As a teacher, my goal is to create a classroom where students have the opportunity to share their ideas and work together to build their knowledge. The major guiding principle that influences my teaching style is the idea that learning is a cooperative process. Through collaborative work, I hope students’ critical thinking and logical reasoning skills will be exercised. My ultimate goal is to provide students with an education that extends past the time in my classroom. 

          A major influence on my teaching style would be the theory of constructivism. This learning theory essentially means that people are constantly taking in new information, assessing it, and fitting it into their previous knowledge. In the constructivist classroom, a teacher should serve more as a guide and resource to students. The students are ultimately left with an involved role in their learning experience. In my classroom, I will encourage a classroom culture that celebrates effort and where students work actively to construct their own knowledge. 

          A concept that can be incorporated with my other guiding principles is Lev Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD is the area between what a student is capable of doing and what they can do with appropriate guidance. An application of this concept involves the teacher assessing students’ current understanding and creating lesson plans that stimulate learning.  In order for effective lessons to be taught, a teacher must accurately determine students’ capabilities and create lesson plans that allow students to work together and reach their highest potential. Cooperative learning allows students to learn concepts in depth if the teacher and fellow students provide the appropriate support. Ultimately, the more students are able to work in their ZPD, a deeper familiarity with the concept is reached.  

          Another concept that influences my teaching style is Carol Dweck’s concept of a “growth mindset”. In education, it is vital to promote a healthy relationship between failure and effort for students. Growth mindset focuses on the importance of hardwork as the journey to mastery. It is important for students to view ‘failures’ as an opportunity to improve, rather than the traditional view of failure as the absolute end. As an educator, it is my responsibility to promote a mindset that enables students to face obstacles in a healthy way. One way to accomplish this is through productive failure, which enables students to practice how to solve a problem, rather than applying specific formulas or memorized facts. Not only would this mindset be beneficial for school, but it would produce well-rounded people who are more confident when struggling with something new or unfamiliar.

          In conclusion, my primary goal for teaching is to promote valuable reasoning skills through the use of productive failure and cooperative learning. I will build a classroom culture that celebrates effort, and where multiple teaching styles are used to be as inclusive as possible.  My lessons will involve engaging activities that focus on student participation; these lessons will motivate an interest in science while simultaneously building valuable critical thinking skills for the future.