Personal Teaching Philosophy

I believe that each child is unique individual who needs a secure, caring, and stimulating atmosphere in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. It is my desire as an educator to help students meet their fullest potential in these areas by providing an environment that is safe, supports risk-taking, and invite a sharing of ideas. There are three elements that I believe are conducive to establishing such an environment namely, the teacher acting guide, allowing the child’s natural curiosity to direct his/her learning, promoting respect for all the things and all the people.

Research has shown that when teachers create a safe-learning environment, students are less afraid to make mistakes, more opt to ask questions, and feel safer to discuss important matters with their teacher. A comfortable classroom environment maximizes opportunities for student learning and impacts governing student behavior. This can be achieved through morning meeting, positive vs. negative discipline, and getting to know your students. Through my field experiences, I have noticed that when I know each student on a personal level and differentiate their individual needs, I develop a meaningful relationship that creates a sense of trust and a level of rapport that enhances my instruction and learning environment.

My teaching philosophy is based in my belief that teaching one of the most noble acts one can provide to others. My prior STEM work experiences have motivated me to give back to the educational system that empowered me to pursue a career in engineering. My teaching techniques incorporate continuous improvement, frequent feedback, encouragement and high expectations. I especially encourage those students who feel they are incapable of learning math by explaining learning math is an achievable journey requiring their practice and perseverance to enable success. I strive to present consistent, clear lessons and activities that enable students to learn material in a way that fits their personal learning style.

My teaching philosophy is to create an environment that stimulates learning so that students gain the necessary knowledge, skills and abilities to become proficient professionals. While teaching foundational knowledge is important, there are other essential skills and abilities that students must acquire in order to successfully transition from being a student to becoming a physical therapy professional. These skills and abilities include thinking critically as well as interacting and communicating effectively with patients and other health care practitioners. I emphasize to students that it is imperative to realize the impact of developing a therapeutic rapport with patients while providing quality, patient-centered care to optimize the healing process. Therefore, when deciding what to teach, I not only consider the content presented, but also how I can foster discussions with students so that they can apply information based on varying contextual factors. I also attempt to provide students a framework for how to achieve professional excellence, which I aim to model as I fulfill my roles and responsibilities as a teacher and provider of clinical instruction. This framework is rooted in five central tenets:

It is my strong belief that each child is entitled to a safe, secure, stimulating and caring learning environment. I always believed that each child is a unique individual with much curiosity and many academic, social and emotional needs. Children need our support in order to mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially. As a teacher, one should aim to help students in fulfilling their dreams to become successful and educated individuals. We must provide them with a safe learning environment for their learning to succeed.

I see students as the next generations’ heroes in so many fields. In my vision, I have to inspire students and prepare them with confidence, knowledge, experience and skills. Which means I encourage, communicate, guide, teach, and assess students in order to enrich their infrastructures.

My own personal journey through my education and reflection as a student studying, teaching, and learning has shaped by beliefs in the way I learn and the way I want to teach. My personal teaching philosophy consists of several teaching philosophies. It is a mix of progressivism and existentialism. I believe in progressivism, I believe the concept that students should be provided with learning experiences that are dynamic and teach using hands-on approach. I think when a student is learning about a subject that interests them and is relevant to them, learning is improved. Lessons should boost curiosity and be thought provoking. Although, funding in some school makes this difficult due to lack of materials, teachers should attempt to improvise

Constructivism. I believe that learning situated in physical and social contexts. Children learn by doing, by solving problems and by communicating with people around them. Constructivism maintains that children think differently and will interpret and construct the world in different ways (Maloy, 2015). Thereby, learning occurs when children are given chances to experience and interpret the world around them in their own ways. Providing children with opportunities to engage in authentic activities is essential in their cognitive development (McDevitt et al, 2013). Authentic activities include a wide range of hands-in practices such as building a bridge by blocks and experiences to build up concept learning such as visits to libraries, banks and museums. When children are playing around with concrete objects like rods, wood blocks and clay, they manipulate, act, touch, see and feel things. In this process, children learn about colors, shapes and textures as well as practicing their fine motor skills. Moreover, Gage and Berliner (1998, as cited in Marsh, Clarke & Pittaway, 2015a) argued that children who have not been giving chances to manipulate concrete objects might find it challenging to understand addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

When the word student comes to mind, I picture a person sitting down astute and eager to learn. Nevertheless, when I think about myself as a student over the years, this picture is not always painted perfectly. The educational concept of a student simply means a person who is willing and ready to learn something new. If the willingness to participate in learning new ideas is missing, so is the student. Students must approach learning with the right attitude. The student should have a genuine desire to learn and to work hard at achieving new knowledge.

A quote I used in my initial teaching philosophy was by Smith, “ Social studies are one of the least popular of all the commonly taught subjects”. I believe this to be true because social studies was my least favorite class growing up because it consisted of note talking and teacher lecturing the class. In addition Smith also states “Social studies is the least favorite subject to teach for teachers”. After reading these quotes, it is easy to see why students are not enjoying the subject because the teacher is commonly not making the subject exciting for the class and themselves as a teacher. After completing this class I have learned a variety of different ways to change this perspective on the subject, and make it an enjoyable learning

My philosophy of teaching is deeply rooted in nurturing the potential each and every student in my classes. Providing a creative environment that allows self assessment, growth, group interaction and mentorship are at its very core. Having taught in Higher Education for many years, and as an instructor of Media Arts and Animation, and Game Design, I have had the amazing opportunity to work with some of the brightest and creative young professionals. Teaching has not only broadened my love of art and exploration, but my determination to help students that do not have the confidence to persevere through their education, yet have the passion to follow their dreams.

Teaching and Learning consists of various different theories that educators may or may not feel applicable to their individual philosophy. There are bits and pieces of a variety of theories that many educators feel are important in the classroom. The purpose of this paper is to explain the personal learning theory and how it is applied in a classroom. After an educator takes the time to research and do further learning by reading a variety of written books, the educator may or maynot change things in the classroom or focus on a different topic that they had not previously focused on in the past.

Identify the 6 elements of a personal teaching philosophy. Then, using the six elements, draft your own personal philosophy of teaching (Look at page 27 and identify the elements of a personal teaching philosophy and then write what you think is important about each of them).

This is my personal philosophy of teaching. Within this paper I will talk about my beliefs of students’ growth and development and dimensions of diversity, what knowledge is of most worth, effective instructional strategies, the purpose of education, and assessment of learning. I would also explain how I would implement my beliefs in classroom practices.

Being an educator is a lifetime job. Throughout your life, you will run into things that will shape you into being an educator . You will not realize it until it comes full circle and you have to put those experiences to use