Philosophy of Teaching

I remember sitting in my tenth grade World History class and thinking, “one day I

am going to inspire students so they can feel exactly how I feel right now.” That feeling I

speak of, was a feeling of hope, hope for my future. Growing up in an urban setting, I

was exposed to several hardships students go through just to get to school, and once

they get to school, students must find inspiration to stay motivated and interested in

learning. The purpose of teachers, in my opinion, is to give students equal opportunities

to believe in themselves, to achieve all of their hopes and inspirations. I want to

become a teacher to help students find their purpose in this world and more importantly,

to breakdown the negative walls that have been built around them.

Education in today’s society has never been more paramount or dire. Students’

ability to prosper is directly dependent upon their edification. Without continuing to open

one’s mind and allowing oneself to be taught, students become stagnant, ignorant, or

frozen in time. Without education students are susceptible to negative influences both

from the direct world around them, and from the several rhetoric’s that are afloat in

today’s society. As a future educator, I hope to teach my students to make conclusions

and inferences based on facts. I strongly believe education is about far more than

grades. It’s about understanding right from wrong and having the knowledge students

need to be successful in today’s society. Without education, sensory information would

simply be lost.

I hope to use several methods of successful instruction in my future role as a

teacher. The most important element in an amazing teacher is to establish a sense of

mutual respect, a sense of self-respect and a sense of honesty between students and

the instructor. Through this relationship, a fair environment based on trust and care can

be established in the classroom, making it possible to act confidently and safely in an

academic setting. Demonstrating the ethical characteristics of equality, openness,

honest communication, and trust in the classroom creates appropriate model behavior

for students to reflect in the real world. Lastly, I plan on making instruction serious, but

not without allowing students to engage with the material in a way that makes learning

fun.

Teachers must adopt a mentoring role to allow students to grow both

academically and socially. Displaying professional compassion shows students that

teachers love them and are empathic to their feelings, troubles, and inspirations. One-

on-one mentoring involves getting to know students, so that they became more

motivated in their academic life. In order to do this, teachers must project positivity,

exhibit flexibility and confidence, set high expectations of one-self, and demonstrate

fairness and consistency.

I strongly believe that all children have the ability to learn and the right to a

quality education. All students, regardless of gender, race, ethnicity, and capabilities

should have the opportunity to learn from a professional, caring, knowledgeable

educator. By providing healthy environment, full of flexible resources I hope to reach

students beyond their academic life.

As a prospective teacher, I hope to implement differentiated instruction to create

learning opportunities that make allowances for differences in how individual students

learn in order to ensure equal access to important academic content. Effective

differentiation requires ongoing evaluation of students’ needs and conscious attention to

designing instructional activities and assessment to meet those needs. It is true that

teachers must have an extensive repertoire of research-based instructional strategies at

hand, but they must also be able to think outside the box.

In my training and career, I hope to become brilliant, passionate, and more

excited about teaching. I am proud to be naively idealistic, because right now, I am full

of passion, optimism, and ready to embrace change and be open to learning. In the

end, my philosophy of education will change based on the needs of my students.