Stephanie Antoniolli

CI 405
19 October 2015
Philosophy Statement
Education is an important foundation in every childs life. The role of an educator is to be
a childs mentor, advocate, and guide. Every child needs to have someone in their lives that
frequently reminds and tells them that they are unique and extraordinary. During my education I
had many memorable teachers that made a tremendous difference in my life and in turn I would
like to do the same for my future students. In order to achieve this personal objective I have
many goals for myself regarding my future classroom.
A goal for my future classroom is to challenge every student and watch them progress
academically and mentally. I would like to ensure that my students of every level are challenged
and constantly learning new things. Therefore, I will put an emphasis on collaboration and group
work. Group work promotes peer-to-peer assistance, more participation, and practicing
collaboration and social skills with other classmates. Each of these elements is important to me
because I want my students to be able to relate to one another and create bonds in the classroom.
I believe the classroom should be an enviroment where students collaborate and assist one
another on a daily basis.
Another goal I have is to have a blend of traditional and progressive classroom designs. I
believe that children learn through a variety of methods. It is important to change the
instructional strategy used frequently throughout the day. Therefore, I will incorporate teacher
directed instruction, student focused discourse, group work and hands on activities every day.
Each of these approaches is vital in a classroom and is helpful for students who benefit from
different learning styles. Although I prefer to have a more progressive approach in my classroom
I believe that some teacher directed instruction is significant to childrens learning. A progressive
approach with a great deal of student focused discourse, group work and hands on activities, will

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help the students create relationships with one another and understand the presented material
better.
There are some practices that I consider very important to integrate in my classroom.
These practices include communicating with students, analysis and problem solving, connection
to other disciplines, and relevance to history, current events and/or real world situations. All of
these involve class discussions and student participation. Problem solving and analysis are
important in every subject; students should be challenged to find solutions and the process of
arriving to solutions. Connecting to other disciplines, history and real world situations is
essential because the students are able to relate what they are learning to their daily lives. This
will help them create an attachment to the subject matter.
I consider kinesthetic learning and art incorporation as two important concepts to
incorporate into the classroom. I believe that kinesthetic learning should be incorporated in the
all subject areas. Kinesthetic learning promotes self-expression and self-discovery; these
experiences will help students create an emotional and interpersonal connection to the academic
subject. Furthermore, I believe that art and creativity should be included in the classroom. Art
incorporation improves motivation, concentration, confidence, and teamwork in the students. Art
allows them to take the big idea of a classroom experience or a reading and critically think of
how it can be represented, expressed and articulated in a personal manner.
Another objective that I have is to ensure a safe and positive learning enviroment.
Everyone in my class will be respected and valued; this will be established in the classroom rules
and endorsed every day. Furthermore, My goal is to increase the self-confidence and self-worth
of every child in my class. I will achieve this goal by reminding my students that they are special

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every day. I will also go to great lengths to assure struggling students that they are capable of the
task at hand.
Global awareness is something that should be introduced to children at a young age. It is
important that children are mindful and informed about the world around them; this will broaden
their thoughts and views of the world. First, it is important to explain to children what it means to
be an American and that America is home to many cultures. Once this is established in the
classroom I consider that part of my job is to assist children in being globally conscious and
understanding of other cultures as well. This includes the cultures that make up the class
demographics and the world around us. I will achieve this by a variety of projects and activities.
Finally, my instructional and academic goals for my classroom include having a solid
foundation in reading, writing and math, promoting critical thinking skills, and student love for
learning. A foundation in reading, writing and math is essential for academic progress and a
professional future. Moreover, critical thinking skills assist the students to identify, construct, and
evaluate arguments, solve problems systematically, and reflect on ones own beliefs and values.
The earlier children learn to use these skills the more they will develop over the years. Lastly, if a
student is passionate about what they are learning and truly enjoy being at school they will learn
a great deal more. I plan to incorporate these in all of the academic classes through various ways.
I would like to have a class where the children enjoy coming to school and go home having more
knowledge.