The recording (and refining) of a pocket-sized philosophy statement will be a way to track your evolving understanding of teaching and learning as you proceed through your program. To insert your pocket-sized philosophy statement into your Teacher Education Portfolio site, execute the following steps:
Open your Chrome browser.
Log in to Google Drive using ONLY your @go.olemiss.edu email address.
Open up your Teacher Education Portfolio site.
Click on the “Philosophy” page.
Change the date at the bottom of the page to reflect today’s date.
Type or paste in your first pocket-sized philosophy statement. This is a condensed version (1 - 2 sentences) of your reason for teaching. For inspiration check out John Dewey's Pedagogic Creed.
Type a reflection explaining your pocket-sized philosophy statement to visitors to your site. Explain why it contains the text that you chose to represent your beliefs about teaching and where you fit in the world of education.
As you refine your pocket-sized philosophy statement, be sure to include the date you are revising it and include a brief reflection statement that describes why you changed what you did or even why you didn't change anything.
NOTE: Your philosophy statement will never be perfect.
You may look at what you wrote and don't want anyone to ever see it. That is OK! It is part of the process Just know that you can and will return to this statement to refine it and reflect on why you made the changes you did. Just don't delete your old statements. You will want to see where you came from in order to better appreciate where you are in your development as an educator.