EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

It is important that there be good discipline in the classroom so that misbehavior does not interrupt the teaching/learning environment.  I believe that the most efficient form of discipline is self-discipline.  This results from students developing a feeling of ownership over the environment.  If students feel that it is their classroom, they will show more respect to the property and persons within the room.  Self-discipline allows the teacher to be primarily an educator, not a disciplinarian.

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The teacher acting as a guide leads to children constructing their own knowledge.

Students construct their own knowledge and it is up to their teacher to guide them.  Some people feel that a teachers job is to drill knowledge into the brains of their students.  On the contrary, the teachers job is to make the information available for the students.  It is like the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make it drink.  Likewise in education, once the teacher transmits the information to the student it is up to the student to construct their knowledge from the materials provided.  It is important for students to realize that the decision to learn lies solely on their shoulders.  However, the teacher must also realize that they must present the information in a manner that allows students to take it in and comprehend it.

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Ability to learn results from constructing an appropriate learning environment.

Environment plays a key role in the construction of knowledge.  Teachers need to behave in an interactive manner with the students.  By this I mean that teachers need to use interactive lectures/discussions with the students to create an appropriate learning environment.  It is important in the classroom that all sides of a discussion are made.  The environment should be comment friendly as long as the comments made are appropriate and relevant.  Teachers should act as a mediator so that the students can construct knowledge through interaction with one another.  Appropriate learning environments are key in the classroom if education is to be successful.

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Retaining learned information results from relating new information to real world experiences.

If students cannot relate to the information that is presented to them, it will be almost impossible for retention to occur.  Information should be made relevant whenever possible in order to make the process of knowledge construction easier for the students.  Many topics are so abstract that the only way students learn anything from them is to make the topic seem relevant to the individual students.  Information needs to relate to real world experiences.  For instance in history, many students cannot understand why during the Civil War that soldiers would march directly into canon fire when they knew that they would die.  It is hard for any person today to understand this type of commitment to a belief.  A teacher can try to remedy the situation by having everyone in the class write down a few things that they would be willing to die for.  Make them bring the history into the present so that they can better understand it.

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Cooperative learning leads to enhanced understanding of the concepts being taught.

Cooperative learning should be an important part of almost every lesson plan.  Students do not want to listen to a teacher lecture on a topic for the entire period.  Cooperative learning helps students develop a sense of ownership of the classroom.  Activities help students to enhance their understanding of the concepts being taught.  Through social interaction with other students, students are able to socially construct knowledge.  Students have a tendency to understand concepts better when an activity is involved to help present the concepts.

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Conclusion

It is very important that teachers today come into the classroom with teaching and learning principles.  These principles should be concise and well written so that an employer can easily read what exactly the teacher believes in when dealing with education.  Revision is an important part of the teaching philosophy.  It is important to revise the philosophy on a regular basis or when deemed necessary.  As teachers gain more experience, ones philosophy will most likely change.  The end of each school year is a good time to sit down and revise ones teaching philosophy.  Since this is the first time I have written a teaching philosophy; I expect it to change many times before I receive my teaching certificate.

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