Philosophy of Education 

Philosophy of Education

Section 1: Philosophy of Education

         I believe that the purpose of education is to help children better understand the foundational knowledge and skills that they will need in their futures. It is important for children to understand and learn these skills because it will help them grow throughout the rest of their learning careers as well as in their future jobs. Helping children better understand what they are learning and going through will also allow them to grow into incredible people later in their lives. Being able to instruct students at an early age will give me the ability to build a child’s mind to learn more about themselves and what they pursue later in life. This will tie into my discipline because as an elementary teacher, I will get to work with students at a young age and help them develop their thoughts more and work with them through problems or things that they struggle with.  I chose education because I have always enjoyed working with children and helping them through times of struggle. I also enjoy the interactions that come with being an elementary education teacher with the students as well. Being able to have these connections and relationships with my students will give me the ability to help them grow into the people they want to become.

Section 2: The Role of the Teacher

         I will enact my philosophy of education in my classroom by creating activities that make my students think creatively, independently, and with the intention of letting the children grow their minds with their own ideas. By having activities and class work as interactive as possible, students will have the opportunity to become more confident and independent when working on assignments or with their fellow classmates. In my classroom, students can expect to work in groups but also independently for some activities. My goal is for my classroom to be a safe environment for students to learn, interact with others, and come to me with things with which they are struggling. I will make my classroom safe by being open with my students so they know they can come to me with anything at all. My classroom will also feel very welcoming because of the way I will decorate it with warm tones and positive affirmations throughout the room. I plan to grow with my students and continue to learn as they are learning new things as well. There is always room for personal growth and improvement. I want my students to understand that it is okay to make a mistake as I know I will make them as well. Being able to recognize this will help me better my abilities to work with the students and make the classroom a place to be heard by others and a safe space for each of us.

Section 3: The Role of The Student

         I will expect my students to respect each other and work with each other. I do not want there to be any form of bullying or belittling one another in my classroom since I want to create a safe environment for each of my students. I expect each student to be prepared to learn and ready for some hands-on activities throughout the day. My students will know what the classroom expectations will be because they will be posted in my classroom with whatever goes along with the theme of the classroom as the year continues. If my students fail to respect the rules of my classroom there will be a number of stages, I will go through before making a phone call home. Communication will be key in my classroom, and I will communicate that with my students as well as their families at the beginning of the school year.  I also will talk about these expectations on the first day of school and we will create our own classroom rules from the student’s perspective of what they think is acceptable for classroom rules. I want my students to be able to leave my class knowing that they can accomplish whatever they put their minds to as well as understand the curriculum that we have gone over throughout the year. My goal is to be able to create a portfolio of each major assignment or project that we complete through the year for them to receive at the end of my class so they can see what they accomplished and feel good about what they have learned so far.