My Philosophy of Education

As Malcolm X so eloquently stated, “education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.”  It is thus that the role of an educator is to prepare students for ownership of the future.  Because of this responsibility, teaching, unlike many other professions, offers the opportunity for a person to directly impact, inspire and transform the life of another human being.  Furthermore, the impact of teaching can (and should) extend beyond the micro level of the individual into the macro level of the community, where the work of an educator benefits the school and the surrounding neighborhood.  As an educator who strives to accomplish the above, the following represent the core of my teaching philosophy, without which I could not fulfill the duties of a true educator: create a safe and caring classroom culture, make the learning active, differentiate the content and construct relevant and engaging content.

From the moment you walk into a classroom, you can get a sense of its culture.  For me, true learning, which requires a student to take risks, cannot occur until one feels safe and supported by everyone in the room.  As such, creating a safe and caring classroom culture represents one of the tenets of my philosophy of teaching.  However, though the above sounds straightforward, it is important to note that many classrooms lack this culture because its creation requires an explicit effort on the part of the teacher.  In general, though the specifics need to be tailored to the needs of a particular group, I plan to implement this culture through the following: collaborative assignments (in which students must work together to accomplish a task) and team building exercises (in which students begin to recognize that they are both valued and supported by the teacher and fellow classmates).

Through my student teaching experience I learned a very valuable lesson, any activity or lesson that does not actively engage students in the construction of knowledge falls short of adequately preparing students for an ownership of the future.  Put another way, teachers who present students with activities that reflect constructivist ideology are both respecting the way in which children learn best and preparing students to analyze, critique, apply and create, all of which are necessary for success in today’s society.  As such, the dominant form of instruction that will take place in my classroom will incorporate constructivist principles and move beyond the lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy.       

In almost every discussion about education the word differentiation comes up.  On paper, the idea is both logical and appealing because it makes perfect sense to meet students at their levels and use what they know to teach them what they do not know.  But in practice, because of the immense demands of differentiating every lesson and activity for every student in the class, many teachers do not put the theory into practice, or do so on a limited basis.  Despite this reality, though differentiation requires a lot of work and a deep understanding of each child and his or her unique needs, it represents a core tenet of my philosophy of education because teaching that is not differentiated does the learners an injustice.  In other words, meeting a child at his or her level (be it reading or math) is a requisite for that child to begin learning and, as such, a truly impactful teacher (which I plan to be) will do everything he or she can to do just that. 

  

Often, the focus of teachers and those who study education rests on how a topic is taught.  But, for an educator who hopes to truly prepare his or her students for ownership of the future, what is taught is just as important as how it is taught.  Because of this fact, creating content that is both relevant and engaging represents the final tenet of my teaching philosophy.  To elaborate, children often see no connection between the real world and the learning that takes place in the classroom.  Put another way, much of the learning that traditionally takes place is devoid of context and does not relate to the experiences of the learner.  As such, the content I create for my students will draw the students in because of its connection to both a real world application and the cultural and social realities of the students.