Personal Philosophy of Supervision

As a student of education, I have been able to gather many ideas and opinions about practices and ideals I want to implement in my future classroom. My philosophies about education are still being formed and continually change with every class I visit and with every educator I encounter. My ideas, admittedly, come from random experiences and intangible texts, but as I gain more experience in the field through my courses, my philosophies about teaching will become more clearly defined. These few ideas I have now will undoubtedly be added upon as I enter student teaching and my professional career, nevertheless, they are concepts of which I hope to never lose sight.

An educational philosophy is a personal statement of a teacher’s goals or belief. A teacher comes to the classroom with a distinctive set of principles and ideals that affect how a student learns and expand the child’s potential in his or her venture into knowledge. I believe that education should be active, and focus on the whole child, rather than just the content or the teacher. The three (3) principles I believe that work harmoniously with my educational philosophy are the teacher acting as a facilitator to foster critical thinking, allowing the child’s natural curiosity to steer his or her learning for personal development, and

My philosophy of education is to ensure the dynamics of the classroom providing continued support to ensure a positive learning environment, while providing instruction for all learners and to inspire my students to be productive members of society.

I believe that each child is unique individual who needs a secure, caring, and stimulating atmosphere in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. It is my desire as an educator to help students meet their fullest potential in these areas by providing an environment that is safe, supports risk-taking, and invite a sharing of ideas. There are three elements that I believe are conducive to establishing such an environment namely, the teacher acting guide, allowing the child’s natural curiosity to direct his/her learning, promoting respect for all the things and all the people.

In a developmentally appropriate, well organized environment, children grow and learn. The teacher is responsible for creating a pleasing environment that reflects the needs and interests of the children. The classroom should be designed to promote self-help and independent behavior.

Effective supervision requires establishing different levels of supervision in order to know which offenders need closer supervision from those who require less supervision (Alarid & Del Carmen, 2012). Generally, the supervision of offenders is categorized into three or four levels: maximum, medium and minimum or maximum, high, standard, and administrative (Alarid & Del Carmen, 2012). The administrative level is for probationers or parolees who have committed minor offenses, satisfied financial responsibilities, and been in compliance for two years (Alarid & Del Carmen, 2012). Probationers and parolees on the administrative level do not require a personal visit or personal contact with the officer (Alarid & Del Carmen, 2012). Individuals on the administrative level are required to call in and leave a voicemail or mail in a residence verification and employment document (Alarid & Del Carmen, 2012).

Throughout my time in Messiah College's Teacher Education Program, my beliefs, values, and knowledge of education have been challenged, reflected upon, and changed. Another way to state the latter is that my philosophy on education has been shaped by the experiences I have had within the education system at Messiah College along with surrounding school districts. The way in which teachers design curriculum and instruction have a direct correlation to the individual's philosophies of education. Having a philosophy provides teachers "with framework for broad issues and tasks, such as determining the goals of education, subject content and it organization, the process of teaching and learning, and, in general, what experiences and activities to stress in schools and classrooms" (Ornstein, 1991, p. 102).

Like a good business plan, every teacher should have a personal educational philosophy in place. Witcher, Sewall, Arnold, and Travers in Teaching, leading and learning: It’s all about philosophy (2001) say that a

From my previous experience, I found that supervision can help significantly to improve my professional practice in work with families, especially with complex cases. Therefore I highly value a regular and structured supervision in the workplace in order to be able to reflecting on and learning from the practice.

It is my strong belief that each child is entitled to a safe, secure, stimulating and caring learning environment. I always believed that each child is a unique individual with much curiosity and many academic, social and emotional needs. Children need our support in order to mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. As a teacher, one should aim to help students in fulfilling their dreams to become successful and educated individuals. We must provide them with a safe learning environment for their learning to succeed.

Although books such as Lahad (2000) and Schuck & Wood (2011) much focused on creative arts based supervision, this books directs readers into exploring different types of supervision. It also emphasises on how supervision needs to be transformed and diversified in order to meet the demands of ever evolving modalities of integrative supervision. As for Carroll & Tholstrup (2011), new therapies of different techniques and approaches are being invented, demand for analogous supervision needs to be available for professions. Whilst different modalities of therapies are being developed they too generate interest into having different supervision approaches with in therapy related professions.

maintains a safe environment for learning. A classroom should be student-centered. An outstanding educator encourages self-discipline,

The first approach that was analyzed was the directive control behaviors approach. This approach is when a supervisor has established a teacher’s problem through teacher observations, collecting data, and information on the teacher’s performance. At this time the supervisor will take over the teacher’s problem in determining a concreate plan for solving the problem during a conference held between the supervisor and teacher. The supervisor is not humiliating or reprimanding the teacher, but providing candid, concrete assistance to a teacher who is experiencing serious complications (Glickman, 2014, p. 114).

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.

The first step in classroom management is to create an environment where students feel cared for and valued. To do accomplish this, teachers need to build positive student-teacher relationships. Marazano (2003) reports in his book, Classroom Management That Works, which is cited in the Jones and Jones (2013) book, that “Positive teacher-student relationships were the foundation of effective classroom management” (p.56). I am committed to creating a safe learning environment that is organized, structured and conducive to student learning. While influencing a classroom of community learners, I strive to also build positive teacher-student relationship with all of my