My Philosophy as a Beginning Teacher

My Philosophy as a Beginning Teacher

Roy T. Bennett reminds us that we are all different and we conquer our own style and we shine on our own time, he quoted “You Were born to stand out, stop trying to fit in”. In education, this implies the multitude diversity among the students. The idea that no shoe fits all; is something that a teacher should always remember and apply in his or her journey in teaching.

As a student training to be a teacher, I strongly adhere to this philosophy: “The very purpose of teaching is facilitating self-teaching at the students’ own pace”. I started to think and revisit as to what really is my philosophy as a professional in the future? Upon encountering multiple reflections, analysis and field observations, I started to have doubts as to what and where should I anchor my philosophy? Either as a student, son, family member, a community member, or just an individual who cares for himself. And then I realize, I’m in my fourth year and later I will become a teacher in training and it should be right that I should establish (re-establish) my philosophy as a teacher in the future! And then I come to think of it, what is really my philosophy as a student training to be a teacher? And then the fundamental reason why I joined teacher education came into my mind. My teachers taught me to be who I am, develop my skills and potential on my own time, and be the best version of myself whenever I can, and not to be influenced by the pressure the society dictates. That really touched me and inspired me to become one of them! And now, here I am! Journeying the field of wrinkles.

Let me give a backgrounder on the very essence of why I choose to journey through the field of wrinkles and stress myself over countless lesson plans with very little sleep. It’s simple, I was able to see and witness from my previous and current teachers the happiness or joy of seeing every student succeed whilst undermining personal and professional growth. If my memory serves me right, my teacher once told us that we should not compare ourselves. Instead, bloom whenever we are to bloom and don’t be pressured by others' success, because we all have our own time. At first, I thought of this as something not important, but as the journey of seriousness in education kicks in, I start to see why my teacher told us that sentence. Now, I am truly happy and glad to hear that philosophy, as here I am journeying to tell the same philosophy to inspire others and be more happy. A funny thing also happened when we still had face-to-face sessions. One of my classmates noticed that I was wearing my school uniform super tidy to the extent that you can’t see a fold in my school uniform. Upon my classmates commenting and confronting me about my school uniform, the bell rang, and the class session started. Now here comes the reiteration, my teacher reminded us that this journey and field we embarked on will not require us to be perfectionist to the extent that our school uniform is super tidy that when you bump into it, you might bounce off. Now, we laughed a little during the discussion and stared at each other because- this sounds familiar! Now why am I telling you this as a part of my philosophy? It’s simple, during that time, I got to assess and evaluate what kind of teacher I will become in the future? Because my teacher really made a point that we are teachers to be and not perfectionists or intellectual monsters to be. And then I got to think of my philosophy again. I should live, act, and perform to the best of my ability to wisdom out and channel a good facilitator or ignitor of a psyche who can also encourage self-teaching at the students’ own pace!