Educational Philosophy

Hannah Fuller
My favorite quote about teaching was one said by Carl W. Buehner, They may
forget what you said but they will never forget how you made them feel. Through my
own experience of being in school and observing classrooms, I have found that when a
student feels as though he/she is not good enough, they will not put themselves in a
positive position to learn. However, when you make your students feel as though they
are smart enough to learn, they will open up to new ideas. To effectively teach my
students, I will use planning, instruction, and assessment. An organized classroom
paves the way to success.
Planning is very important to me, personally. I am an extremely organized person
and will organize my classroom in such a way that all my time is used effectively.
Starting off, I will write up detailed lesson plans and schedule in time for questions and
work time. This way, I can personally speak to students and address any issues that were
not understood. By watching and interacting with my students, I will see how each
student learns and from there, I can assess each students specific needs. Through a lot
of student/teacher communication, I will set up additional tools to help students who
are struggling. If I give my students the right tools to help them learn, they will feel more
motivated. And there is no stopping a motivated student!
Another key component of an organized classroom is instruction. One component
of instruction is the learning environment. The most important aspect of my classroom
will be the positive learning environment. Through my elementary school days, I have
experienced negative education environments, where I found it extremely hard to work
and thrive. My classroom will be a safe and comfortable place for my students to learn.
Once they feel safe and feel comfortable participating, they will have the opportunity to
be very engaged in the learning material. Students can stretch their minds and not be
afraid to ask questions or share their personal thoughts on a topic.
Lastly, assessment is very important to student learning. Assessment helps
teachers know if their teaching is being effective. Assessment can be done in a variety of
ways, and I plan to use different assessments to test the knowledge of my class. I will
plan in diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments to my lessons to make sure

that students are able to find a type that works for them. The main point of assessments
is that students will be tested on their knowledge. As a teacher, I will not just grade tests
and hand them back to the students. I will also look them over and see what percent of
my class is learning the material and who just is not quite understanding it. From there,
I can look back at my behavior and see if I am effectively teaching my students. If more
than half the class misses the same questions, I can go back and rework that area of my
lesson plan. If just a few students are not understanding the concepts, I can set up times
to work with them after school or during work time in class. I will go back and show my
students the missed test answers and help them understand why their answer was
wrong. This way they can learn the right way to approach the problem and apply what
they learned the next time it appears in their life. I want to show my students that you
should not just memorize material, but also apply it!