Teaching Philosophy
Stephen Brookfield (2006) defines a teaching philosophy as “…a set of values, beliefs, insights, and convictions about the essential forms and fundamental purposes of teaching” (p. 255). A teaching philosophy should serve to support a teacher and guide his or her actions so that the students’ best interests are always of primary focus. It should also come from within and be an extension of the teacher’s identity. When we consider the difficult environment and circumstances that students face today, the authenticity and actionability of a teaching philosophy is paramount.
Students decide to attend college for a variety of reasons, but the essence within these reasons is a desire to grow (Shultz & Higbee, 2007; Cabgrera & La Nasa, 2000). Growth in education has often been defined as accumulating knowledge. This outdated way of thinking about higher education must give way to a different paradigm that focuses on developing the whole student. As our world becomes more connected and complicated, students have an increasing need to reach higher levels of cognitive development. In turn, teachers need to become student centered in their approach. Teachers are no longer tasked with imparting knowledge, but helping students develop abilities to understand and apply knowledge. The increasing needs of our students require an even deeper personal commitment by teachers.
Parker Palmer (1998) believes that teaching is a deeply personal activity. I started teaching without much personal consideration. However my dedication to teaching today has grown out of my personal interactions with students. As a result, teaching has become a significant part of my identity. I realize my role in a student’s life is one of a ment...
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... fluid and revisited. Dynamic environment demands constant organizational change. Training future business leaders demands a higher level of student analytical ability. Help them construct that through project based learning, dialogical interactions, and cross disciplinary cases.
I feel that I am already a good teacher. The question now is how to become a great teacher. Me – I like dialogical – modeling, especially with different topics. ME : Teaching shouldn’t be routine
Vaclav Havel (1998), former president of Czechoslovakia and of the Czech Republic, spoke often of seeing the world from a global perspective. Regarding intellectuals, Havel (1998) said, “Their increased sense of responsibility for this world has not made such intellectuals identify with an ideology; it has made them identify with humanity, with its dignity and its prospects” (p. 208).
As the time approached, my attitude toward student-teaching was one of confidence and in some ways overconfidence. I believed that I was equipped with all of the tools necessary to be a superior teacher. Little did I know what truly goes on behind the scenes of a teacher. Between grading papers, attending meetings, and preparing lessons, I would often feel overwhelmed. Still, student teaching would prove to be much more valuable than I anticipated. It would teach me to appreciate the wisdom of mentors and experienced teachers, value or being organized and prepared, and lastly the resilience of students.
"The more we know the world around us, the more successful we will be." This quote, from the introduction of my high school chemistry book, was my driving force as a teenager to attend college. My expectations of college were to gain insight into a world that I had not yet discovered. I had high aspirations of receiving a good education and obtaining a good job when I graduated. But four years later when graduation day arrived, I felt unfulfilled. In evaluating my education, I realized that I learned how to get good, but not great grades. I learned how to study to make the most of my time. The focus I shared with many of my peers was not always to appreciate the information received, but rather, to value the counsel from someone else who previously took that professor's class and maybe to be lucky enough to get a hold of last semester's examinations. Basically, I acquired useful skills for any job: to follow directions, to give the boss what he or she was asking of me, and to network and gain insight from other colleagues. It was still disturbing to me that after four years of schooling, I felt I had not received the education I initially expected. Overall, college does not bring out the full academic potential of the students who invest the time and money into an education. Teachers need to set aside their biases and restructure and develop curriculum, as well as student-teacher relationships, in order to truly develop college students into freethinking, exploratory people.
As students in college classrooms sit and listen to their teacher’s requirements and lectures, students often asked themselves why am I here? Why am I taking this class? Is it relevant to my major, my life or career choice? College-level institutions of learning have a hard time figuring out what is the best way to teach students and what works for the student’s best. According to John Dewey “how students are taught is as important as what they are taught” (415). College level students should be taught the skills and abilities that are needed to survive in the work force as well as in society as a whole. Students will face challenges after a college education leading to a different path in life rather than the one they were chasing or hoping
In this article I believe that Carol said it best when as she states, “To grow as much and as rapidly as possible, students must not only learn essential content, but also increasingly take charge of their own lives as learners. “ (Tomlinson, 2008)
I believe that students look to their philosophy teachers to challenge and inspire them. I think that learning philosophy is a process that involves wonder and awe, a process that evokes an emotional response as well as an intellectual one, and one that invites laughter as well as awakening a serious commitment to reasonable and responsible behavior in the world. I think that I serve my students by welcoming challenges and honestly pondering and engaging difficult questions in the classroom, rather than dodging confrontation and evading the tangle of discussion. Teaching, clearly, is not about demonstrating one's own knowledge or simply disseminating information. Good teaching stimulates self-reflection, enhances intellectual curiosity and empowers students to actively participate in and shape their own education. I aim to make my teaching nurture an...
