1. SIB 1
Statement of Informed
Beliefs
Laura Flores
12/15/2011

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Statement of Informed Belief
Teachers face many challenges. There are the students who don’t learn the same. As a
teacher they must come up with a lesson plan that has more than one intelligent learning style in
mind. Not only do they not learn the same but have different culture backgrounds, and must take
into count of being open-minded to each culture, and also involve their culture into their
education. Then above everything else there are going to be some students with learning
disabilities that will need extra help, and must make sure that all students understand the lesson
then pass the standardizes tests. I will keep mind all of this when I become a teacher. I
understand that students are like snowflakes; no one student is the same like the other. As a
teacher I will address that all students can learn, my expectations as a teacher, student’s social
ecology, culture diversity instruction, and how I will have a curriculum for all learners.
All Students Can Learn
All students can learn, however, how well they can learn has to do with teacher’s
teaching style, and lesson plan management. Ensuring that students learn is always little difficult
because of the different learning styles. However, when students are able to put in some input
and have fun with the lesson they are more in favor of learning. I have observed that when
students are able to direct their learning they are more focused on getting the assignment done.
Learner directed curriculum, which is learning activates emerges from the students interest with
the teacher guidance (Berns p 178). In my observation, the teacher had the student set their rules
for their community where the students created businesses. The students came up with their
“money” was, regulations and guides, to appointing sheriff, judges, and fines. Through this
assimilation, the students learned how a business’s work in a community. She checked for
understanding when it was time to for the businesses to open in their community. In some ways,

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this activity was also teacher directed curriculum based. The teacher made this lesson for all the
students, but allowed for the students to come with their own rules for the community. The
students enjoyed this because they were involved, had power, and had freedom of make the
rules.
According to William Glassers’ Choice Theory, everyone is born with specific needs that
must be satisfied. The four psychological needs are: belonging or connecting, power or
competence, freedom, and fun (Sullo p 8). If these needs are not satisfied the student will be
succeed in school or life. Students need to feel that they belong and connect with others. This in
turn brings them motivation to learn and succeed in school. Power and competence go hand in
hand. Through competence, achievements, and mastery concepts comes power. Students get
power and feel powerful when they master the lesson. When students feel free they will be less
disrupt in class. Students enjoy having choices and will be more motivated. Unlike, students that
feel they don’t have any freedom. Above everything students need to have fun. According to
Sullo, “the intimate connection between fun and learning is particularly important in school,”
(Sullo p 9). A classroom with no joyful activities is not motivating students to learn. Students are
more likely to learn when they are having fun.
Teachers Expectations
Teacher’s expectation influences a student’s ability to learn and their education goal by
how the teacher responds and reacts to the student. When I first went to school I didn’t know a
word of English. Over time I learned to speak English. This for me was very difficult. I noticed
that teachers did not hold me to the same standards as other students who had English as their
primary language. From the teacher’s perception of me was that I will not do well as the other
students. I was always held to a lower standard. Even as I got older, and English became my

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permanent language. It still made me feel that I was not important and did not matter as much. I
didn’t have to work as hard and I was able to meet their expectations easily. At first the zone of
proximal development had a big gap of what I couldn’t do alone, so the teacher had guide me
step by step. Eventually, was no longer challenged to meet my educational goals; yet my
educational goals did not change. It wasn’t till college where I was held to a much higher
standard; I am being challenged so inter I am not bored with my educational goals.
“Setting standards is well and good, but standards are meaningless unless students work
to achieve them,” (Sullo p 82). Having standards an expectation are good, but if they are too easy
to achieve it is worthless. Educational standards are to be met and the teacher’s expectations
need to meet the standard. Educational goals should be a goal that student is trying to meet and
not something the student has already achieved. If the student is meeting their educational goal
then the goal should be reviewed to make it more challenging for the student. I believe that if the
teacher has high expectations the students will achieve more because they are being pushed to
meet their educational goal.
Students’ Social Ecology Theory
When getting ready to present any lesson to students they are more likely to remember
the lesson more if it is connected to them in some way. Many students think that lessons are not
connected to their life, so they don’t put effort in learning the new concept of the lesson plan.
When making a lesson plan it is good idea to connect it to other subjects, or to events that happen
in life. For example, when teaching simple math, using: “If Johnny had 5 cookies and gave 2
away to his friend. How many cookies does Johnny have left?” having a sort of connection will
make the students more eager to learn. Knowing that they will use it in their life makes them
want to learn the lesson verse learning things because they have to.

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There are good impacts that family, culture, and communities impact students’ learning
but it can have a down fall as well. In the good way, supportive parents are involved and
encouraging students to learn. In some cultures school is a very high priority, and push schooling
as much as possible. Even in some communities there are strong feelings about having the high
quality education. On the other hand, these same elements can be a downfall. In some families,
education is not on the “to list do.” It could be that the students parents are high school drop outs,
or just don’t care about their child’s education. In other cultures, don’t support education because
of certain beliefs. There are even communities that can’t fund, or have the same value for
education has they do for other city projects.
Cultural Diversity Instruction
I would acknowledge students’ ethnic background by building life histories, and experiences
by investing time in researching their ethnic backgrounds. As I was growing up I remember how
it feels to be in the minority group. In some ways I felt unwelcomed. I will try to reach out to the
student by tying in something form they culture into the lesson. This could be from reading short
stories to simply tying in a fact back to the student’s ethic background.
Cultural pluralism and cultural assimilation are the opposite from each other. Cultural
pluralism is when there is a mutual understanding, and an appreciation for different languages,
lifestyles, and culture beliefs; that exist within the society. In schools, this can be by celebrating
the minority’s celebration, speaking/teaching the language, or acknowledging culture difference.
On the other hand culture assimilation is when the minority group has to adapt to the majority’s
customs, language, holidays, and beliefs. There is no acknowledgment of the minority’s
language, customs, language, or holidays. The majority group becomes the dominant group and
the minority group as to adapt to it.

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Curriculum for all Learners
A teacher will have to make adjustments in planning, delivery, and assessment depending on
student’s learning styles. In planning a lesson plan the teacher will have to deliver it in more
than one learning style to teach the lesson, so that when the teacher is delivering the lesson it has
different learning styles incorporated.
How a teacher assessment informs instructional planning and delivery by giving
assignments/homework, and looking for what worked. If the students seem to do well that means
that delivery method worked. On the other hand, if it did not work then the teacher will have to
try a different teaching style that fits the students better. Another method is by having the
student repeat back what they understood to see where the students got lost.
A teacher will ensure that each learner improves from his or her original level from
where they started by reviewing, and assessments. Many students need to have more reviews,
and have lessons be broken down into smaller units. The assessments will be helpful to see if the
students are catching on to the concept of the lesson; checking for understanding. The teacher
will have to find what learning style the student is and what teaching style works best for the
student to advance to the next lesson. Repeating the lesson and giving the student more practice
is way to help the student reach the next goal in their educational goal.
I believe that when I become a teacher I have to be open-minded out many things.
This is from how to teach, ideas, lessons to how the student’s parents are. Know that each
student is different, but must learn the same material by end of the school year. I want to be able
connect with my students and have them be successful in school. Each student can learn no
matter how many obstacles they have to go over, and I must learn to help go through those
obstacles without giving in to failure.

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Works Cited
Berns, R. M. (2010). Child, Family, School, Community Socialization and Support. Belmont: Wadsworth.
Sullo, B. (2007). Activating the Desire to Learn. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum
Development.