Teaching Philosophy Statement
“I touch the future. I teach.” Christa McAuliffe’s statement about touching the future is how I feel about teaching. Being passionate about teaching and wanting to help and inspire the youth of America is my philosophy. Teaching is not always thought of as the noblest career choice, but in my eyes it is. Without the inspiration of good teachers there would be no doctor, lawyers or other teachers. I agonized over the decision of what career path to take, but it all became so clear my senior year of high school. I thought of all the teachers who had inspired me in years past to do my best and not to give up, and that is when I decided I wanted to be a teacher. There were a few teachers that made me feel they really cared about my education and my future. That is the kind of teacher I strive to be. I hope I can inspire my students to do something great with their lives. Although I was happy with my decision everyone I told thought I was crazy to want to pursue such a “thankless job” as they called it. I saw it in another light though; teaching is something I knew would be right for me. Teachers have the ideal work schedule I think. I may have some paper work to do or school functions to attend, but this job will allow me to spend time with my family. If I decided to have children this would allow me to have the quality time I want to spend with them also. Overall the positive aspects of teaching greatly out weigh the negative ones from my point of view. My major is physical education and health, which will allow me to teach something I am passionate about; physical fitness. I believe for a student to be well balance they have to feel good and feel good about themselves.
In today’s society of video games and computers children are leading more and more sedentary lifestyles. As a P.E. teacher I hope to change that and teach kids healthy habits for long-term fitness. As part of the “New P.E.” generation I think the skill-based learning with be more effective than simply just letting kids play games that they don’t have the skill for.
As a college student, I often find myself inundated with work. To make it worse, these assignments usually are uninteresting and irrelevant. It is in the midst of these tedious exercises that I begin to wonder whether all of this work is worth it. When this issue creeps into my mind, I think back to my reasons for choosing to pursue this profession. When I started college, I knew that I could not function in a typical nine to five job. The banality and predictability of such a career simply did not appeal to me. So that essentially ruled out any course of study which would lead to such an occupation. I also knew that I wanted a job that would allow me to make a difference in people’s lives. My mind carefully contemplated the list of possible vocations, and ultimately the field of education seemed to possess the strongest appeal. A teaching career, I figured, would allow me to have a strong impact on the lives of young people. I wanted to help them grow both as students and as people, just as my teachers had done for me. So, despite the warnings of many current teachers, I enlisted myself in a curriculum devoted to teacher preparation.
As a sophomore, I was required to compile a genre of educational philosophies and create my own philosophy in the process. Today, as a senior I am required to “revise” that statement into one that is sophisticated and intelligent based on new information that I have received in the last two years. One instructor said to me, “Your view on educational elements may have changed,” and another said, “Randy, your philosophy on the way you view yourself as a teacher and the view of your classroom may have evolved into a more manageable, realistic perspective,” and they were both right.
Becoming a teacher was not something I always knew I wanted. As I approached an age where I really started considering what I would like to do for a career I only knew that I did not want to work in an office behind a desk all day. I wanted a job that would be interactive, challenging and exciting. I also knew I wanted a job that would be important and would somehow contribute to the world in an important way. I thought being a teacher; particularly a teacher in the primary levels would fulfill those hopes and goals assuming I dedicate myself to becoming an effective teacher who has a positive influence on the lives of my students.
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.
Education is everywhere. This is why teachers need to be the best they can be. Since all children and adolescents are required to attend school, they need teachers that care about them and their education. In order for a teacher to be able to do this, he/she needs to understand the nature of students and knowledge. These two things go together. A teacher also needs to know what the purpose of an education is because without knowing, a teacher does not really have a purpose. In my philosophy, I will discuss why I think my curricular area is important and how I will professionally develop myself to become the best teacher I can be.
Every teacher has a different method of teaching. The teachers that I have had in my school career have been no exception. In this way, each teacher has set an example for me, as a future teacher, to follow or not to follow as I see fit. With the examples from my teachers and in continuing my education, I am developing my own method of teaching. I plan to use a combination of teaching methods in my own classroom. My method will be an eclectic approach because I will be using components of more than one philosophy. I will be using essentialism, behaviorism, progressivism, and existentialism.
Through my own experiences, and as enforced by others' opinions in the profession, I have found that teaching is one of the most rewarding careers. Not only are you placed in the position of instructing and guiding children and young adults through the life long learning process, but you are able to give back to the schools and communities which have supported your early education and experiences that opened you up to a bright future. In becoming an educator, I hope to someday share the knowledge and lend the helping, supportive hand that I was once given, allowing students to formulate their own perspectives of the multicultural society and world around them. Teaching is a career I have been interested in pursuing throughout high school, and as my experiences and study in the field expands, I feel that my desire to teach will grow stronger and develop more soundly.
