Teacher Beliefs and Biases


Students are not a one size fits all group of individuals. I believe each student is capable of learning if they are in the presence a positive and safe learning environment. Students that are in our school systems may come from different socioeconomic status (SES) and this should not automatically put this connotation on a student that coming from a low socioeconomic status means they are not able to accomplish academic achievements. In addition to varying backgrounds, each student is unique from the things that interest them, their values, hobbies, and of course how they process information. Every student has a different learning style and thus has a different way of demonstrating their knowledge on information presented in the curriculum.



Due to the ideal that no two students are the same, this also means that students express their comprehension of learning differently. For instance, one student may thrive on giving a presentation in front of the class, whereas another may become frightened at the mere thought of public speaking. In administering an assessment, my goal is to push my students out of their comfort zone while allowing students to learn from their peers. If I was to give a performance assessment like the one my group did this week, I would allow for my students to work in groups. This not only allows for one to learn from peers, but also to take some of the weight off of my students shoulders in becoming more comfortable performing skills they will need to possess in their future job opportunities.  

When it comes to selecting assessments, I think the key is to remember that we cannot make our students out of cookie cutters. That being said, I intend to provide students with options for ways they can demonstrate their knowledge on assessments. Another thing I will have to keep in mind when deciding which assessments to use is the subject matter I am teaching. For instance, if I am teaching a unit on DNA, I may use a project-based assessment to determine knowledge. Whereas if I was teaching a unit on evolution, a skit may be more appropriate to show the process of how an organism changes over time.

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