Philosophy of Education The responses that one receives when they tell someone that they are going

to be a teacher come from every end of the spectrum. My personal favorite when I mention that I want to teach middle school students is, Are you crazy? as though I have decided to cut off my hands. Whenever I hear responses such as this, I am constantly reminded of how disenchanted everyone has become with not only young teenage children, but with education in general. When people feel sorry for you that you will be a teacher, you know that there is something wrong. For me, this is very upsetting because education plays a vital role in everyones future and often determines major factors in an individuals life. I can remember back to when I first decided to go into Education. I had previously been in Engineering, but I did not feel attached to it in any way. So I went with my guy and transferred in to the Education program. The first education course I was enrolled in required us to develop a Philosophy of Education, and I can remember thinking, What in the world does that mean? Looking back, I can say that I am glad that I had that initial response. Having only been a student in the system of education it would have been forward of me if I thought I had any idea what education should be about. Over the past years though, I have grown from my initial version. With experience in the classroom and with students, my philosophy is continually changing. I think that personal philosophies should change over time because we are always moving forward in the field of education, and if your philosophy does not change, you wont wither and you will wind up becoming outdated in the education system. I think that it is very important that my philosophy changes with each new setting that I am in. All schools are note the same, and they vary greatly from population base and diversity to technology funding. There are some basics that will always remain true, but the way you implement those basics is

always going to change. Whenever I update my Philosophy of Education, I think that I am growing more as both a student and a teacher. No matter where we are in life we are always learning something new; which continually makes us students. To the heart of the matter now, I believe in a classroom environment that nurtures learning and encourages students to take charge of their learning and apply it in a way that creates success for them. Students are not interested in a class where they sit for fifty minutes while the teacher lectures them about the Civil War or the parts of speech. Students want to be involved in their learning, and when students are involved hands on in what they are learning they are more likely to see it as useful and to retain the knowledge they pick up along the way. If students are looking forward to their lessons each day, it encourages the teacher to continue creating lessons that will have students taking their knowledge to the next level. It works the other way too, where if the teacher is excited about the lesson planned the students will be interested in what the lesson is about and pay attention. When students are actively engaged in a lesson, there is less of an opportunity for class disruptions. Classroom management is one of those areas where you never know what to expect until you see how the students interact with one another in your class. I want my classrooms to have a balance between students being quiet and paying attention and discussion time. If students are always told to be quiet, then when you give them the opportunity to discuss something, you will probably be met with silence because they dont know what your expectations are of them. I believe in giving students freedom, but when the freedom is abused, then the students have to realize that they lose it until they can demonstrate control once again. It is important for students to know that their teachers support them and will be willing to work with them when they need help. If students feel as though their teacher could

care less whether or not they succeed in the class, then the student probably wont care about the quality of the work that they turn in to the teacher. I want my students to know that I want them to succeed, and not just because the state tells them they need to in order to pass to the next grade. My students will know that I want them to succeed because it means putting themselves closer to what they want to achieve in life. I will support my students in everyway I can to show them that people want to see them succeed. Students have no idea if they are succeeding or not though if there are no assessments to show them their progress. While no student enjoys taking a test, they do not have to be the most despised item in a classroom. By giving students test frequently, they become accustomed to the process, and there is less information to recall on each one if they are closer together. This does mean more grading, but it allows teachers to keep a better track of their students progress towards meeting the standards and goals for that unit. I also want to differentiate the way I assess my students. I dont have to necessarily make it a written test each time I want to gauge what they have learned. It could be a multimedia project, a student made creation, or something else that gets students to elevate their thinking and knowledge of the content. When it comes to my content areas, I believe that students should know upfront what it is that is expected of them for each of the areas. In Language Arts I want my students to know that they are expected to become more experienced readers and writers. They should be expanding their thoughts and views when it comes to what types of texts they interact with as well as interacting more in depth with these texts. I want my students to be competent and avid readers, which is not always an easy thing to achieve. If my students are able to reach these goals then I believe that they will all be able to become successful readers and writers in every field.

As for Social Studies, I want my students to really understand the impact that events have on the world and how they shape our present and future. They should realize that just because something happened one hundred years ago does not mean that it is no longer relevant. I want to have my students interested in the events of our past and question the motives and actions of those in the past. When students are interested in the past, they often times want to figure out how certain instances apply to the present situation at hand. This I think, is the best way to foster that natural curiosity students have about events by having them relate past events to current ones. When students are comparing past events to current ones, we want them to make educated connections. Students cannot possibly do this if they are not informed of new literacies. By new literacies, I mean students that are able to effectively use various technologies and various fields in order to support their findings. As we continually move forward on the technology front, students need to be kept up to pace with the ever-changing technologies that will help them be successful. Whether it be something as simple as a word processor, or something more difficult such as learning how to effectively search an online database for a particular source; students need to know how to interact with these technologies. Students also need to be literate across the content areas. Many times these areas intersect, and if a student has no understanding of one of these fields, then they miss out on how that particular area affected the one they are trying to research. It is all about being interconnected, and students need to realize and understand this concept. While there are always things that come and go in education, there are some things that should remain true throughout the entire experience. Keeping the students at the heart of everything that is planned, implemented, or outside of the classroom itself is the basis of my philosophy. Everything I do I want it to be done for the betterment of my students. Because if

I am not keeping my students needs in sight, then I have lost sight about what education is truly about. As the methods and standards of education change, my students desire to thrive and be successful in this world will not. This is why I will always be sure to keep my students needs at the front of my sight.