As an education major at State College, I’ve decided to become a teacher for several reasons. As I progressed through elementary, middle, and high school, many of my teachers were great role models for me. This has inspired me to become a role model for someone in the near future. My love for science and math has also influenced my desire to teach and make a difference in a child’s life. I want to teach students the subjects that I love so much. I want the feeling that I helped a child accomplish or learn something they couldn’t understand. One of the main reasons I want to become an educator is because I feel education has really lost teachers who truly love teaching and those who truly love teaching and those who have the desire to make a difference. I feel I can really help make a difference in the education world and bring back the love to teach.
Physical education provides a variation of motor skills aimed to enhance the physical, mental, social and emotional development. The obesity statistics of 2009 quantified that childhood obesity rates have more than tripled since 1980 and in addition to concerns regarding chronic diseases, overweight and obesity incidences have even led to poorer levels of academic achievement (Taras & Potts-Datema, 2005). Additionally, in order to teach students the importance of preventing these ailments, those who oppose the amount of time in physical education or want to cut it out altogether should reconsider. Instead, time in physical education should be as equal as core subjects are seen. Physical education can help children in the classroom as well. The physical educator can incorporate math or science in to their lessons. If they are jump roping, they can skip count...
Video games are used to improve physical health. Playing video games does not mean being inactive. New and improved video games involve and incorporate different types of movement in the actual game. Certain video games can reduce fat causing global weight loss (Recio 143). By turning game systems into exercise, new generation games draw people into activities and get heart rates pumping. Schools have incorporated video games into part of their physical education program. Children’s waists lines have gone down by inches due to playing video games in gym class. In gym, the machines teach things like balance, timing, and coordina...
The first main reason that I have chosen teaching as a profession is because I believe that it’s continuous rewards will help me to lead a happy and fulfilled life. For example, teaching young children is one of the few jobs in which you can give and receive hugs on a daily basis. Children have an innocence and a passion for knowledge that I find amazing and I do not feel complete unless I am around them. Teaching will help provide this fulfillment for me every day. Also, teaching is a job in which it is ok, and even encouraged, to laugh each and every day. I feel that this is important for a person’s well-being and I think that it helps to keep people young and alive. I feel that in many other professions the day-to-day routine would become monotonous and boring, and I do not think that I would live a truly happy and fulfilled life unless I could be around children. I feel that a classroom provides many unique and dynamic opportunities every single day and I find that very appealing. Also, I am a very relationship-oriented person and I feel that I will enjoy building unique relationships with each child. I plan on knowing every child as thoroughly as possible because I feel that this will help me to be better at my job.
There have been many factors that have inspired me to this career choice. Watching my teachers, both past and present, has inspired me to become a teacher. I have a genuine interest in lifelong learning and as such I have the desire to not only instil knowledge and values to others, but also encourage them to share my passion for learning. Social Justice and leadership roles at school, along with my extra-curricular involvement with Cowra Youth Council, have highlighted my ability to work with and for the benefit of young people. In essence I know that my abilities and aspirations will make me a good teacher.
Teaching has always been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl. I have had multiple teachers who have impacted my life in many ways, but the one teacher who has inspired me to pursue a career in the education field as a teacher would be my math teacher that I have this year. She inspires me every day and is truly my role model. I look up to her on a daily basis, and I aspire to become a teacher because of her and how she has changed my life for the better have always appreciated the hard work that teachers do on a daily basis, and I always have appreciated the fact that they take time out of their day to teach their students valuable skills that the students may utilize in the future. I aspire to become a teacher in the future and hopefully make a difference in students’ lives. Teachers are more than just people who educate students, they are people who continue to make a difference in my life and teach me the value of hard work every day. I know that I really want to pursue a career in the education field as a teacher because I want to help people and share my love of learning with my future students. I also want to become a teacher because I would like to give back to the amazing teachers that I have this year and take what they have taught me and instill that in my future classroom. I realize that teaching is a lot of hard work, but I am willing to give one hundred percent effort on a daily basis so that students can receive a great education that they deserve.
When I think of becoming a teacher I would like to imagine or hope that I would be “turning the key” for a student of mine to become something great. I have been soul searching for many years now to have a better understanding of what I am suppose to do in my life. I have worked in so many jobs in so many areas but nothing was fulfilling my life with any amount of meaning. I found myself not wanting to go back the next day or wishing I were somewhere else. Well I guess everyone does that is what I would tell myself.
I am so excited about one day teaching our children. My goal is to be a positive influence on a child and I cannot imagine anything more important to do with my life than helping children. A quote from Herbert Kohl sums up my feelings of becoming an educator: “I believe the impulse to teach is fundamentally altruistic and represents a desire to share what you value and to empower others. I am not talking about the job of teaching so much as the calling to teach. Most teachers I know have felt that calling at some time in their lives.” My dream is to someday soon fulfill my calling.