My Philosophy of Education
My role as an educator is to be a teacher. Although, I feel that I am less of a teacher and more of a source of guidance for students. I believe that students already have the need for knowledge, but we as educators are pointing students in the right direction to give them the tools to be able to discover and make sense of the world around them on their own. This is why I feel that I align most closely with a constructivism philosophy of learning. I feel that students learn most efficiently when they are given opportunity for their own inquiry. By doing this, we are teaching students how to solve problems rather than simply the answers to the problems. I also felt that I align with Existentialism because of its focus on student participation in the learning process. I believe that when students have more choices throughout their education, they are more motivated to be an active participant in their education. I believe that children learn best when they are treated as equals, which is why I feel so strongly about having students participate in day-to-day decisions about their education.
I feel very strongly about my classroom environment being one that is a safe space for all students. This means that I will emphasize the importance of acceptance and take time out of each day to build skills such as empathy. This will help students with their feelings of togetherness and community, if they can learn to understand one another. I also want to foster that sense of community by having each student be responsible for something in the classroom that would contribute to the wellbeing of the classroom. Because of this sense of community and emphasis on acceptance, I feel that a diverse student body would be welcomed and encouraged in my classroom. I will take each culture presented in my classroom into account when teaching concepts as well as what things could aid in education. For example, if I have a higher number of female-identifying students in the room, I will want to include different posters and books about successful female role models in the room. This could be adapted to any culture, to make sure students are able to see and reflect on successful people just like them. They need to see themselves as being successful.
I have chosen to incorporate the following concepts into my classroom: development of self and peer relationships, combining like topics or objects into a single concept (schemas), and taking culture into consideration when developing behavioral management techniques. I feel that students should consistently work towards their own sense of self, by discovering their likes, dislikes, learning strategies, and others. Although, I feel that the development of their peer relationships also contributes a great deal to their learning as well. So, I plan to take class time to develop these relationships, giving students opportunities to learn about and connect with their peers through learning by doing group activities where they need to help one another. I feel that students benefit from grouping like topics to save space in their memory capacities. When teaching, it is easier on a child’s mind to group like topics, such as the relationship between rain and plants, rather than teaching both concepts individually at different times with no connection. I also feel that a student’s culture and upbringing affects the way they behave. So, when developing my behavioral management plan, I will take the cultures of my classroom into consideration to be flexible in terms of understanding why a student is behaving a certain way.
