purple flowers

Miss Long

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Classroom Goals        My Philosophy of Education        Just for Fun

My Philosophy of Education
     John Dewey tells us that the truly healthy individual is one who is not completed.  Someone who is educated never stops learning and is always seeking meaning.  I truly feel that life is a quest for meaning.  As an educator my role is to give students tools and knowledge to go forth into the world and find meaning.  I think that life is about choice, and no matter what your history or heritage, you posses the power to determine your future.

      The heart of education lies with the teacher.  To be a good educator you have to know yourself and teach who you are.  Knowing yourself is vital to knowing your students.  If you cannot understand where you come from, it may be hard to remember that your students also have unique social situations and experiences.  Knowing myself as a teacher will allow me to connect in deeper ways to my students.  By knowing myself, I will value my own self-worth and will have more confidence to dig deep into the tangles of education. The role of a teacher is one of great importance, and a task that I will not take lightly.

     One of my most memorable school experiences was the Challenger shuttle disaster and how it affected my world as a student.  That day my teacher began valuing our attitudes.  We started participating in lively debates about current events and social issues. 
This deeply effected my education and shaped my educational beliefs.  I think that education should reflect current events and social experience.  While this may serve to offend some, I think that becoming acclimated with social attitudes is a good lesson for students to hold for life.

     My main goal as an elementary teacher is to cultivate a desire and motivation for learning in each and every one of my students.  This way they will continue to strive for success throughout their entire educational career and throughout life.  I will put aside all social comparison between children and find individual ways to spark each child’s interest.  In this way, I can help a student to develop
a positive self-esteem so they feel they are a good student.  If I can achieve this in a self-contained classroom, then I believe the student will carry this positive self-esteem to their future educational experiences.  I feel this is an important tool to maintaining the student’s desire to learn.

      It is the responsibility of everyone within a school people to provide students with the skills and knowledge they will need to strive for a happy and successful life.  While excelling in subject matter is key to a student attaining skills, it is not the only area of importance that should be placed on learning.  I believe that students hold multiple intelligences and that it is important to allow students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding by using multiple intelligences.  I will allow my students to choose varied methods and styles best suited to them to demonstrate understanding of lessons and concepts.

     Teachers have an amazing opportunity to help children learn many things besides core subjects. It is apparent to me that one needs to have a good education to be successful in life.  An opportunity that I feel should be extended to every individual, regardless of color, credo, religion or any other social aspects.

     Everyone has the ability to learn.  As a teacher I want to be open to all the different ways that students learn.  If a student is having difficulty, I would like to be able to really spend time addressing the difficulty and find a way to achieve learning for that child. 
I will find ways to allow students to utilize multiple intelligences and capabilities.  I would like to use student input to help determine how they would like to demonstrate their knowledge of the information covered in units.

        I believe that every human being has value and talent.  I have always seen myself as someone who has a unique gift to bring out the talents of others.  Every student has their own challenges they bring to the classroom.  I have an opportunity to learn from every student.  I would like to find ways to celebrate their adversity and turn it into a strength.

       Every student deserves individual attention.  While this is a very tall order, it is one that must be remembered in a classroom.  Funding cuts, crowded schools and other obstacles seem insurmountable.  If you get caught up in the minutia of blockades to reaching students, then you will never find the goal line.  Put aside fear and animosity and hold students in the highest esteem.

       As an educator I will follow and respect the guidelines given by administration, but cater them to my students’ needs.  It is important that there be some teacher-generated activities in every aspect of classroom curriculum.  To that avail, the activities should be developmentally appropriate for the age or level of the learner.  I will consider developmental stages and levels when planning classroom activities.  I will make sure that I am providing activities that are challenging enough to prevent boredom, but at the same time will allow the students success at mastering the tasks.  I would like to have activities in the classroom that will support student’s cognitive development.  I will find ways to introduce new material to my students that will hold their interest and stretch the information they all ready know. 

       I feel that there is no curriculum more important than reading literacy.  It is unsettling to be equipped with the knowledge that if by the third grade a student cannot read at grade level, then there is a large chance that they will never read at grade level.  It is a grave responsibility I hold to get my students to perform at reading level. As someone who is aspiring to teach early elementary school, I can find no other focus more important.  I still respect the other subjects and know that they deserve due time in the agenda of learning, but I hold that often these other subjects cannot be adequately learned without reading literacy and comprehension.

       Along with motivating students, comes the role of championing students.  Sometimes all a student needs is someone who can believe in his or her abilities. This is an important philosophy that I need to remember while educating.  I will work hard to drive home a message of success to all of my students.
Supporting students is key to their successful development.  I will work to find ways to scaffold my students for their optimal success.  I want to offer support or prompts when it is appropriate but also be able to draw back and allow the child to explore when it is right for them to dive into uncharted territory.  Even if they fail, I can support their failure by showing them mistakes are okay.  I will show them how to learn from their mistakes and to enjoy the rewards of successful learning.

      I will work with students to produce the desired behaviors of my classroom.  By working judiciously with my students, I believe that we will achieve mutual respect and have a safe and comfortable learning environment.  I will try to always present students with rubrics or other items that give them clear expectations for class work and agenda.

      A teacher is a role model to not only students, but also as a good citizen and community member.  Teachers should try to find ways to work with others in the school community to foster the best possible attributes of a positive educational experience.  As a teacher I must find ways to involve parents and help them foster their child’s learning to contribute to their success.  I hope my classroom can be an open place of learning in my student’s community.
   
     For me, self-concept and self-esteem are two issues about which I am very passionate.  I had many issues facing me as a child, but I was able to find support to come out of my education with a good esteem and a solid base to grow my self-concept.  As a teacher I mainly want to provide a comfortable environment.  I do not want children in my classroom to be made to feel inferior. 

     I hope that I can work hard to show every child that they hold talents and power. I hope that this is strength is carried into their self-esteem and how they fit into the world.  I know that I cannot protect them from all of the elements of the world, but I can create the most supportive and comfortable classroom as possible to foster their confidence when presented with outside challenges.  I plan to do this by using different character-building and support-building exercises with my students.  While I need to make them age appropriate, I hope that I can find a way to draw my own life experiences into the classroom and show the children that every student should work to be his or her best self.

     I come from a low socioeconomic status.  I could have played the part of a victim.  No one forced me to overcome.  Society did not hold me responsible to break the pattern and start anew for the generations of my family to come.  However, I persevered, and was able to carve out an existence for myself that is more than I could have ever imagined.  I am blessed.
 
     Early on in my life, I encountered the right types of role models and people who cared enough about me to inspire me to always do more than I thought I could.  My drive, coupled with my importance placed on education, led me to success rather than failure.  So now is my time to give back.

     I am a teacher because I know I can inspire.  I feel that I can bring something new to students and at the same time inspire them to continue to seek new lessons. The best thing that I can offer to anyone is my support of learning based on experience.  I want to find the student who needs someone to believe in his or her potential, and offer them hope.  I want to give every child I come in contact with an attitude that leaves them wanting more and dreaming big of their opportunities. If I can help foster educational motivation in my students, then I will know that I have given them the inspiration to continue learning throughout their lifetime.
"Travel the World Without Leaving the Classroom"