My Philosophy on Education

            Anatole France was once quoted as saying, “The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards”.  This quote sums up the backbone of what I believe teaching should be about.  I feel I am a progressive teacher who should be able to not only educate but inspire the youth to bigger and better dreams.  The following bulleted points will state my beliefs about education:

I believe students:
            * should enjoy a positive learning environment
            * should be able to take what they have learned and apply it to the “real” world
            * will learn best through an interactive and hands on approach to the subject

I believe parents: 
            * have the right to have input in their child’s education
            * should witness how their child can excel in a progressive learning environment
            * should see advancement in the education of their child as the year continues

I believe teachers:
            *must provide a safe, positive and secure environment for learning
            *should be enthusiastic about the subject matter and students they are teaching
            *should be available to the child, parents, and community at any time

I believe learning:
            *should be fun, yet instructive
            *should be more than just memorization of the facts
            *should teach us how to think, instead of what to think

I believe the school community:
            *should be a supportive family
            *should work together to achieve their best
            *should set an example for families to follow

I believe teachers make contributions to student achievement in specific ways, I intend to:
            *encourage and support my students to help make meaningful contributions to the                           community through volunteerism
            *foster a lifelong love of knowledge
            *show how much fun learning can truly be

Because I believe that students learn differently, I plan to meet individual needs by:
            *using different methods of presentation including hands on experiments, power   point presentations, verbal communication and visual stimulation
           
            I have been inspired by meaningful educators.  Their strengths will travel with me to the classroom when I face new challenges with my students.  Their guidance and suggestions will help when a student is struggling with a particular assignment, or maybe just needs a kind word, or an acknowledgement of success.

            I feel that my goal as an educator is to help our children learn how to think for themselves, to teach them skills to survive outside of the classroom.  To take the process of how to find the answers and apply that philosophy to their future careers and to their relationships.  It shouldn’t be about memorizing facts, and dates for those things can always be found nearby, looked up on the internet, or in books.  It should be about those things not readily available,  the skills and knowledge to be successful in life.

I feel Bill Beatie sums up my philosophy quite perfectly when he wrote “The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men.”

 

 

 

 

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