My Original Teaching Philosophy Statement

I see students as the next generations’ heroes in so many fields. In my vision, I have to inspire students and prepare them with confidence, knowledge, experience and skills. Which means I encourage, communicate, guide, teach, and assess students in order to enrich their infrastructures.

I believe I have something to offer, that I can make a difference in children’s lives togetherwith a desire to work with children from underprivileged backgrounds. According to Marland (2007, p. 16) the pre-formal phase of teaching is observing teachers in your world eventually plays a vital role in shaping who you will become as a teacher. This applies to myself as I have been a scout leader for over 25 years and there is a parallel between teaching and leading a pack of scouts. I also was a kindergarten assistant for many years at my children’s’ kindergarten and this shaped my desire to complete formal qualifications to become an early childhood teacher.

I believe that with motivation and guidance, children of all backgrounds can harbor success in the educational world and receive the skills they need to have a successful and prosperous life. It is a teacher’s duty to encourage lifelong learning, consider individual learning styles and aptitudes, and self-reflect on how to improve. My experiences as an engineer, a person of color, a pre-service teacher, and a STEM advocate have culminated together to form my educational values and philosophy.

2) I believe sharing support of ELLs and ensuring an inclusive approach relies greatly on the teachers themselves, specifically the classroom and ELL teacher. Fairbaim & Jones-Vo mention two things that I believe would work these are collaboratively planning lessons and co-teaching. By planning lessons together, both teachers are on the same page, They each understand the respected needs of their students and able to work together to create ways in which lessons are excited to optimize student success. I also think having another person perceptive is beneficial as their teaching experiences may offer you some guidance. In terms of co-teaching, I think this directly benefits the students. We all have different ways of teaching and I think students

Education is defined as the lifelong process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and values through either formal means, such as schooling, or informal means, such as firsthand experiences or vicarious experiences gained through reading books or discussions. Every person that is or wants to be a teacher has his or her own educational philosophy. We all have our own views, methods, and curriculum that we were taught when growing up. A lot of people may have the same teachers in school, but all of them learn different things from that teacher.

My decision to teach stems from a desire to positively impact student’s lives by sharing my love of learning and showing them that learning can be fun. The teacher education program has taught me that each student is unique and it is my responsibility to meet each student where they are, making learning relevant, meaningful and comprehensible to them on a personal level. My best teaching experiences have been lessons that incorporate hands on learning that allows students to learn and express their creativity. It is my fervent hope that I will be able to secure a teaching position in the Floyd County school system; Rome is my home and I want to give back to the academic community that supported me as I prepared for my college education and my future career as an educator.

As a future teacher, I believe that the students in my classroom will need to be disciplined rather than controlled because I believe in their ability to develop self-discipline when given the chance to do so. I think that students are basically good, but there are students who may become disruptive when they are under or over-stimulated by the content, work, or even personal life. Based on this belief, I think that students need to be taught to handle situations where they are prone to misbehave, but most importantly they need support from the teacher in order to learn this behavior. I believe that all students are equal in a sense that they should all be treated equitably to meet each of their individual needs. There is no single student who is more important than their peers no matter how good of a student they are

I believe that teaching is one of the most important professions in the world today. From the very beginning, until present time, teaching has been around. The book of Genesis speaks of God walking and talking with Adam in The Garden of Eden, God was teaching Adam. I will be proud to, one day, be a part of this great calling.

Aristotle once said, “The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.” Teaching enables students to gain the intelligence needed to excel in life. I believe that a teacher’s philosophy of education is a crucial role in his or her approach to leading students on their educated path. A philosophy of education is the set of beliefs that every school and every teacher stand behind. The certain philosophy that one chooses provides the answers to many vital questions, such as the purpose of schooling, a teacher’s role, and what should be taught in the classroom.

I believe that education extends far beyond the classroom walls, and involves many more people than students and teachers. People should be learning wherever they go, and should continue learning long after they’ve graduated from high school or college. Education isn’t something that can be quantified with tests or report cards, but is instead something that people carry with them. It’s a survival pack for life, and some people are better equipped in certain areas than in others. People with a solid education are prepared for nearly anything, as they will be able to provide for their own physical, emotional, and aesthetic needs.

Every teacher has a different method of teaching. The teachers that I have had in my school career have been no exception. In this way, each teacher has set an example for me, as a future teacher, to follow or not to follow as I see fit. With the examples from my teachers and in continuing my education, I am developing my own method of teaching. I plan to use a combination of teaching methods in my own classroom. My method will be an eclectic approach because I will be using components of more than one philosophy. I will be using essentialism, behaviorism, progressivism, and existentialism.

I believe every child has the abilities to succeed in every area of learning when given a warm, calm and stimulating atmosphere. A child’s success is my main goal. Teaching young children is the most rewarding job to me because I know with careful and purposeful teaching I can make a difference in each child’s life. I have created learning environments that are exciting and meaningful for young children. Creativity is one of my main focuses in all areas of learning. I want to see children draw pictures on plain paper and not color in coloring books, build houses and castles with blocks and not have a picture design to work from and begin to learn about who they are through imaginative play. I can learn about each child while observing or playing with them during their creative moments and I feel these opportunities are priceless.

My role as a teacher is to open the door to knowledge and critical thinking as wide as needed for all to enter. While I recognize that self-direction is an important tool for learning that works well for some students, I also recognize that other students may need help and support in obtaining their educational objectives. I believe that I have a fundamental obligation to assist students who need assistance in crossing the threshold, as well as to encourage the self-directed to stay focused. To accomplish this vision and welcome all students through the doorway, I see teaching and learning as having three interwoven stages: exposing students to new concepts, facilitating understanding of the material, and developing well-supported and reasoned arguments that challenge existing thinking.

Since taking my first few educational courses in education, I have realized that my philosophy on education changes as I learning more about the profession I have entered. Every time I think I have come to a final belief statement, I learn something new about teaching and sometimes the things I learn causes me to alter my philosophy. Therefore, I will share with you what I believe about teaching and what I’ve learned at this point.

My teaching philosophy is to create an environment that stimulates learning so that students gain the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to become proficient professionals. While teaching foundational knowledge is important, there are other essential skills and abilities that students must acquire in order to successfully transition from being a student to becoming a physical therapy professional. These skills and abilities include thinking critically as well as interacting and communicating effectively with patients and other health care practitioners. I emphasize to students that it is imperative to realize the impact of developing a therapeutic rapport with patients while providing quality, patient-centered care to optimize the healing process. Therefore, when deciding what to teach, I not only consider the content presented, but also how I can foster discussions with students so that they can apply information based on varying contextual factors. I also attempt to provide students a framework for how to achieve professional excellence, which I aim to model as I fulfill my roles and responsibilities as a teacher and provider of clinical instruction. This framework is rooted in five central tenets: