My Personal Philosophy of Education Essay

My life has been influenced greatly by teachers. Since I was a child, teaching is all I wanted to do. My mother is a fifth grade teacher. I have quite a few friends that are teachers. I have been fortunate to be influenced by some great teachers throughout my academic career. I love to be around kids and I like participating in the process of learning. I appreciate learning even today. I enjoy the learning process and hope to one day influence students in the future. I hope to one day become a high school social studies teacher. I enjoy history and geography, and I especially love politics and discussing current events. I like class discussions and letting different opinions express themselves.

To be an effective educator, I believe one must have a foundation of moral and ethical principles. An educator should support the learning environment, while being flexible and teachable. He or she must also lay a foundation of beliefs on how individuals learn, seeking to enable individuals to reach their optimal potential. My personal educational philosophy begins with believing all children are unique individuals, with different emotions and different styles of learning. An educator has the incredible challenge of attempting to meet those needs. As an educator, I believe all children deserve the opportunity and resources that would better enable them to reach their maximum potential.

I have always wanted to become a teacher. From playing school with my little sisters, to volunteering a summer camps and elementary schools, there is not better feeling, to me, than to know that I have helped someone to accomplish a goal and develop better as a person. I think that there is no better way to impact the lives of other people than to become a teacher. As a teacher, not only will be able to affect the lives of these students from day t day, but I can also make an impact on the life of each child and hopefully their family as well.

For me, the decision to become a teacher is more of a way of life than a career. I have always loved school, practicing at being school marm from a young age, and voraciously devouring every shred of education offered me in my career as a student. If it were possible, I would be a student for the rest of my life. And then I still would not have learned enough. As a teacher, I hope to instill this appetite for knowledge in secondary students. They are, after all, the future leaders of the world, and what better place to expand the minds of the generations to come than here in Appalachia where education programs, especially the sciences, which I plan to teach, are poorly funded and children’s dreams

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” (Angelou, 2009) This is a truth that I have witnessed firsthand. As a child, at the tender age of seven years, I was blessed with an educator, Mrs. Cager, whose commitment to her students was so profound until I have never forgotten her. She made me feel like I was the most important person in her classroom. Her encouraging words instilled a level of confidence within me that I still cling to and apply more than 40 years later. Her commitment is directly responsible for my personal philosophy of education also being commitment.

Each student has their own unique needs and distinctive styles of learning, and progressive education allows both the teacher and student to work together and form a learning experience. In a progressivism classroom, students are thoroughly learning not only about the curriculum but also about each other. Students collaborate with each other and learn to be accepting of each other and be more accepting of differences. Another teaching philosophy that I believe in is existentialism. Existential philosophy emphasizes a student's creative choice and provides them with individual freedom. The students are then required to ask their own questions, conduct their own experiences, which in turn helps them draw their own conclusions. Although we can provide various opportunities for students, in the end it all comes down to the student's own choice. I know from my personal experience this was true for me. Although, I was afforded many great opportunities, in the end many times, I chose not to take them. These choices can end up defining the students and as teachers we can only guide them, in the end, the choice is theirs. The management and organization of a classroom are also imperative to the learning process. A teacher's own belief system may influence the way the view their

For many individuals, choosing a career is one of the hardest decisions to be faced with. The majority of students in college spend their first year stressing about what they are going to do with the rest of their life. I, fortunately, have known since I was in middle school that I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. As a future teacher I feel that essentialism and progressivism are going to be my unique philosophies of education.

Education entails individual human development in the cognitive, emotional, creative and social areas. All children are entitled to a free education regardless of race, cultural background or handicaps. For education to be an effective part of the students life, the student and teacher must be actively and enthusiastically involved in learning. A teacher needs to be well prepared and organized. They need to know the perspective goals for each student and ways to achieve these goals. Teachers need to work with students to help them grow and develop ways to use their knowledge.

I remember the early years of my childhood when I arrived at school and was received by the warm greeting of my teachers, who seemed to have special abilities to perceive if I was angry, sad, or hungry. In the classroom, I felt safe and had the confidence to tell my dreams without fear that they would make fun of them, when I was a child, my teachers made me feel loved and protected.

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.

Describe in detail your philosophy of teaching and learning and the theoretical basis for its development. Include examples of teaching and learning strategies to promote higher level thinking that align with your stated philosophy. The context for implementation of the strategies may be within your area of expertise.

"Some people make things happen, some watch while things happen, and some wonder ‘what happened?’ Which type of person are you?" author unknown.

Ever since I was a little girl I have wanted to become a teacher, I even remember playing “school” with my friends. My mother is a kindergarten teacher and she is the biggest hero in my life, I strive to one day be as much of an effective and positive role model like her. But, I do not want to be a teacher solely because my mother is a teacher, I want to teach to inspire students. I love helping students understand new material and the look of accomplishment on their faces. Lastly, I want to make a difference in every student’s

Education is the process of learning that can take place anywhere and at any time. I believe that creativity and activity as well as books and lessons are essential to the learning process. As a teacher, I hope to instill in the children a sense of knowledge and self-worth that will remain with them throughout their lives.

An existentialist sees the education system as one where the student should be able to make their own path and follow it. I see education as being led by the students, and that the federal government’s efforts to standardize curriculum is inefficient and is making obedient citizens rather than creative people capable of changing the world.