacher is going to

be my ability to learn from all those around me whether it’s administrators, other teachers, or

even my students, I will do my absolute best to take lessons from wherever and whenever I can

get them That is a lesson that I’ve had to really work on these past few years trying to absorb as

much information as I can, so I can make as educated of a decision when it is finally time to

make a choice. I don’t think today’s school environment always encourages Branching out and

diverse ways of learning. However, I do think it’s starting to move in a better direction than
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previous years. However, the most important thing to remember as anyone who’s planning to go

to teach should remember that just because you are now teaching does not mean you should stop

learning. It’s important for all educators and all people in my opinion to be lifelong learners

because once you stop learning is once you stop growing in developing as a person and once you

stop growing and developing as a person is when you get left behind from, your school friends,

family culture society, because all those things are constantly changing constantly developing so

once someone decides that they don’t need to change or develop anymore, then they’re just

going to fall behind.

In conclusion, there are many ways to be a teacher. There’s many ways to approach

giving a lesson. There’s many ways to approach interacting with students. No teacher is always

going to be perfect. However, I think as long as you keep in mind, some of the things I have

discussed in today’s essay, I personally believe, will lead to a more successful career as an

educator.
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References

Mantasiah, R., Yusri, Sinring, A., & Aryani, F. (2021). Assessing Verbal Positive
Reinforcement of Teachers during School from Home in the COVID-19 Pandemic Era.
International Journal of Instruction, 14(2), 1037–1050.

Oczlon, S., Bardach, L., & Lüftenegger, M. (2021). Immigrant adolescents’ perceptions of
cultural pluralism climate: Relations to self‐esteem, academic self ‐concept, achievement, and
discrimination. New Directions for Child & Adolescent Development, 2021(177), 51–75.
https://doi-org.cwi.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/cad.20412

urrahtulain, K., Bashir, T., Hussain, I., Ahmed, S., & Nisar, A. (2022). Impact of
inclusive leadership on adaptive performance with the mediation of vigor at work and
moderation of internal locus of control. Journal of Public Affairs (14723891), 22(1), 1–9.
https://doi-org.cwi.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/pa.2380
Oliveira, A., Spinola, V., Garrido, D., Teixeira, M. M., Salles, C., & Haddad, A. E.
(2023).
Influence of learning styles on student performance in self-instructional courses. PLoS
ONE, 18(7), 1–14. https://doi-org.cwi.idm.oclc.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0289036
Chung, G., Phillips, J., Jensen, T. M., & Lanier, P. (2020). Parental Involvement and
Adolescents’ Academic Achievement: Latent Profiles of Mother and Father Warmth as a
Moderating Influence. Family Process, 59(2), 772–788