My Educational Philosophy

Children are capable of anything that they set their minds to. In order to do that, they need strong teachers and the confidence to be successful in anything that they do. My philosophy is to encourage self discovery in the classroom. I believe children learn best with many different approaches to teaching but experiential learning through progressivism will be the best fit in my classroom.

Educators have one of the most important jobs. They are the ones who prepare the next generation for success. Without excellent teachers, the system would fail. Teaching is not a job that everyone can do and that is why I take education very seriously. With that said, my classroom will not be only serious. The classroom is a place for students to have fun, explore, and of course learn. I believe in a classroom where conversations are encouraged and opinions are not squandered.

I believe in teaching by experience. I will bring my class outdoors or bring the outdoors to them in order to gain success. Experiential learning is how I learn best but I know that is not how everyone learns best. Every child learns differently. Some students thrive on direct instruction while others need the room to figure it out themselves. My classroom with have a good mix of learning styles in order to reach every student. Some students do not know how they learn best. It is my job to make sure my students find their best version of learning.

John Dewey was an advocate for personal development and applying subject matter to the real-world. I completely agree with his philosophy. Children learn and grow differently and need to find their own way when it comes to education. My classroom will be filled with some direct instruction and a lot of small group learning. I plan to teach the younger grades and they do not have a very long attention span so direct instruction has to be kept short. I do not believe that the teacher should solely fill their students heads with answers but help facilitate the student’s self-discovery. Students are fully capable of finding answers on their own, they simply might need a little nudge in the right direction.

Educating children takes many different approaches but the main goal of teaching is molding confident individuals to be successful in society. Children need love and a teacher to connect to. They need a safe place to learn and feel comfortable. My goal is to help students be the best person that they can be.