My Teaching Philosophy

At the beginning of my teaching career I had a great deal of knowledge. I knew the educational jargon and the favored teaching strategies, but what I lacked was the wisdom to effectively utilize my knowledge. For me, teaching is a continuous quest to obtain the wisdom necessary to help my students learn. Sometimes this wisdom is obvious as I work with the “golden children,” the children destined for success. But more often than not, it has come from the “problem children,” those unmotivated, hostile and obstinate children who dare me to teach them. It is the “problem students” that get the credit for making me a better teacher. They are the ones that force me to seek the wisdom necessary for success. They are the ones that challenge me to be the best that I can be, and they are the ones that give me my greatest satisfaction as a teacher. With the help of these students I have created the three basic principles that form the basis of my teaching philosophy.

(1) Believe in yourself - believe in your vision- Teaching is tough. Students come into classrooms totally unprepared to learn. Parents are not ideal, and society has totally unrealistic expectations for teachers. These are but a few of the nails that can be used to build a schoolhouse of failure. It is too easy to use these problems as excuses for failure. I believe that I have the power to overcome these problems. In my classroom I am the most important factor in the success or failure of my students. I cannot overcome what I cannot control. When I blame the parents, I give away my control since I cannot change the parents. If I blame society, I give away my control since I cannot change society. If I take the responsibility, I keep control since I can change wha...

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...or when they will be required to participate in a simulation or a role playing exercise. Rather than dreading this they come to enjoy it. They know that taking risks is part of the learning process, and that they have nothing to fear in a classroom where students respect each other and where making mistakes is seen as a key to effective learning. I believe that learning is fun. I want my students to leave the classroom smiling. I want us to laugh together each day. I want a classroom where we always take our work seriously but ourselves lightly. When students are actively engaged, the old adage that all students can learn is true. I know teachers that have great lesson plans on paper but whose students are bored and frustrated. The key to my success has less to do with my great lesson plans than with my positive attitudes towards my students and my subject.