Running head: TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Teaching Philosophy
EDUC 499: Senior Seminar
Anthony J. Pennock
The Robert B. Miller College
Paula McPhee
September 11, 2014

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

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Teaching Philosophy

I once had to rewrite the American Pledge of Allegiance to reflect my career path. After
thinking for a long time I came up with, I pledge allegiance to students everywhere, for whom
represent, one united body under the assurance of academic success and moral development for
all. This statement reflects everything I believe education and teaching should be. As a younger
student, I witnessed many teachers reflect this statement in their actions. They worked
continuously to ensure their students were successful in everything they did. It did not matter
when each student succeeded at a task, it mattered the student successfully accomplished the task
at some point. These teachers became my role models and created the foundation for my entire
teaching philosophy. Throughout the years and my education, this philosophy has grown and
developed in more concrete terms in the areas of diversity and collaboration.
Diversity in the classroom is ever evolving, and it begins with the students. Students
come from all different kinds of places, home lives, and experiences. It is important for teachers
to understand where their students come from and to support their students the best they can.
Sometimes this support can be as simple as asking differentiated questions to assist students with
English as a Second Language or special education services. Teachers can also diversify their
curriculum by conducting culture studies for students from another country or culture. It is
important to me to get my students to work together as a collective body and accept one another
and their differences. I have acknowledged diversity in my student teaching by using an
interactive read aloud in social studies using the book Do Unto Otters by Laurie Keller (2007).
This book teaches manners and cultural diversity as well as provides translations for please,
thank you, and excuse me in Spanish, German, Japanese, and Pig Latin. The students loved
the book and were able to provide examples of times they were polite and used their manners at
school and at home.

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

In order to work successfully, I must be willing to collaborate with my principal, fellow

teachers, support staff, and parents. Your principal has a wealth of knowledge and can provide
great insight into next steps if you are stuck or need assistance. Fellow teachers are going
through similar experiences and can provide insight and reflection from their own experiences in
order to talk over suggestions and possible concerns which may help them in their own
classroom. Another wealth of knowledge in the school building is the support staff. Many
buildings now have behavioral interventionists, special education teachers, speech pathologists,
and literacy and mathematics coaches who are more than willing to help answer questions and
provide input. Collaboration is especially important with support staff in your building if some of
your students receive special services provided by these professionals. Input from the classroom
teacher can help these professionals understand if what they have been working on is being
successful or needs remediation. Parents are another wealth of knowledge about students because
they are the experts on how their students behave at home. I believe it is important to
communicate often, so I can attempt to get them involved in the classroom if they would like to.
Collaboration can also include Professional Learning Communities (PLC). In my student
teaching, grade level PLCs work together to develop annual and trimester goals in reading,
writing, and mathematics based on school assessment data.
When teachers are able to accept diversity and incorporate it into their classroom as well
learn to collaborate effectively with all members in the educational process, I feel students can
and will succeed. I believe that education is a vehicle for the academic and moral development of
both teachers and students but that vehicle must be driven with purpose and knowledge of the
parties involved. Only then will student success and performance be reflected in the actions and
class performance.