Teaching To Change the World
Introduction
An educational philosophy is a teacher’s statement of guiding principles about education-related matters, such as how student learning and potential are amplified, as well as the role of instructors in society, not just the classroom (Lewis, 2018). This paper will attempt to introduce my philosophy of education, subject to continuous renewal throughout my current program of study.
Purpose
The purpose of education is to improve the welfare of the individual and society – to allow everyone to better one’s self. In my opinion, education should always be a top priority. Without a system of “being taught,” the world would be in turmoil. How would anyone function in any aspect of life if they were not taught, either by current or previous generations? Each of us needs to impart our knowledge, regardless of our education level, to the next generation, encouraging them to go further than we did. To be successful at anything, one must know the subject matter. A lawyer has studied the law to help his clients. A welder has studied welding and engineering to understand how to repair or create things with heat and metal. A physician has endured years of schooling, learning science and anatomy, to learn how to heal others. Education is the key to being knowledgeable and successful in all areas of interest.
Vision
The term “learners with exceptionalities” describes students whose physical, mental, or behavioral performances are different – most often lower – than their other students (Zalta, 2013). My vision of meeting the learning needs of students with exceptionalities using standards-based instructions begins with approaching the classroom with a variety of strategies. These strategies would be designed to reach a wide range of students by presenting and modeling principles and ideas that would create a less restrictive environment to enhance every student’s performance. I feel it is important to be flexible when working with students with exceptionalities. Additional services are required to meet these individual’s needs, including counseling, therapy groups, and behavior analysts, members of the clergy, mentors, and those exceptional, dedicated ordinary people. We, as teachers, must maintain accountability, fairness, integrity, efficiency, effectiveness, and above all, ethics across a vast spectrum of topics.
Expectations
Teachers hold a unique position of trust in society. In our role, we may wear many hats. Not only are we the child’s educator, but we are also often their confidante, friend, and mentor. We are often the first point of contact for children outside of the home, church, or daycare. We observe several positive and negative behaviors early in their lives, which can be extremely valuable when it comes to helping that child succeed. My expectation of the teacher is to lead with the utmost professionalism while understanding that all children can learn. Teachers must remember that they are the adult and leader with the right set of skills, and it is his or her obligation to demonstrate those skills with the highest standards of practice. In turn, this can have a substantial effect on the quality of students’ learning and in helping them adapt to a more diversified world. As an educator, I will uphold the code of ethics, both as a leader and an advocate. Operating outside of the ethical framework can lead to several complications and can hinder leadership and prevent learning styles that best fit most students (Lynch, 2016). I cannot educate effectively without exercising professional ethics.
Professional Activities & Learning Communities
Entering the classroom from day one, the teacher must be prepared to explore social and behavioral models of learning in the learning communities (Neill, 2015). Over several years, I expect to gain more knowledge and experience and expect my style of structuring, organizing, and encouraging change over time. Making a point to get to know every student, I would become more abreast of student’s individuality, background, mannerisms, learning style, and any changes that might warrant special attention. Trainers and educators who utilize these models need to be critical consumers (Neill, 2015). While a good model can greatly aid research, a poor one can create more problems than it solves. Teachers should present real-life issues and guide the students to solutions with hands-on activities (Mike, 2017). With dedication, perseverance, and hard work, students will be able to rise to the occasion (Lewis, 2018).
Beliefs about Teaching and Learning
There are many things teachers can be to students, coaches, leaders, and even role models. In my view, I would view teachers as role-models more than anything else because, just as Dr. Haim Ginott says, “Children are like wet cement, whatever falls on them makes an impression.” This quote speaks a lot of truth to teachers, because teachers spend roughly seven hours a day with students, and really can make a significant impact on the student’s life if they choose to. Just as Dr. Ginott describes, “As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.” For me, my primary role as a professional teacher would be to educate my students to the best of my knowledge about life and inspire them to be the best they can be at whatever they are doing.
Teaching is not only a calling, but education is also a form of art and science. Teaching is a science because many strategies and techniques go into teaching and trying to connect to kids. Teaching is also an art, though, because teachers continuously have to be in some way acting while they are trying to teach something in the front of the classroom to everyone. There is a happy medium between the two of these, and when you, as a teacher, start to cross that fine line of being one of the two extremes, then you lose your professionalism as a teacher, and kids will not respect you as a teacher anymore.
I define learning as a change in thinking and reasoning that a person experiences after a particular skill or divine revelation. An easy way to determine if learning has occurred would be to watch that person’s behavior, and if their attitude or even behavior is different, then you know that this person has just learned something. There is always certain experience in life where this is very evident. Still, some divine revelations take place; they don’t change a person’s behavior too much but can make a change in the person’s reasoning or character.
Beliefs about Students
As I have said earlier in the paper, students are like wet cement. One can even go to say that children are similar to Play-doh, you can mold them and shape them into anything you want, but when you do not continue to develop them, they end up becoming stuck in the routine, just as Play-doh gets hard when left alone too long.
In my classroom, I won’t have very many expectations for students because they are at the age where they should know how to treat everyone with respect. I will still have a rule that says that connection always comes first, but I would put in a rule about honesty. For example, I won’t base the student’s homework on grading it; I would go off of the students’ word. If the student said that they did it and deserved a perfect on the assignment, I would hold them to that when the test comes around. I would like to teach the kids just how important their word means to people, and how when they say that they did something, they need to expect it. Students need to learn how to be trustworthy and how not to make up excuses for their actions.
A proper teacher-student relationship involves honesty and commitment. It is because there are going to come times in life where people mess up or do not understand certain things. So, every person is going to need patients to help the other person understand their way of thinking. A teacher also needs to understand students’ different cultures and to treat everyone’s lifestyle with the most respect. Just as Forrest W. Parkway states in chapter eight of his book, Becoming a Teacher, “Today’s teachers must be sensitive to the needs of students from different cultural backgrounds.” (258) Just as the book says, teachers need to be sensitive and understanding about their culture, and I think that they also need to be encouraging in this aspect too. If a student hears that someone will help them to become something more than what their family may say, it can have power in their lives.
Summary
My worldview is that God made the earth, and put all of us, humans, here for a reason. Genesis 1:27 clearly states, “So God created man in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” So humans came from the image and likeness of God. Without God, there would be no us, and I am very confident of that.
My philosophy of education can be described by merely saying that teachers did not realize how much of an impact they can make on a student’s life, and I will always try my best to be that person that is still there for that student. If I can just make a difference in one person’s life, that can ripple into many others if the students go out and help others too. So teachers have the power to change the world, and I will never take that for granted in my profession.
References
Lewis, B. (2018). Educational philosophy: You’re guiding statement as a teacher. ThoughtCo.
Lynch, M. (2016). An ethical framework for leadership practice. The Edvocate.
Mike. (2017). D is for John Dewey: his approach to education. Positive Philosophies.
Zalta, E. (2013). Philosophy of education. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.