Education philosophy

Running Head: EDUCATION PHILOSOPHY 1

Education Philosophy

Mary Lee

EDU 650: Learning and Leadership in the 21st Century

Instructor: Dr. Kimberly Smith

May 11, 2015


Educational Philosophy

In the 21st century there has been a shift from the regular way of education so according to

(Partnership for 21st-Century skills, 2001 2008), “students need to be able to create, evaluate, and

analyze ideas. They must learn to communicate their thoughts through a range of media. They

must also be able to sift through an abundance of information and make sense of complex

questions’. All of these skills together define 21st-century skills. In order to for a teacher to

create an educational philosophy at this time these items need to be considered.

My personal goal as a teacher is to challenge students to excel to their highest levels, and see

them develop as individuals, so that they can be the best person they can be. My students can

expect me to be a facilitator, guiding them to become creative, self-directed, exploratory, critical

thinkers, problem solving, and decision makers. My students can expect me to prepare them to

learn and compete in learning that will prepare them for college. My student can expect me to

guide them to collaborate and work as a team player, in a learning community. My students

should also expect me to guide them to be responsible for their own learning.

My parents are important because they help shape their children to know the importance of

learning and education. My parents should expect me to communicate and involve them about

their children behavior, growth, and class activities. Researcher’s states that” student

achievement, self-esteem, motivation, and positive attitude toward school and school subjects are

maximized through parental involvement”, (Lazar, & Slostad, 1999). Parents can expect me to

be an empathic teacher that will provide their children with a safe and caring learning

environment, with respect, fair treatment, and equal opportunities for all. My parents can expect

me to encourage, praise inform, and challenge their children to achieve to their fullest potential.


As a teacher I expect to facilitate a learning environment that will produce future leaders for

this 21st century competitive digital workplace. I expect myself to create student centered

learning so that students can be creative, self-directed, exploratory, so that learning will make

sense. According to, (Jones, 1997) “ Student centered learning, also known as learner-centered

education, and is a method of teaching that shift the focus of instruction from the teacher to the

student, and make the student develop learner autonomy and independence, by putting

responsibility for the learning path in the hands of students”. As a teacher I expect to know my

learners needs, their learning styles, and multi-intelligence, so that I can create learning

opportunities that will facilitate, critical thinking skills, decision making skills, and problem

solving skills, using simulation activities that will transfer knowledge to workplace situations.

I think as a teacher the most important responsibility is to meet the student needs. In my

perception it is important to help students, emotionally, physical and socially. I believe that

diversity of children is one of the upmost important factors, and I think it is important to address

these diversities of cultures with high regards to the way they influence the way students learn. I

also think that as an educator, in order for students attitude toward learning is positive I must

help build the student’s self-esteem, confidence, and motivate them to learn.

My values as a teacher that I think in life that’s important is integrity, honesty, genuine care

for people. I believe your values transfer to how you want to be treated so you treat others that

way first. I want my students to have values to be able to trust, be open, and have integrity I take

pride in developing and designing teaching methods that creates a community of learners that

work on projects so that they can collaborate to solve problems, and make decisions collectively.

As a teacher I know that this method promotes team work, and allows the student to view others

perspectives, and is a tool for college preparation. As a teacher, learner, parent, I rely on the


building of learning communities for best practice, where two are more teachers can come

together to brainstorm ideas and strategies with the use of technology support for student

success. I know that team work is important, in order to compete today business are no longer

relying on a one desk job, but technology has made it possible to work as teams to solve

problems, and where diversity of team members are embraced.

In student learn according to their learning styles, characteristics, and multi- intelligence

learning ability. I as a teacher use instructions to address the tactile, (on hand learners) audio,

(hearing learners), visual, (sight learners), and according to (Gardner, 1997) several multi-

intelligence. I also believe that students need instructions that will create experience that is

meaningful to them, to do this I like to incorporated games for motivation and fun, but yet a

learning experience, and simulation where one might practice di-secting a frog online.

I want students to learn how to be critical thinker, how to solve problem, make decisions, and

be self-directed learners. As a result in my class I will facilitate learning experiences using many

of the web 2.0 tools to apply the knowledge learned in traditional class with a one day of blended

online class to apply the learning to real life simulations. I believe through blogging it creates

opportunities to be better writers, using social network, games, and other powerful web tools

student are motivated to practice skills that can foster effective learning.

As a result of being in my class students should know how to read, write, and work math

problems for elementary. In high Schools my students will know how to make engines searches,

validate the real from the fake research, solve problems, think critical, solve problems, be digital

literate, make presentation, critique, analyze evaluate articles, and write effectively. My teaching

facilitate learning by using strategies to create learning assignments that promote students to be


independent thinkers, and learners, yet work as a group to solve problems, and make decisions.

My instructions are all age appropriate and organized so that the students have as much practice

as they need to learn. I use a brain teaser to introduce new topics, I use some type of presentation

to give the depths of the subject, check for understanding, individual practice, and group work

practice, along with a test or quiz to check final understanding and to see if I need to reteach. In

my class for students who need additional practice is a self-paced tutorial.

As a teacher I believe that we should be lifelong learners, because as the world changes

education changes, to be an effective teacher you should always have updated information, as

well as having updated technology because of the shifts that takes place. I continually take

classes, work on different types of programs, read journals, and engage in activities that will

challenge me to change and keep up with the times.


References

Jones, Leo. (2007). the Student-Centered Classroom. Cambridge University Press.

Lazar, A., & Slostad, F. (1999). How to overcome obstacles to parent-teacher partnerships. The

Clearing House, 72 (4), 206-211.

Newman, R. (2013). Teaching and learning in the 21st century: Connecting the dots. San Diego,

CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from: (Partnership for 21st Century Skills,

2001,2008).

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