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The Educational Philosophy of my Bestest Teacher: Cheryl Bunch

From the Purspektive of a Five-Year Old

Wow, I just graduated from Prekindergarten. With my diploma in my

hand, I am ready to start Kindergarten. Boy, am I excited but wait. What if

my new teacher doesnt like me? What if she is not like my bestest

teacher from preschool? I really learned a lot from my teacher as she made

my first educational experience a positive one. Here are some of her values

and beliefs, as told by her.

The first and foremost important educational goal of mine is to show each child that they

are valued and cared for. Nel Noddings writes, We should want more from our educational

efforts than adequate academic achievement and, second, will not achieve even that meager

success unless our children believe that they themselves are cared for and learn to care for

others (675). Urie Bronfenbrenner made the statement, Somebody has to be crazy about that

kid. I agree wholeheartedly with what he is saying. I believe he is saying that in order for a

child to succeed in todays society there has to be someone who believes in that child; someone

who is crazy enough about that child to give him/her the unconditional love and attention

he/she needs to develop into competent, productive members of society.

The generation of children today is faced with poverty, peer pressure, and probably most

importantly, a lack of parental involvement. With the lifestyle of todays hectic parents, there

leaves little time to invest in the lives of their children. This is leading to a generation of

children who face issues such as delinquencies, drug abuse, rebellion, violence, suicides, and

teen pregnancy. My goal is to invest quality time in these children and try to instill positive
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values in them. This investment makes the chances greater that these children will develop the

characteristics needed to become successful as they grow into leaders for their generation.

In addition to investing quality time in children, I believe it is important to help students

become intrinsically motivated. This is done by creating a learning environment that is

conducive to success. In the book, Creating Inclusive Classrooms, a critical way to motivate

children to succeed is by, providing students with access to a meaningful, interesting, and

challenging curriculum and age-appropriate and creative instructional programs (Salend 390).

Another way to help students become motivated is first, by being motivated yourself. For

example, by being enthusiastic about teaching and learning would create a positive learning

environment for the students. Next, by having a good rapport with the students also increases

their motivation as it helps to gain their trust in you. By showing interest in their interests and

recognizing their talents and special events in their life are ways to build rapport with children

which would lead to an increased motivation to learn.

One thing to remember is that a lack of motivation on the part of the teacher or the child

could result in causing a child to fail in school. In addition, frustration levels on the part of the

child can have an impact on motivation and in turn, contribute to a child who fails. For example,

children that feel incompetent would have difficulty in completing their work. Whereas, a child

who is motivated to feel successful will be able to complete a task and be more eager to try and

will enjoy being challenged.

Besides preparing for the social and emotional development of young children, the

purpose of school for preschool children has shifted to one that includes the importance of

promoting early literacy and math, and preparing children to read. One of my goals of education
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is to give children an awareness of their environment and build the groundwork for learning to

read and write. Some of the ways I plan to accomplish this is by encouraging a positive attitude

about books by having an extensive literacy center, encourage literacy-related play activities, and

by making story reading pleasurable. According to the author of the book, Literacy

Development in the Early Years: Helping Children Read and Write, children develop positive

attitudes towards reading and writing when they are being read to (Morrow 260).

Finally, in order to advance optimal learning and development in children, teachers need

partnerships with parents. Author, Eugenia Hepworth Berger believes that recent research

emphasizes that increased opportunities for childrens success when the home and school work

together (Berger 130). I believe to establish healthy relationships with the parents requires

involvement with the families. One way to achieve this would be to have open communication

with families through letters, bulletins, one-on-one contact, and telephone calls. Another method

would be solving problems by collaborating with parents rather than working alone. I feel that

when teachers have the support of the parents, they can work together toward the common goal

of seeing their children succeed in school.

Well, I am still a little nervous about Kindergarten but my bestest

teacher says she will be cheering me on. She says that Kindergarten is an

exciting place where I will explore new adventures. She seems to think that

my new teacher will be just as crazy about me as she was. If all of my

teachers are like her, how can I fail?

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Works Cited:

Berger, Eugenia Hepworth. Parents as Partners in Education: Families and Schools

Working Together. New Jersey: Pearson Education. 2008: 130.

Morrow, Lesley Mandel. Literacy Development in the Early Years: Helping Children

Read and Write. Boston: Pearson Education. 2005: 260.

Noddings, Nel. Teaching Themes of Care. Phi Delta Kappan 76, no. 9. 1995: 675.

Salend, Spencer J. Creating Inclusive Classrooms: Effective and Reflective Practices for

All Students. New Jersey: Pearson Education. 2005: 390.