My Philosophy
My personal teaching philosophy incorporates the student centered elements of both Progressivism and Existentialism. It is my belief that education should focus on the student as a whole. I view the student as an individual: each one needing something different to achieve success. It is my job as an educator to mold and adapt my teaching to the individual student; it is not the student’s job to conform to my teaching. I believe that students should be given choice within the classroom, so they can relate, question, and create meaning through their own personal experiences. It is my goal to create independent thinkers and problem solvers that can use logic and reason to go out in the world and make their own informed decisions. However with these choices also comes responsibility, and I strongly believe that students should be taught complete responsibility for their thoughts, feelings and actions. I feel that as a teacher it is my duty to not just teach content, but to also teach essential life skills that reach far beyond the bounds of my classroom in order to teach students to be informed, thoughtful, responsible global citizens within this ever-changing world.
Teaching, however, it is not always that simple. Each student comes to the classroom carrying some sort of baggage which can prevent them from being successful. I believe that as an educator, teachers need to work on helping students overcome these barriers to success by building a positive trusting relationship with students. A mentor once told me that she never once met an unmotivated student. Instead she was met with students who were absolutely terrified of the education system and terrified of failure.
I then understood why so many students chose to not put in the effort; the failure hurt less when they didn’t try. Students are conditioned to fear failure instead of celebrating it as a learning experience. I think that this is a major flaw in our education system, which is why in my classroom we look at every failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Teaching, however, it is not always that simple. Each student comes to the classroom carrying some sort of baggage which can prevent them from being successful. I believe that as an educator, teachers need to work on helping students overcome these barriers to success by building a positive trusting relationship with students. A mentor once told me that she never once met an unmotivated student. Instead she was met with students who were absolutely terrified of the education system and terrified of failure.
I then understood why so many students chose to not put in the effort; the failure hurt less when they didn’t try. Students are conditioned to fear failure instead of celebrating it as a learning experience. I think that this is a major flaw in our education system, which is why in my classroom we look at every failure as an opportunity to learn and grow.
Sometimes we, in our adult age, forget how sensitive these young adults can be. Through my teaching experiences, I have learned that a student's negative behavior is only a secondary emotion. In reality they are hurting and act out negatively because of their own feelings of incompetence in some aspect of their lives, and what they need from me is encouragement and support. They don't need to be punished; they need to be loved.