Your responsibilities as teachers at this community college are very important in educating the dedicated students that attend your school. As an aging baby-boomer approaching retirement, no doubt like some of you in this room today, I recognize the importance of providing opportunities for growth and experiential learning in our young adults that will affect not only their lives, but those of everyone else around them. It is this distinguished group of graduates that will become our leaders, policy makers, doctors, lawyers and business people. The focus on learning moving towards a learner-centered approach and away from a teacher based will become increasingly important to this new generation of learners.
My goals as a teacher are to help students communicate effectively and foster a desire to learn. I believe these two characteristics are important for students to have because despite what problems they encounter or what situation they are in, the ability to communicate effectively will help them in working with others and the desire to learn will motivate them to make positive changes in their life. As a teacher, I want my students to become interested in learning, both in school and in their personal lives. With these two goals in mind, my role as a teacher is to help them acquire these skills and values. However, effective communication is one of the hardest tasks for teachers because we all communicate in different ways and through different means. This is why teachers also need the desire to learn because it will motivate them to learn more useful ways of communicating and connecting with the students. To help students attain these goals, a teacher who leads by example can demonstrate to students how to communicate to others. In addition, if teachers are excited about what they teach, they will create a better learning environment that will motivate the students to learn. My philosophy of teaching consists of these two traits because after they leave my class, I want them to continue their education with the desire to learn more and to communicate this desire and the skills they have obtained with others.
The role of public education as I see it is to provide every child the opportunity to become a valuable member of society. It is an institution where parents, teachers and the community can collaborate to help each student achieve educational success. It takes all kinds of individuals with different teaching styles and philosophies to achieve this. I believe my role as a teacher is to challenge students to think for themselves, think critically (solve problems) and to encourage learning through lessons that are fun. My philosophy is that I should strive to provide authentic learning experiences through student engagement and collaboration. As an educator it is my responsibility to facilitate learning opportunities whether they come from direct instruction, student collaboration in the classroom, or involvement in community activities.
It is a constant truth that technology is growing rapidly and it is opening up many opportunities for students as well as teachers. Through the use of the internet information that would take scholars months to acquire out and interpret can be found in less than a minute though a Google search and not only is the information their, but in many cases the information that you wanted is shown in bolded so it can even be found quicker.
When analyzing contemporary issues in education, it is very important to ask why and how the issues arise. Some of these problems are obvious to the mass public, and some require a more in-depth analysis. One of the less obvious issues in education is the current philosophy in the classrooms. One may ask the questions, “Why is the philosophy of education important? And, why does it matter to me?” To put it simply, the philosophy imbedded in the goals of education and teaching methods in a classroom affects the students’ futures. This topic was chosen because the philosophy in schools is often overlooked as the absolute core of educational issues. Many students understandably struggle with sitting in a classroom, uninterested. In addition to the constant stress and pressure of having good grades, students often ask why the given curriculum must be learned.
I believe that you cannot just choose one philosophy to base your teaching methods on. I agree with points of two very different philosophies. The first philosophy is essentialism. This is a teacher-centered philosophy. I think that core courses are very important in education. H...
My teaching philosophy is rooted in my goal to effectively teach all my students and instill in them a love of learning. I want my students to understand that learning should take place not only in the confines of the classroom, but throughout their everyday lives. I strive to help them become life-long learners and to seize their own opportunities to gain knowledge.
Learning in the working world has become certainly vital to most organizations due to the current nature of customers, employers, employees, and the business atmosphere that is being branded by both technological growth and competitive edge. It has advanced to an amount that certain organizations that may take it for granted lose ground pay for it. Those organizations are usually either put out of business or take copious amounts of loss in the market. It is suggested that organizations are indeed changing and that it takes active organizations that are able and willing to le...
Is it possible when you are a child to know what you want to spend the majority of your life doing? I believe that some people know what path they will choose even at a very young age. I found that I am one of those people since I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember. Teaching is a unique, demanding profession that I have chosen since I enjoy being around young people and helping people understand new concepts. I have chosen to teach math and business. I want to teach math because I have been in so many math classes in which students have struggled and I want to be able to help students who struggle understand and apply the concepts. I want to teach business because technology and business has become such a significant part of society and I want to prepare young people for that aspect of their futures. In order to provide my students with the best education I can offer, I will focus on the philosophies of progressivism and existentialism.
Philosophy is very important when it comes to the teaching practice. It helps teachers to understand everything that is happening in the school settings as well as helping them to understand the way in which all the school citizens act and how they think. It also helps them to think more clearly. It gives them wisdom and helps them to learn more about what is happening in the world which they live in. It helps them to learn about each other. This assignment will focus on explaining the importance of philosophy for the teaching practice by highlighting how epistemology has influence on how I teach, the importance of ethics in the teaching practice as well as identifying one philosophy of teaching amongst, pragmatism, existentialism or liberalism.