I have considered myself to be a reflective person since I first began studying philosophy at Memorial - every aspect of my personal life revolves around focused and reflective thought, from shooting and studying to woodworking and carving. Examining my belief system regarding teaching (more appropriately, from the perspective of a teacher) has proven to be most interesting and indeed, most difficult. Part of my belief system is based in the ancient Greek motto: "Know thyself." That is, I believe that one ought to have not only a belief system, but an intimate knowledge of what s/he believes. If anyone is foolish enough to think that they know their beliefs perfectly, all you have to do is ask them if they think that they are free - most people will answer yes in full confidence . . . until you ask them why. To say that "I believe. . ." is a profound statement - it precludes all other interpretations of any given matter, and therefore, one ought to truly know what it is that s/he believes so that, at the very least, s/he can feel certain that s/he does not really believe something else. Beyond that, it is also important to know one's beliefs because they are not fixed but instead they are very dynamic - in a state of constant flux (hence the fact that we call them beliefs rather than knowledge), which is why there are many teachers with entirely different belief systems.

Being an effective teacher is what this whole course is about. In my own understanding, effective teaching is simply (though it is anything but simple, as I am discovering through class and via my observation days) how well a teacher is at getting students to learn, especially (though this should not be the limit) how well s/he gets students to learn the prescribed curriculum. A teachers belief system has a direct and necessary influence on how effectively s/he educates his/her students. As we have discussed in class, beliefs form the foundation for our decision making in the classroom and this is of cardinal importance because of the sheer amount of decisions that teachers are forced to make in the run of a day. As Anthony J. Nitko writes (quoting two other authors): "Teaching and learning require you to constantly gather information and make decisions. Teachers often need to make decisions about students at the rate of one every two to three minutes." ¹ These decisions range from allowing a student go to the washroom, prescribing detention, writing test questions, to possibly suspending someone. There are no simple answers and after the proverbial smoke has settled, all a teacher has to fall back on for support is his/her reason(s) for deciding x instead of y: his/her beliefs.

As I stated above, there is no clear definition of which beliefs may be considered good and which bad - there are supporting documents and testimonials for every belief which has been thought through, and I am not naïve enough to assume that my own are the be-all-end-all (as it were). Indeed, that is one of the considerations that everyone ought to have - since beliefs are what we hold onto in the absence of truth, we should always be open to different interpretations, otherwise we are exhibiting elements of tenacity, which is a dangerous position for anyone to be in (in my humble opinion). An example where I feel that my personal belief system would have a positive impact on student learning is my belief that students should, as much as possible, be immersed in whatever they are learning.

In University, we are immersed in the sheer lifestyle of learning, but at the Intermediate/Secondary level, many students rely on the classroom experience for their main learning activities. Therefore, if I were to teach a poetry unit, I would surround students by as much poetry as possible, both from secondary sources and with writing of their own. I feel that by having poetry around them every single class, accompanied by my passion for the subject, students would respond better to the material than if I did not do this. My belief in this matter is not one that I have magically absorbed from the atmosphere, but it is one which is based in pedagogy - on my reading of an article written by Lyn Langer Meeks, entitled "Making English Classrooms Happier Places to Learn." ² An example of how my personal belief system would possibly have a negative impact on a situation in which I was teaching would be based on my belief that students ought to have the capacity for individual learning in addition to assisted learning. That is, I believe that a certain amount of discipline and effort should be put forward by students in order to make learning an active process, rather than simply trying to learn through osmosis. Most students may not be familiar with this kind of teaching or simply may not be willing to learn actively, which could result in an immediate negative response to my decision to place a portion of the responsibility of learning on their shoulders. However, I feel that I also ought to mention that while this would create an immediate negative response, in the long term my hope would be that even those who felt that I was wrong would one day look back and agree with my decision.

These are only two examples of my personal belief system and they are both subject to change. I may find that students do not care whether they are surrounded by poetry or not, or that placing responsibility for learning in the hands of students is a great mistake. However, at this point in time, these are my personal beliefs which are founded on research, personal insight and what I have learned thus far in my efforts to become a teacher - "What I believe right now is . . ." is all that anyone can say.