I believe the main purpose of education is to instill a life-long passion for learning into each and every child. As John Dewey believed, a healthy person is one who is never completed. A person who’s educated never stops learning and is always seeking higher meaning. As an educator my role is to give my students the tools and knowledge to enter into the world with a desire to find that higher meaning. I will foster growth in all areas of development: social, emotional, cognitive, and physical.

Schools need to teach higher-level thinking skills so children are able to think critically and solve real-world problems. As an educator, I must instill a sense of self-worth and accomplishment in my students. It’s critical that throughout their education students learn how to be productive, respectful, and caring members of society.

Even though there are typical developmental stages, each child develops at a different pace. Each student has different learning styles, intelligences, and passions or interests. Students construct meaning and understanding through interactions with their environment. The best way for children to construct an in-depth understanding is through experiences: doing, seeing, feeling, smelling, tasteing, discussing, and hearing. This hands-on learning style allows students to assimilate and accommodate new information into cognitive schemes. Students are able to remember information best when they are able to manipulate it, make connections to prior knowledge, and elaborate on the information. Therefore, children learn best when they have access to multiple representations of the information, are able to discuss and reflect on their learning.

In my classroom since my students are able to construct their own understanding of the world and its surroundings, they have an active role in the education process. I expect students to ask questions, develop their own ideas, explore and test their ideas and discover answers. This inquiry and discovery-based learning is student-centered; they are in control of their own learning. My students will learn both inside and outside the classroom through their own curiosity.

As a teacher my primary role is to provide a complex learning environment where students are able to explore and discover. Given that my classroom is a child-centered, I act as the facilitator of learning. I encourage participation, by asking stimulating questions, and providing scaffolding when needed. In each class I anticipate a variety of students with different backgrounds, intelligences and learning styles. I must strive to create individualized curriculum that takes into account each students’ interests and various abilities.

Creating and managing this curriculum in an effective manner requires careful planning of goals and objectives that will meet the needs of each student. I have the responsibility of creating a learning community where students feel safe and accepted. The learning community within the classroom is critical to each child’s success. It must be structured so that all children feel comfortable and know the expectations of themselves aswell as clear expectations of me, their teacher. They must feel safe. Safe to learn, speak their mind and most importantly fail! For this is when the most is learned. Through collaboration, discussions, and group work, students will be able to work together to discover new ideas.

I believe the primary goals of education are discovery and development. In order for these to happen, an effective curriculum is necessary. The curriculum should be integrated so that students are able to see the interconnectedness of all subject areas, including physical education, music, and art. Students should be able to learn about these subjects through inquiry learning, which is fueled by children’s natural curiosity. An effective curriculum will include many opportunities for students to solve real-life problems. There will be group projects, cooperative learning, partner-work, individual work, hands-on activities, role-playing, simulations, experiments, discussions, team-building exercises, technology projects, guest speakers, written reflections, reading for pleasure, and field trips. Students will be allowed to demonstrate their knowledge in a variety of ways, including portfolio assignments, creative presentations, and projects. It is important that the curriculum allows opportunities for students to assess their own work and set relevant learning goals for themselves.

During the education process I will always be striving to teach students how to become life-long learners and how to form their own ideas. I know that teaching is challenging, but I have the potential to make a huge impact on many children’s lives. I will create a learning community, that encourages students to celebrate and embrace diversity. I must value all my students and making them feel competent and worthwhile. And, I must be a life-long learner!