“Connecting to students and understanding who they are and how they learn will support your understanding in how you will be able to assess their learning as a process of learning together. Relationships will help support this by co-creating the assessment process with students. This is a process-orientated practice that will take time and constant reflection. “ – Carolyn Roberts, “Can We Decolonize Assessment?”, Canadian Assessment for Learning Network Newsletter, March 2023
When I was searching for a quote for my own educational philosophy one word that really mattered to me was connection. As a future educator in my own teaching practice this is one of my most important values. Building connections is an essential part of teaching because it will allow the teacher and students to build both trust and understanding to help create a welcoming classroom environment. I also really like the idea of learning alongside your students and this strongly aligns with my teaching philosophy. This changes the dynamic in the classroom to help build more connection and community. I believe shifting the ways of learning to be more collaborative is more holistic and brings forward a richer learning experience. Getting to know your students will help you to support their learning and will help create a decolonized assessment process. Taking time to reflect and practice a more connected and collaborative assessment process will allow for a positive classroom environment and this is something that I want to adhere to in my teaching.
One way that I will implement this philosophy in my classroom is first to ensure that I make a strong effort to get to know my students and build connections with them. This will help build a stronger sense of belonging and community in the class. Another way that will implement this philosophy in my class is by collaboratively working with them to set up classroom guidelines and expectations. Setting up rubrics as a class also could be a way to implement a more collaborative approach on assessment. And finally, reframing the way that we look at assessment to bring forward more connections is the foundation of my philosophy.
*Reflection* Something that I thought was important to consider while searching for a quote about my teaching philosophy was what kind of values I want to instil in my own class. When considering what it most important to me I thought of building connection and community with students. I think this is one of the keys to providing an enriching learning environment.