WHAT IS MY POSITION?
BY HALEY TURNER
This website demonstrates my personal philosophy and position on inclusive education, it details the concepts, practical strategies and research that has informed my viewpoint. It demonstrates my capacity and experience in creating an inclusive education classroom. Wherever possible I have used evidence to demonstrate my teaching attributes.
This is my journey through Inclusive Education and my position.
This is my journey through Inclusive Education and my position.
My Position- Empathy toward Equity
I feel that one of my greatest assets as a teacher will be my empathetic nature. As mentioned in my professional practice report comments, I have "an interest in student welfare," are able to create a "caring/ positive/ safe learning environment" given my ability to elicit "positive relationships with students."
I believe that my empathetic and caring nature came from those who taught me, both teachers and my family. The sayings 'treat people how you would like to be treated' and 'don't judge a book by its cover' are so cliche, yet they are mindsets that I have carried with me from a very young age. We need to be able to understand the needs and feelings of others in order to be equitable, and this understanding comes from experience. I have had multiple experiences that have helped shape me to become who I am today as an inclusive teacher (shown in my personal stop animation video).
Agreeing with Baron-Cohen (2011), unfortunately some teachers "just assume empathy will develop in every child" as currently in the education system we "put little time, effort or money into nurturing it." We can't assume this, we cannot assume that all students are empathetic in our classroom especially towards those with additional needs. So it is our job to step up as teachers and provide all students with equitable experiences that nurture these values. We as humans have so much to learn about ourselves through the needs of others and as a teacher I will have so much to learn not only about the way students learn but how I learn.
I feel that one of my greatest assets as a teacher will be my empathetic nature. As mentioned in my professional practice report comments, I have "an interest in student welfare," are able to create a "caring/ positive/ safe learning environment" given my ability to elicit "positive relationships with students."
I believe that my empathetic and caring nature came from those who taught me, both teachers and my family. The sayings 'treat people how you would like to be treated' and 'don't judge a book by its cover' are so cliche, yet they are mindsets that I have carried with me from a very young age. We need to be able to understand the needs and feelings of others in order to be equitable, and this understanding comes from experience. I have had multiple experiences that have helped shape me to become who I am today as an inclusive teacher (shown in my personal stop animation video).
Agreeing with Baron-Cohen (2011), unfortunately some teachers "just assume empathy will develop in every child" as currently in the education system we "put little time, effort or money into nurturing it." We can't assume this, we cannot assume that all students are empathetic in our classroom especially towards those with additional needs. So it is our job to step up as teachers and provide all students with equitable experiences that nurture these values. We as humans have so much to learn about ourselves through the needs of others and as a teacher I will have so much to learn not only about the way students learn but how I learn.