My Teaching and Learning Philosophy

My Philosophy of Teaching and Learning

My philosophy of teaching is to create an environment that allows for supervised exploration. I believe, given the right resources, tools and technology, every student has the potential to be the best student they can be intellectually, personally and physically. It is my duty as a future teacher to assist in these areas and reinforce the children’s protocol for being a student. It is important to give a balanced option of structure and fun. I believe a child learns best when they are given real life scenarios incorporated with their daily schoolwork. I firmly believe that I am as much a teacher to my students as my students are teachers to me. We must learn from each other to build a foundation of respect, knowledge and a growing community.

            There are four major classroom management theories proposed by four different views of philosophers. I would consider myself to have been influenced by all, and will keep the fundamentals of each throughout my classroom and teaching as a whole. To go back to my statement about every child being the best version of themselves possible, Adam Simpson (2015) quoted Glasser when he says, “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is, if it’s your responsibility to fix it” (pg.15). The only behavior we can control is our own; so way waste it on anything but the best? Incorporating Glasser into my teaching style, I must build positive relationships amongst my students, so they feel they can trust not only myself, but also each other, to aspire to be everything and anything they want to be.

            I also find myself to incorporate values from the Jones model of positive discipline. Adam Simpson (2015) says, “The main tenet of the Jones positive discipline system is that the teacher models the kind of behavior that is expected” (pg. 12). If I am not applying all classroom rules, and my capabilities, how could I expect my students to do the same? Jones helps to build student and teacher responsibilities and I want to stop bad behaviors before they even happen.

            I feel as if it is my responsibility to create a reciprocal relationship between my students and myself. My students have just as much duty to me, and I do to them. Amongst those duties of my students, is their duty to the school, their classmates, themselves, and most importantly, me.