Four Characteristics Of My Teaching Philosophy

There are four teacher qualities I consider to be essential: thorough knowledge, skills in effectively conveying knowledge, the ability to engage and motivate learners, and a honest concern for students ' wellbeing. These four qualities are pertinent to my own teaching philosophy, and form the foundation of how I teach my students. Teachers often come to be a source of encouragement, advice and support for their students, and as a result I believe that teachers truly have the invaluable opportunity to transform students ' lives. Through nurturing their learning, and facilitating their development as individuals, teachers can strive to meet each student 's needs in accordance with the Australian Curriculum 's educational goals. For carrying

A constructivist view to education assigns students as self-regulated learners who are encouraged to make sense of information for themselves through critical-thinking rather than rote repetition of the correct answer (Krause et al. 2010, pp. 212 - 213). Furthermore, a constructivist-educator is one who undertakes efforts to understand students ' already established conceptions, and tailors learning-activities to build upon or challenge these ideas. As a teacher in a classroom, I would do this by implementing active-learning strategies wherever possible, such as inquiry-based activities or real-world problem solving related to what the students know. In teaching students through this constructivist approach, with its emphasis on critical-thinking, I believe that students ' gain an essential skill for lifelong learning: 'adaptive expertise ', which is '[...] the ability to apply meaningfully-learned knowledge and skills flexibly and creatively in different situations. ' (Durmont et al. 2010, p. 84) Not only do they form the basis for lifelong learning, a constructivist-classroom that encourages critical-thinking naturally elicits greater social interactions through discussion and collaboration; an essential part of an education which produces active and

It is still the teacher 's expert knowledge and guidance that ultimately directs the classroom 's learning, but students actively construct their knowledge rather than simply memorise knowledge from the teacher or the textbook. It is because of this that a teacher needs not only a deep understanding of subjects, but also an extensive knowledge on how students learn, as any possession of knowledge is rendered obsolete without the ability to effectively convey it to their students. Furthermore, if they are to be able to teach to their greatest capacity, teachers need to possess the ability to acknowledge what they themselves do not know, what they must learn, and when they may be wrong. Willing to be a learner is, in my view, a fundamental quality of being a teacher, as the teaching profession constantly evolves with the dissemination of updated teaching materials and strategies. Not only should teachers seek to develop professionally, I believe they must also develop personally in order to be able to accommodate the myriad of student backgrounds they will