My Philosophy of Education:


A Box of Chocolates


            Throughout my time in the education program at Winona State University, I have been asked on several different occasions by professors to state my philosophy of education.  And each time I receive the question, I delve deeper and deeper into my thoughts to give a more complete, educated answer.  With more exceptional classroom experiences under my belt and more philosophical education learned, I engrave deeper in my head the belief that the best educational philosophy is one of an eclectic approach.


            In order to more completely understand my philosophy of education, one needs to be familiar with my goals of education.  Firstly, I want to teach all of my students to be lifelong learners through cognitive and critical thinking skill development and for them to fully believe that learning doesn’t end with a diploma or degree.  Secondly, I want to teach my children problem-solving skills to help in all aspects of human existence, from test taking in a school setting to filing taxes in April.  Thirdly, I want to be a role model for my students, always display proper behavior, and promote good citizenship on a daily basis.  Fourthly, I want my students to develop basic communication skills, such as conflict resolution and promoting a positive image of oneself, to last a lifetime.  And lastly, I want my students to always be proud of creativity and curiosity.  My students will leave my classroom unashamed of displaying creativity in what they’ve learned and curiosity in what they have yet to learn.


To many education students and teachers alike, stating an eclectic philosophy in education is one of a cop-out of sorts.  Instead of finding the educational philosophy they truly best fit in, reevaluating their own practices, and learning of the differences between the philosophies, many education students and established teachers claim that they have all of them.  To me, however, the eclectic philosophy of education is truly a way of life.  After all, I prefer a box of sorted chocolates instead of one with all chocolate-covered caramels.  I also prefer wearing a wardrobe of different colors and styles as compared to one with all blue tank tops.  I prefer a classroom with students of different sex, race, interests, and learning styles as opposed to one of all white males who like history and learn by taking notes in a lecture.  With all of the differences in everyday life and the classroom in specific, eclecticism is the only way I feel a teacher can best reach every student.


            The eclectic educational philosophy that guides my educational goals within instruction is both simple and complex.  My instruction is simple because I teach as a chameleon on a daily basis, always adapting to the subject matter being taught and always changing to the student’s needs.  This way, I ultimately find the best way to teach my students each respective subject.  On the other hand, my instruction is difficult because adapting-on-the-fly while teaching requires a great deal of effort on the part of the educator.  Furthermore, it requires classroom time being spent tweaking instead of instructing.  However, just like a mechanic spends some time tweaking his or her automobile, soon he or she has a very fine operating machine that performs at its best.


In a curriculum, I believe every student needs to be taught the four traditional disciplines of math, science, history, and English.  In order to develop a student’s creativity and curiosity, I believe in planning lessons that arouse the student’s curiosity and encourage creative analytical thinking of the subject matter.  In order to develop problem-solving skills, I believe that in addition to reading textbooks and other print, students learn by doing.  In order to develop critical thinking skills, I believe that the teacher and student should interact with each other with many questions.  Many times, in fact, with the student leading the discussion.  And furthermore, that through the teacher-student and student-student dialogs, classroom instruction, and student experimentation, the student is responsible for him or herself what is true or false, right or wrong, fair or unfair, and so forth.


The relationship between the teacher and the student is a clear line.  Although I believe that the relationship as a teacher between the student and I is both professional and personal, I believe that the teacher serves as an intellectual and moral role model for his or her students and in order to maintain control over the classroom at all times, the students need to completely understand that the teacher is in power.  I believe the only true way to keep the class under control is to always act professionally and distance oneself from the student-friend status.  However, since I believe that teaching is extremely personal and that every teacher wants the best for every student, I will need to be very open and honest with him or her.  My deep emotional attachment to the student’s best interest means I will need to reach the student in whatever means possible to make them feel my compassion for teaching and teaching them.


Again, the line concerning the relationship between the teacher and the instruction is a very observable and clear line and in no other place is this so obvious as in classroom management.  I believe strongly in the classroom behavioral adage, “If you let go of the student’s reins, you will never get it back.”  That being said, I believe in setting the classroom rules in stone, engraving the student’s comprehension of them, and following them from the very first day.  This means that the teacher needs to remain professional at all times and instill the virtues of respect for authority.  Being professional doesn’t mean that the teacher gives up being personal.  In fact, as opposed to classroom management plans for bad behavior, which largely gives the impression of a professional teacher, the successful teacher needs to constantly recognize good behavior, which largely gives the impression of being personal.  I believe a very successful tool to use is rewarding the students with gifts, certificate, parties, or something as simple as praise, to condition the student to do their best in the hopes of more reward.


I believe that students learn best when they are actively engaged in the lesson.  Whether they are listening to a teacher talk about a subject or performing hands-on activities, the more they are mentally engaged, the more questions they will ask and as a result, the more they will want to explore the subject deeper.  Humans are naturally born with the strong desire to learn and by the time children reach school age, they are extremely ready and willing to do it.  I will take every opportunity to engage and stimulate their young minds with multi-layered questions and hands-on experimentation.  Furthermore, I believe in having the students ask questions to the teacher, discuss questions with each other, seek outside references, and experiment.


In conclusion, I believe the best philosophy to develop as a teacher is on of an eclectic style.  As much as I agree with aspects of one particular philosophy, I completely disagree with other aspects of it.  This fact allows me to pick and choose what I feel are the most important aspect in teaching children my goals of education.  Eclectic educators can be compared with building a wall.  While some prefer the uniformity of bricks to build their wall, I prefer an assortment of materials.  My foundation is laid with other’s philosophies of education and my own goals.  To that foundation, I add materials that are similar, but of different sizes and shapes.  If one stone doesn’t fit, I find one that will.  I tweak it into place to create a tight fit.  As I stand back and look at my teaching, and myself I see that I have educated students the best possible way I see fit.  With pieces as different as the students are, as my wardrobe is, as a box of chocolates.



Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com


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