My Philosophy of Teaching Social Studies

Teachers need to have educational philosophy because they need a basis for how they will run their classroom. Without an educational philosophy, teachers won't have a clear view of what they want their classroom environment to be. I built my own views of my educational philosophy and beliefs about teaching from my own experience in school and during fieldwork.

My education philosophy is that I believe that every student learns different and expresses their learning differently, so as their teacher, I will provide information and assess their learning in a way that is compatible with their learning style. This gives each student a fair chance to succeed in my classroom and demonstrate their knowledge. Typically, social studies is taught through lecture and a traditional assessment. However, this isn't compatible with every student's learning style. To give my students a fair chance at succeeding in social studies, I will accommodate each student's learning style into my social studies lessons. In addition, I will build a classroom environment where each student feels safe. I will do this by showing students the respect and compassion that I want them to show their peers. I believe that this is essential to create a safe classroom environment because it students feel like they're in a place where they feel respected, then they will feel like their opinion and viewpoint is valued. This is allow them to feel comfortable in the classroom, so that they can focus on their learning instead of external factors in the classroom, such as their classmates thinking poorly of them.

My educational philosophy also includes each student participating in social emotional learning, or SEL. I think that SEL is vital in the classroom because it teaches students to accept their emotions and work with them. This will help them work better with others since they will have a system to cope with and manage their emotions, helping them deal with any frustrations that working with others can cause. In addition, SEL will help students to communicate their emotions and needs more effectively, which will make it easier to come to the best solution for the student. I am already enacting my educational philosophy through my honors research. For part of this research, I selected 6 books that demonstrate emotional health. These books are great examples to help students to cope with their emotions in a healthy way that's better for them and makes for an improved classroom environment.