Philosophy of Education

My philosophy of education is that everyone is different in what they bring in. Everyone

has their own experiences, skills, and emotional and social levels because of this creating an

environment where my students can grow in all of these areas is key to the education of my

students. By creating this environment my students will be able to grow in ways unique to each

individual, leaving the classroom as students who will think, grow, and create change in their

own unique ways.

To help create this environment my role as the teacher in the classroom will be to act as a

facilitator who empowers students to take an active role in their learning by leading their own

discussions, research, and questions. Part of this would also include creating a safe environment

where students are allowed to be creative, express their opinions, take risks, and be themselves

so students can realize their potential. I would also come into the classroom with high

expectations for all of my students to create a self-fulfilling prophecy where by believing my

students can and will achieve great things they will go on to achieve these great things, as Jeffrey

Glanz (1997) says “Teachers who communicate high and affirming expectations to their students

help them become self-confident, successful learners” (p. 181).

As for my students the most important part of their role is that they should be actively

participating and engaged in the classroom. Engagement in a classroom leads to numerous

desirable outcomes both in and out of school Bundick’s, Quaglia’s, Corso’s, and Haywood’s

(2014) study stated that:

The more students are engaged in their schoolwork, the more likely they are to perform

well academically, including getting higher grades in their classes, as well as higher
 scores on standardized tests…has been directly linked to reduced dropout in high

school... [and] has been linked to various indicators of individual well-being. (p. 4)

These reasons show how beneficial just being more engaged can be for the students, benefits that

will have long lasting effects as drooping out of high school and not living a healthy lifestyle are

both extremely detrimental to an individual. Modeled by me but executed by my students they

will need to be respectful of each other, myself, and themselves so the environment in which

students are comfortable and safe to take risks and be themselves can come to fruition.

In the equation of success for my students the parents will play a critical role in helping

us achieve our goal. The parents will need to have a positive relationship with their child around

school and believe they can help their child because, “Parents who have high perceived

competence for helping their children would be likely to behave more warmly towards the child,

and be less controlling and more facilitative of the child's competence in the task,” (Katz,

Kaplan, & Buzukashvily, 2011, p. 382). Like myself the parents should also have high

expectations as Neuenschwander, Vida, Garrett, and Eccles (2007) found, “parents’ educational

expectations predicted subsequent performance: high parent expectations predicted increased

performance and low parent expectations predicted lowered performance” (p. 600).
 References

Bundick, Matthew J., Quaglia, Russell J., Corso, Michael J., & Haywood, Dawn E. (2014).

Promoting Student Engagement in the Classroom. Teachers College Record, 116(4), .

Glanz, J. (1997). Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: A Practical Guide to Its Use in Education.

Educational Studies, 28(2), 180.

Katz, Kaplan, & Buzukashvily. (2011). The role of parents' motivation in students' autonomous

motivation for doing homework. Learning and Individual Differences, 21(4), 376-386.

Neuenschwander, M., Vida, M., Garrett, J., & Eccles, J. (2007). Parents' expectations and

students' achievement in two western nations. International Journal of Behavioral

Development, 31(6), 594-602.