A Personal Review of My Teaching Philosophy

I have loved school since I was in the 1st grade. I have always had great grades and I really want to become a teacher. I am going to explain my own personal teaching philosophy but first, what is the purpose of school vs. the purpose of education? The difference between the two is: school was made to be a systematic, mandatory place that was put in place for children to learn structure plus knowledge and get them ready for the workplace. The purpose of education is to broaden a Childs’ brain so he or she can become creative in their own way. It also allows that knowledge they learned in school and put a twist to it and apply it to every day life.

The teaching profession should be viewed by the public as an awesome thing. The reason why it should be viewed this way is because teaching is what taught everyone how to read, write. Without education, there would not be buildings, internet, clothing, food and most importantly, doctors, scientists and computer technicians. This world would be nothing without the teaching profession. Teaching others makes the world go round and new ideas arise. I have a 5 year old and I love teaching her new things. Her mind is like a huge sponge. I would tell her something from a week ago and she remembers everything. Teaching children is exciting to me. I feel the public should applaud teachers for what they do. Children will only learn from teachers who love what they do. If you are not willing to teach children, the right way, as in with your whole heart, then teaching is not for you.

The best way to learn to me is by allowing the children to use their hands and creativity in the classroom. As a child and as an adult, I love to learn by using my hands. If I can see what someone is teaching me, I pick it up really quick. Children’s’ attention span is very short. They need to put creativity and their own twist to things. Instead of using pen and paper when it comes to math class, why not use paper and marbles or m&ms in the equation. It gets the children more excited about learning. The best way to teach to me is to first tell the children that they can do it. There is no giving up. The word “can’t" should not be in your vocabulary. You aren’t doing this alone and it is okay to ask questions. WE work together, WE solve it together. No question is a silly question. We don’t make fun of others because they got an answer wrong. If someone gets 4 of the 5 questions wrong, doesn’t make them dumb. That just means that person at least got 1 question right. That one question is important. You tried on that one question and got it correct. Next time, let’s try and get another one correct. When I teach, we don’t put each other down. We lift each other up so we all can succeed in life and get to the next level of knowledge, together.

Teaching and learning could be looked at like a sandwich. The bread is the teaching and all of the inside is all the knowledge you have learned throughout the years. I had a teacher, Mr. Jones, who has always had the best attitude towards everything. It could be good or bad and he would always have a great way of handling it. He was my math teacher. Math was not my cup of tea and he could see that it wasn’t. Everytime he would have a problem that I could not figure out, I would immediately shut down completely. There was no showing me how to do it so don’t even bother showing me. I would not even look at the problem. When class ended he would call me up to his desk and work out a problem I would always shut down on. Mr. Jones wrote it out on a piece of paper and he would use his bag of marbles to get me to understand. At the end of the equation, I finally found the answer. I finally understood. You don’t always have to have the simple pen and paper way of doing things. You could use objects to solve math problems. Mr. Jones inspired me to become a teacher because I was one of those children where learning was hard. He believed in me and he made me believe in myself.

To become a teacher, you have to have faith in every student and he had faith in me. When I become a teacher I hope to change the minds of others. I hope to change their thought on what teachers actually do to help children succeed. Education is not just about learning. It’s a way of life. Education can get you places where you couldn’t even imagine. It helps us build and have an opinion. It gives us points of views in life. It’s the only one thing that gives us knowledge.