Brenna Johnson

ECE 441

Mary Bowne

November 19, 2018

My Philosophy of Education

I believe educators have their own philosophies on teaching that directs them through

their professional career. This philosophy demonstrates their beliefs and understanding of how

children learn and develop. A philosophy of education shares how teachers will best ensure a

quality education for the students in their care. My philosophy of education shares my beliefs in

the roles of families, educators, purpose of assessment, and how children learn best.

It is my belief that all children are unique individuals, and are capable of amazing things.

In my eyes, these children require guidance and support from myself, as their educator, to assist

them as they are developing and discovering who they are. It is my desire as an educator to

provide a safe environment for children, develop a curriculum in that children have hands-on

learning, and also share my passion of learning onto the children.

In my experiences of working with children, I have discovered there are many children

whose home lives distract them from gaining a favorable education. Children need guidance,

support, and encouragement outside of the classroom as well as within the classroom. The

children’s families are the first and most important teacher. Parents play a central role in the

children’s education and in their growth and development. It is within the family where children

first learn the wrongs and rights they will carry throughout their lives. From the very first

moment, the families provide nurture and care for young children. All children have certain

needs in order for them to reach their full potentials, but not all students have these needs
provided for in their homes. My classroom will be a safe and encouraging place where all

children will feel free to express themselves and not be afraid to be their own, unique self.

The parents serve as a role-model in the children’s education, cultural values, guidance,

and behavioral characteristics. The involvement from the family is important in children’s

education, because parents know their children better than anyone else. I believe the family’s role

in education is very important. Therefore, it is important for myself and the parents to work

together for the benefit of their students. As the family knows their children best, it is essential

for the family and I to establish goals for the students to work towards during the year. Both

myself and the children’s parents should encourage the students to work towards their goals and

excel in their education. A wholesome education involves positive relationships among the

parents, children, and teachers.

It is essential that children are valued, nurtured, and respected as individuals. It is my role

as an educator to assume responsibility for all children’s personal and educational development. I

will take on a wide variety of roles as an educator, in order to support my student’s success. It is

my responsibility to act as a role model for my students. I will ensure they feel comfortable to

communicate their needs and abide in me when seeking information. I will support them in their

decisions and enable them to make their own choices. It is my goal to assist and witness that

learning occurs within all students.

Due to my passion of learning and ensuring all children have the ability to learn, I

decided to become an educator. In making this decision, I have made the commitment to myself

and my future students to be the best academic, personal, and ethical role model I can be. I will

abide by the NEA Code of Ethics in my professional teaching career. I will follow those ethical

standards in order to protect my students, families, community, and colleagues. By doing so, it is
my goal to instill a love of learning in my students, as I share my own passions for learning with

them.

In this commitment with children, I have to always remember they learn in unique ways.

When looking at a room full of children, I do not see one group of learners. I see a group of

individuals, with infinite capacities for learning. All students are able to learn, it just might be in

a different way or on a different day. All learners come from unique backgrounds. Learning

begins long before they enter the classroom, their life experiences play an immense role in how

they learn. There is a common saying that states, if children live with shame, they learn to feel

guilty. If children live with encouragement, they learn to be confident. This helps me understand

why it is important to recognize children’s past experiences, to fully understand all children, and

how they learn. Therefore, it is important for me to meet the children where they are at, or reach

all students on a personal level. Differentiation, an instruction method that activates the Zone of

Proximal Development (ZPD), responds to the individual children’s abilities. Vygotsky (1987)

distinguished that the Zone of Proximal Development determines the difference between the

actual developmental level and the level of potential development. With the ZPD, Vygotsky

believes learners grow into their potentials as they interact with the people in their environment

and cooperating with their peers. Children learn and grow through the socialization and

cooperation that occurs during play. I, as an educator, will not direct my children or mold my

children into who they are going to become, but rather allow them to be creative and create their

own path. As children learn best through hands on learning and through play, children are

continuously making new discoveries and constructing new knowledge. Learning is a process,

and in my classroom children will play a role in their own learning process.
 While learning, I believe it is important to allow children to interact in shared experiences

with others, in a meaningful way. McLeod, (2014) states that with Vygotsky’s Social

Development Theory, he promotes learning contexts in which students plays active roles in their

learning. Contrasting the traditional transmission of instruction through teacher driven lectures,

Vygotsky believes the teacher should collaborate with the students enabling learning to become a

reciprocal experience for students and the teacher. I believe this correlates to my beliefs on the

purposes of assessment in education. The first purpose of assessment is to guide my planning. I

will construct my curriculum and instruction around my student’s strengths and abilities.

Knowing that all children are unique in their learning styles, I will use Howard Gardner’s

Multiple Intelligences to assist in constructing my instruction. Gardner (1991) writes that with

this theory, students possess different minds and, therefore, learn, remember, perform, and

understand in different ways. Through documentation and observations, I can determine each

individual student’s strengths and weaknesses, and by doing so I can support them with

individualized activities in certain areas of development. This also provides the opportunity for

teachers to collaborate with parents in setting goals to support the children as they grow

throughout the year. The second purpose of assessment is to provide information about the

effectiveness of my instruction. With my goal of witnessing students’ success, it is my

responsibility to observe their development and respond to their needs. I can determine specific

areas of the instruction that needs improvement to support all students, through the use of

assessments and observations. I believe assessment is important, and while children are

socializing and engaging with the learning process, I will observe and assess their developmental

abilities and create instruction to scaffold their learning.

 Through my education and experiences, I have developed my own personal teaching

philosophy. I am prepared to provide a safe, nurturing, learning environment for my students,

where my students are fully engaged in their learning. I will look at the needs of my students and

prepare lessons accordingly. I believe all students are unique, and it is my goal to teach to the

needs of those children so that all learners can feel capable and successful.
 References

Gardner, H. (1991). The unschooled mind: How children think and how schools should teach.

New York: Basic Books Inc.

McLeod, S. A. (2014). Lev Vygotsky. Retrieved from

http://www.simplypsychology.org/vygotsky.html

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological

processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.