Personal Philosophy of Education

Stephanie Vivas

Education 201
Personal Philosophy of Education

Becoming a teacher can be a great experience if you truly have the motivation to

complete your journey. I believe that is the single most important key to becoming a successful

teacher. The first motivation and goal to keep in mind is to better a child’s education and make a

positive impact on their education. Keeping that in mind; it’ll be easier to get through your path

to becoming a teacher.

If a student tells you that they want to become a teacher just like you; that’s the best way

of knowing you are doing a great job. I remember being in my 3rd grade classroom and truly

admiring the way my teacher cared and taught us. I loved going to class and knew it was going to

be exciting. I am really grateful to have had her as a teacher because she made me realize there

are teachers who really care about students. I now have the same passion and dedication for

students as she did. The journey has just started for me so I am really focusing on the educational

courses I am taking to become a teacher. I find each class has great information that I will use in

the future. The process to getting your license in Nevada to teach is not as difficult as it may

seem. What will require time is getting a bachelor’s degree; which I believe is needed to make

sure you are well prepared.

One of the great things I learned in class was the different philosophical theories, and

which one I would most likely lean towards when it came to teaching. I was pleased to find out

that I leaned towards existentialism. I know this will be the way I would like to teach students

because this theory puts students in the center of learning. It is up to them what they decide to

education themselves on, and it’s their decisions which make the outcome. If we narrow the way

the curriculum stands in CCSD, we can easily say this is not the way teaching is done in our

school district. I say things can always change and just because the curriculum isn’t taught that

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Personal Philosophy of Education

way, it doesn’t mean I won’t teach it. Our student’s grades and graduation are still low, and I

think this may help bring those numbers up.

I feel it is very important to have a student-centered classroom. That will be my goal

every year I teach. I want the children to feel comfortable in my classroom. I want them to think

outside the box and open up their minds to discover new things. Every child in my class will feel

as if they can do anything and be anything they want to be. By every child I mean every single

child. It doesn’t matter their ethnicity, special needs, culture. Those are things that make each

student special and each one of them can use their uniqueness to become a great person. My

class will be fun and exciting with everything we learn. I will spend more time on finding ways

to make education a great journey that they want to take not that they are forced to take. I feel

that way of teaching can bring excellent assessment scores without the students feeling like their

whole school year revolved around a test.

It is very important to have passion, motivation, and be conscientious. Those are the

qualities every person should have to move forward with their teaching career. There needs to be

true kindness in your heart for people. I was able to volunteer at the homeless shelter and I feel

that gave me even more motivation to become a great teacher. Education is so important for

every child, but it is also important for them to have a caring person teaching them. On one of

my assignments my professor had written a line that was similar to “you may be the only person

they have”, those words really stuck to me. Some of these children may have a hard life outside

of school and it may be you as their teacher that they count on to comfort them. I saw that at the

homeless shelter. Children as small as 2 years old waiting to be served what may be their only

meal all day. It broke my heart to see that, but at the same time it gave me more motivation to

continue my journey. I will take all the advice I can get from volunteer work, teachers, school

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Personal Philosophy of Education

employees and so on. Every interaction is important and every experience can give great value to

your journey. I am very excited to continue this wonderful journey and I cannot wait to start

changing children’s lives for the better.