A philosophy statement in an educational context is typically a statement in which you explain your tenets and beliefs as they inform your thinking, teaching, and learning in your classroom. For my comprehensive exams in my PhD program at UConn, the process was quite extensive…and the work completed was extensive as well.
In later years, I started playing with different digital texts and tools as a way to create and curate my digital identity. In this post, I would like to share several opportunities to create and share your philosophy statement and share it on your blog with the community.
The written, text philosophy statement (approx. 120 minutes)
If you so choose, you can write up a text philosophy statement that encompasses the theories and principles that inform your beliefs about teaching and learning. For this activity, your philosophy statement should be a page long. Please include the relevant citations needed to back up what you’re saying. Present a statement of philosophy and pedagogy that describes your tenets regarding “best cognition and instruction practices.” As you present these points of view, refer to at least one philosopher, psychologist or educational psychologist who would express opposing views to yours.
As close your statement, we ask that you think about the future given your philosophical views. Be visionary. List one good and one bad thing that you think likely to happen to education in the next 25 years.
Once again…this statement should not go beyond one single-spaced page (not including references). You can write a longer one when you go for your PhD. 🙂 Post your statement to your blog and share it out to the relevant social networks.
The Six Word Credo (approx. 120 minutes)
This idea originally came from the 2013 version of the #CLMOOC. In this activity, we were to write down six words that identify who were are. After writing down the six words, use Mozilla Popcorn Maker to create a digital representation of this content. You are remixing digital content in Mozilla Popcorn to create much of the same ideas you share in your philosophy statement. You can check out two versions of how I used Popcorn to create and share my six word credo…and then an extended statement.
If you’re interested in creating your own six word memoir using Mozilla Popcorn…I created a starter text to get you rolling. You can access and remix the Popcorn clip by clicking here. Review the starter video below….remember that you can change anything you want to change and remix it in the clip.
My “one” page using Mozilla Thimble (approximately 60 minutes)
You can also create an share “one” page using Mozilla Thimble. You can read more about my thinking as you create your own “one page” on the Internet. I recommend creating your “one” page using Thimble. You can remix my page here, or remix the page that Doug Belshaw created. To remix it…click the green Remix button in the top right corner. Have fun typing in the left pane and seeing what pops up on the right.
Think outside of the box (approximately 30 minutes)
You could of course think of a tool that we haven’t even discussed up to this point. You can create something in Storify, or record a YouTube clip. You could make an animation or PowToon. You might even chose to record something in Vine or Instagram as seen below. Think, play, create and share.
Cover image creative commons licensed (BY-SA) flickr photo by TheAlieness GiselaGiardino²³: http://flickr.com/photos/gi/47664852
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