MY PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHING
Education is a lifelong process with no true beginning or end. Education includes
experience, environment, socialization and communication. Education feeds natural
curiosity and enhances creativity. These thoughts begin my philosophy of education.
John Dewey believed that "all genuine education comes through experience." I agree
that education does not begin and end in a classroom. The extent of education we receive
is the sum of experience we allow ourselves to be exposed to. I believe that an educated
person knows that he/she doesn't know everything, that we in fact know very little and
there are always more questions to be answered. This is what I think the attitude of an
effective teacher should be. An effective teacher knows the value of questions and
exploration. The question is as relevant as the answer. Getting to the answer is the
journey. This is how learning begins, with a question.
Children generally enter the classroom ready to learn, especially in the primary
grades. It is the responsibility of the teacher to motivate and enhance that desire to learn
by the classroom environment that he/she creates. A teacher is educated in methodology
and technique to pass on knowledge, but is that enough? Is there more to the profession
than simply passing on what we know and present it how we've been taught? If this is
the case, then teaching is a job where we are more concerned with how the students
reflect our own performance rather than the progress of our students.
An effective t ...