My philosophy of teaching is highly influenced by Vygotskys' Theory of Socio-Emotional Learning and Hillocks' Theory of Environmental Learning. I believe that effective instruction begins when the student ideas are at the center of classroom instruction. In my teaching experience, I have found that this reframes the teacher-student relationship as a partnership. When I let go of specific aims for class discussions, my students came to deeper conclusions on their own than if I led them to the answer. Their in-class discussions are instrumental in illustrating where my students are within the curriculum and what scaffolds they need. When students learned from and with others, it turned our classroom into a community. Students were more confident taking leadership roles and were not afraid to be wrong. 

     By focusing student attention on authentic problems and personally relevant subjects, they begin to see the intersection between their world and academia. This strengthens their disciplinary literacy and helps them develop their own opinions and ideas about complex topics. When I gave my students lessons that were structured around solving a problem or engaging in an authentic task they were more interested in the course curriculum. These problems placed students within the zone of proximal development, therefore, optimizing the space where learning occurs. By giving students choice within multimodal assessments and reading exercises they feel more autonomy over their education. This has helped create a classroom community where students feel trusted and respected. When my students feel heard, they are more engaged in our classroom instruction. 

     I also believe that classroom instruction should be operationalized for students. This gives students a roadmap that explains cognitive processes and expectations for classwork. I have found that when students are aware of the expectations, teachers have a better idea of how to best tailor instruction to meet the needs of all students. This makes it easier to chart and reference the growth and progression of my students. This has helped me develop a view on assessments that utilizes formative assessments to assess and alter the expectations for my summative assessments. 

     I believe that the purpose of English Education is to introduce students to literature and ideas that nurture their empathy and curiosity. When students see themselves as writers and readers, they develop a deeper understanding of the content. When they learn how to engage with the discipline, they can use their learning within different domains. Effective literature instruction gives students the tools to understand the world around them.