Teaching Philosophy Statement

I believe that with motivation and guidance, children of all backgrounds can harbor success in the educational world and receive the skills they need to have a successful and prosperous life. It is a teacher’s duty to encourage lifelong learning, consider individual learning styles and aptitudes, and self-reflect on how to improve. My experiences as an engineer, a person of color, a pre-service teacher, and a STEM advocate have culminated together to form my educational values and philosophy.

Like many others from my graduating class, I left college and headed for the fast track world of law and finance. After two years crunching numbers, juggling real estate projects and emerging from Black Monday in October 1987 relatively unscathed, I realized I hated my job. Landing a teaching position at Fessenden School became a watershed event in my life. Looking back over the past years, I fully realize that teaching is an essential part of me. Michael Thompson, once said, "There are some teachers who are effective and know why, others who aren 't effective and don 't know why, and a third are effective, but aren 't quite sure why." After five years at Fessenden, I felt like the latter. Therefore, I decided to attend graduate school in order to become a more effective educator. Theory, practicum, and research aside, graduate school was an epiphany for me. It confirmed in me that leading a school was more than a choice; it was a calling.

I have always wanted to become a teacher. From playing school with my little sisters, to volunteering a summer camps and elementary schools, there is not better feeling, to me, than to know that I have helped someone to accomplish a goal and develop better as a person. I think that there is no better way to impact the lives of other people than to become a teacher. As a teacher, not only will be able to affect the lives of these students from day t day, but I can also make an impact on the life of each child and hopefully their family as well.

Looking back at the experience I had in observing, I still have the determination to inspire others through a career in teaching. Teaching is a very diverse job that requires many skills and a lot of patience. It is important for a teacher to be able to maintain a healthy and professional relationship with their pupils, develop lesson plans that keep the attention of a majority of the students, make the atmosphere of the classroom inviting, and be a welcoming person capable of standing up in front of the class to

I believe that each child is a unique individual who needs a secure, caring, and stimulating atmosphere in which to grow and mature emotionally, intellectually, physically, and socially.

Education is defined as the lifelong process of acquiring knowledge, skills, and values through either formal means, such as schooling, or informal means, such as firsthand experiences or vicarious experiences gained through reading books or discussions. Every person that is or wants to be a teacher has his or her own educational philosophy. We all have our own views, methods, and curriculum that we were taught when growing up. A lot of people may have the same teachers in school, but all of them learn different things from that teacher.

A teaching philosophy statement is a document that educators prepare to express their personal ideas regarding the teaching role. Often used as part of the application packet for an academic position and in teaching portfolios for tenure and promotion reviews, teaching philosophy statements allow educators to reflect on their teaching practices and validate their success in teaching. Teaching philosophies can guide academic nurse educators by ensuring that they are using varied pedagogies that stimulate critical thinking and that the education they provide meets nursing’s standards of practice (Felicilda-Reynaldo, Rhea Faye D., and Rose Utley, 2015)).

After completing this teacher interview activity, I am beyond excited to become a teacher. I feel this way not only because Heather strongly agrees that teaching is an optimal choice of a young person today but due to the passion she possesses for her job. As Heather described her classroom and what it is like to spend all day with children, I just cannot wait until I am teaching. Children have this undeniable excitement about them; everyday is a good day, as they do not have a care in the world. I hope this positive outlook on life with fill my body everyday just as it has there’s. Ultimately, what I am most excited to do is make an impact on a child’s life. There is no greater feel in the world that knowing that that you have helped someone. I hope that I will make an impact on every student I have so that they can think back and say, that teacher changed my life. I know that this profession is not going to be all fun and games or that everyday will be a good day but I am up for the challenge. Impacting the lives of our nations youth is completely and totally worth it.

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:

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.

I started to volunteer at my church in the children’s building working with children for ages 5 to 7 and really enjoy it. I have been a Sunday school teacher for first and second grade for 6 years. As my daughter and family dynamics changed I made the decision to go back in the workforce. I quickly realized I did not want to be in the same kind of work I had previously been in. My true happiness is working with children. Through the years, I have been asked by parents and friends why I am not a teacher. For so many years I didn’t have the answer, but I have continuously been shown the path for me is education, from relationships I have gained with children, to other educators and parents. This past school year I started my journey in Education as an Aid for Special Needs for an Elementary School in Little Elm. I spend most of my days with working with First and Second graders. I have 7 students I work with throughout the day. I have learned so much from working with these students; it will only help me to be a better teacher. To know the 3 main keys to success are very crucial in teaching all grade levels. This particular profession is interchangeable with ideas, implementations, and procedures. It is very important to know the keys and how they

Every teacher has a different method of teaching. The teachers that I have had in my school career have been no exception. In this way, each teacher has set an example for me, as a future teacher, to follow or not to follow as I see fit. With the examples from my teachers and in continuing my education, I am developing my own method of teaching. I plan to use a combination of teaching methods in my own classroom. My method will be an eclectic approach because I will be using components of more than one philosophy. I will be using essentialism, behaviorism, progressivism, and existentialism.

I believe that education extends far beyond the classroom walls, and involves many more people than students and teachers. People should be learning wherever they go, and should continue learning long after they’ve graduated from high school or college. Education isn’t something that can be quantified with tests or report cards, but is instead something that people carry with them. It’s a survival pack for life, and some people are better equipped in certain areas than in others. People with a solid education are prepared for nearly anything, as they will be able to provide for their own physical, emotional, and aesthetic needs.

I consider and know that children are the future of our world; we have to know how to teach and educate them adequately so they could be prepared to lead future generations. I consider that each child has its own way of learning; there are multiple ways in which a person could be intelligent and capable of completing tasks. I want to be able to help children with everything they need. I want to motivate them to do and be the best in every task and area, everything that they dream and think about, to persuade their dreams and never give up no matter how hard they think it is or how difficult becomes trough the way. I don’t want to be the type of teacher that goes through the school year teaching what I have to and limit my capabilities to show them things and lessons useful for their lives, I want every child that goes to my classroom, leave it at the end of the year with instructions or lessons that make them better persons. Additionally, think that it’s important to have a good balance between discipline and kindness with students, it’s important to have a good relationship with the students because in that way is easier to communicate with them; if they have any problems or trouble learning a lesson or something in the content, if they have a good communication and relationship with you, it will be easier for them to tell you about what is causing them trouble. In some cases, when the educator is strong and teaches with hard discipline, the students tend to evade them and

Teaching is a profession which allows one to influence many lives. It is because of this opportunity to touch lives that I have decided to enter the teaching profession. I understand that the benefits of this profession are mostly intrinsic as opposed to extrinsic, yet the thought of inspiring students to learn drives me closer to the teaching profession. Monetary gain from a certain profession is minimal compared to the feeling that at the end of the day you have touched someone’s life. To summarize, the reason that I am entering the teaching profession, is my conviction to touch lives.