Teaching Philosophy Statement

During my time at Teachers College, I have expanded my knowledge of writing and teaching lessons in a way that engages my students while meeting their needs. Many times I have been challenged to think beyond the traditional lesson and consider ways to make the lesson innovative and engaging while meeting standards and student needs. Some lessons took longer and were tougher than others to plan, and there were times when it was harder to make something students found dull into something exciting. It is these topics that challenged me to rethink the way that I could present the material in a more relevant way that gave students a chance to engage in activities. During every step of the lesson from planning, teaching, to the post-teaching reflection that I was challenged to think about what went well, what students really liked, and what I could do better.

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 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.

Like many others from my graduating class, I left college and headed for the fast track world of law and finance. After two years crunching numbers, juggling real estate projects and emerging from Black Monday in October 1987 relatively unscathed, I realized I hated my job. Landing a teaching position at Fessenden School became a watershed event in my life. Looking back over the past years, I fully realize that teaching is an essential part of me. Michael Thompson, once said, "There are some teachers who are effective and know why, others who aren 't effective and don 't know why, and a third are effective, but aren 't quite sure why." After five years at Fessenden, I felt like the latter. Therefore, I decided to attend graduate school in order to become a more effective educator. Theory, practicum, and research aside, graduate school was an epiphany for me. It confirmed in me that leading a school was more than a choice; it was a calling.

As a teacher, my philosophy of education focuses on the individual child and their educational needs. I would like my students to feel comfortable, develop their communication skills, and build positive character traits. Along with encouraging the children to grow in a positive way, I will treat children equally for grading along with providing them with the skills they need in order to achieve the most they can academically.

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.

I believe that each child is a unique individual who needs a secure, caring, and stimulating atmosphere in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially.

Many students lose their motivation and interest in school one of the first reasons that comes to mind is “when am I ever going to use this in real life”. If a student can’t see the point of learning the topic they won’t be attentive and absorb what you’re teaching them. If the only reason they have to listen to you ramble on the topic is “because you said so” or “it’s on the test” then they will not be concerned with learning it at all. If you cannot connect the lesson plan to real life elements

I as a teachers am committed make my future classroom safe for all my students as well as engage my students through the curriculum as well as getting to know their likes and dislikes. I believe meeting the needs of my classroom, as well as the individual student by one on one interactions. Knowing I will have children with disabilities or language barriers, I will make it were students are comfortable with one another through interaction. Talking will be the highlight in the classroom, along with group work, authentic learning will be key to classroom success. My goal is to encourage all students to participate in class so everyone can learn from one another, and me the teacher as well. I know I have a very silly calmness personality in my

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

Included below is my instructional philosophy statement, which I pray you will find enjoyable. I would appreciate any feedback you’re willing to give where the following questions go:

As a future teacher, I often think of ways to teach in order to reach all of my students. However, the challenge is that not all students learn the same way. While one may remember the lesson by the words that were written on the board, another may retain the information because they listened and weren’t distracted by anything else in the classroom. There may even be one student who will remember what we did because we got out of our seats for a particular part of the lesson that integrated movement that corresponded with the lesson. This is where creativity with lesson planning is vital to a student’s success. My goal is to ensure that my students retain the information being given to them. Therefore, it is important that I make sure that I include a variety of different activities to ensure that students with different intelligences have the opportunity to learn.

Sydney J. Harris once said “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” What that quote means to me is that I have not seen the world and the opportunities it has to show me, so I want be one of those teachers who can look into different states and countries and teach all different types of people. I knew at a young age I wanted to be a teacher. All those times I would teach my dollies, I was happy, energetic and communicated well; that still applies today. In planning for a career in education, I would be able to show many people what I can accomplish, and how all my qualities will make me a great teacher.

Learning is not a skill that is necessarily instinctual or easy, and therefore different approaches must be used to make learning easier and more fun for students. Teaching is not a skill that can be memorized or made repetitive, and so teachers must continue to challenge not only their students, but also themselves. Teachers that become complacent in their jobs are not good teachers. Those who can find a way to make an old lesson new and exciting will have an energized classroom, and will be reenergized themselves.

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.