A Passion for Learning: My Philosophy of Education

Dont limit a child to your own learning, for he was born in another time.
Rabindranath Tagore.

I love learning, and I have a strong desire to foster a life-long passion for learning in
others. Beyond striving to ensure that my future students develop a desire to learn, my main
objective as a teacher is to fully prepare students to become highly skilled, successful adults in a
21
st
century society. This includes: fostering critical thinking skills, encouraging creativity, and
providing opportunities for students to communicate and collaborate with each other, their
community, and the rest of the globe. But most importantly, my objective includes moving
beyond the parameters of learning and education as I once knew them, and embracing the
positive changes that have taken place in technology and pedagogy over the last twenty years in
order to ensure success among my future students.

My undergraduate degree, and thus my area of expertise, is in history - a subject whose
pedagogical methods often unfortunately remain stuck in the same era as the bulk of its content
and it is not alone in this regard. Traditional lecture-based formats cannot remain as the only
way to teach students, and I fully intend to break away from that tradition by making learning
and its content relevant again. This is my role as a teacher to make content relevant to the
students so that they will be better prepared to enter 21
st
century society. The students role is to
be engaged in learning, which heavily depends on how well the teacher does his/her role. For
students to be fully engaged in learning they need a safe environment in which they feel
comfortable to do so this is also the responsibility of the teacher. Providing a safe environment
for students is also the key to effectively managing a classroom when students feel comfortable
with one another, as well as with their surroundings, they are less likely to act out.

To accomplish my role as a teacher, I would primarily use a project-based learning
approach, with any lecture-type material being delivered through the means of informal
discussion. Students often appreciate the relaxed atmosphere that accompanies informal
discussions, and this helps contribute to a safe learning environment. Also, having all students
use their individual strengths, (based on multiple intelligences, learning styles, and general
observations), to collaborate with one another over the semester and develop one large project
that they could share with their families, their communities, or even with a larger global
community, would help make content relevant to students once again, as well as provide a means
of assessment of learning that is appropriate for the 21
st
century. Completing such a project
would require students to learn a variety of 21
st
century skills, many of which involve
technological advancements, and these skills would help to equip students for the future. Also, a
life-long passion for learning would be much easier to foster if students could learn by doing
what they already love to do.

Family involvement and participation also plays a large role in my philosophy of
teaching, especially as it pertains to history. History is peoples stories; we interpret these stories
to gain a better understanding of our community, of our culture, of a specific time period, and of
the world in general. Students family members have their own unique stories. It would make
for an enhanced learning experience if they would be willing to share these stories with the rest
of the class to help facilitate a greater interest in learning, and in the community as a whole. The
interest created by these stories could easily spill into subject areas other than history: students
might be inspired to record their own stories for future readers as a part of the language arts
curriculum; or as a thank you to the community for sharing their personal stories, students
might want to give back by planting a garden an assignment that could be used to meet
curriculum outcomes in both science and math. Projects such as these will foster critical
thinking, encourage creativity, and require a great deal of communication and collaboration
among students and the community. As an extension, students can develop a class website that
will allow them to share their work with the rest of the globe. The enthusiasm displayed by
myself, parents, and other members of the community/globe might just be contagious enough to
engage students in learning.

I chose a career as an educator because I want to be able to continue learning throughout
my life, through my students and through self-guided research. I also want to contribute to
society by helping to educate top-rate students who are prepared to take on the world before
them. There is no single, solitary perfect method for teaching; mine is about knowing my
students and matching my pedagogy with their strengths. My philosophy will continue to shape
itself and further develop through careful reflection, as I begin to spend more time in the
classroom and collaborate with colleagues and mentors. Success in the classroom comes from
teachers who know themselves, know their students, and know their practice. I know myself, I
am slowly but surely developing my practice, and I believe that said practice will help me
successfully get to know my students, and by extension their families and community.