Philosophy of Education

Alexandria Pearson
Educating the youth is an enormous job. Educational success comes from
sacrifice, determination, and a desire to make the world a better place. To be an excellent
educator one must realize the obstacles inoled and be ready to attack these obstacles
!poerty, different learning styles, and unfortunate external stimuli" head on with the
students# best interests in mind. $y philosophy of education begins with a ery simple
%uestion &'hat am ( doing to make a difference)* A teacher must use the opportunities
gien not only to promote learning but challenge children to become better people.
As an educator, life long learning is an integral aspect of the profession.
Education is a field that is constantly eoling. Teachers must constantly search for new
ways to reach students and be able to use those techni%ues within the classroom.
Teachers must be priy to new laws enacted in the field, as well as, new research done on
the arious disabilities and learning styles of students. +nderstanding research, laws, and
techni%ues will gie an educator the knowledge and power to implement the most cutting
edge lessons. ,eing a life long learner is a daily process. A teacher must be willing to
try new techni%ues to reach A-- children. -ife.long learning and the desire to continue
learning is a trait that all good teachers attempt to inspire in students. 'hile in school,
teachers need to show students the benefits and excitement of retaining and manipulating
information. As an educator ( attempt to promote cultural awareness, literacy, and an
internal desire for all of my students to be great. Effectie teachers model perseerance
and are accessible to students at a ariety of times.
,ehaior management is an essential part of any classroom and without an
understanding of behaiors and different management techni%ues a teacher is at a grae
disadantage. ,ehaior management is practiced eery day from the moment a child
enters the classroom. This begins with fostering relationships and building structure
within the classroom. As a /0
st
century educator is it important to build relationships
with students that foster achieement and are positie. 1tudents must trust the teacher to
reach their full potential. (n modeling positie behaior and empathy ( can hae a
positie effect on student academic success and personal achieement. 1tructure is
another important aspect of behaior management. 2rom the minute a student enters my
classroom, he or she knows what is expected of them for that day and what they must
accomplish. 3old high expectations for students and they will not disappoint4 create a
positie, risk.free enironment and students will feel safe4 hae a consistent structured
agenda and students will know the expectations held each day.
As the general education population becomes more dierse 5 collaboration is
essential. 6ollaboration between general education, special education, administration,
and parents is a must4 collaboration between general education students and special
education students is a must4 collaboration between high.leel learners and low.leel
learners is a must. 'e all hae something to learn from each other. ( tell my students
eeryday when ( hae learned something from them7 'e all come from different places,
hae different opinions, and hae walked different paths therefore we all hae
perspecties and understandings that we can teach to others. ( make sure that each
student#s oice is heard and that they all work and collaborate with each other. ( also
model this on a day.to.day basis when ( collaborate with the teachers within my
department, special education department, other departmental teachers, security officers,
administrators, parents and een the students themseles. ( make sure my students see
me work with eeryone within the school because eeryone within that school has
something great to offer. 6ollaboration is essential when teaching a dierse group of
learners.
(n order to promote learning through all intelligences in an attempt to reach as
many students as possible, ( implement 8ardner#s Theory of $ultiple (ntelligences.
1tudents must be able to see it, read it, say it, hear it, use it, manipulate it, analyze it, etc.
,y tapping into many forms of intelligence teachers can reach the maximum capacity of
students. This can be accomplished using differentiated instructional techni%ues. 3aing
students collaborate with each other and feed off of each other#s strengths allows for
maximum learning potential for A-- students.
(n conclusion, my philosophy is simple make eery day count by asking, &what
am ( doing to make a difference in the lies of my children)* (t is imperatie to push
students to be better people and better learners. This is done through modeling the
behaior wanted 5 life.long learning, excellence in and out of the classroom, and
sacrifice for the greater good. ( strie eery day within the classroom to make each
student beliee that he or she can achiee something greater 5 no matter the path they
take.