When it comes to education my philosophy is that each student is deserving of a full education no matter what. Education is one of the most important things a young person can get and is essential to a child’s brain growth. This drives how I think of myself as an educator, I want to create the most comfortable and productive learning environment possible for students in my classroom. I also want students to understand that education is not just about the content, but the experiences and mind growth that goes along with learning. 

The biggest thing I think about when being a teacher is creating a good learning environment. If the environment that the students are supposed to be learning in is a good one the quality of education is going to be much better. I think one of the biggest aspects I hold as an educator is respect. I think that respect goes a long way to creating a good learning environment. If I as an educator respect each student then there is a better understanding between me and the student. A healthy relationship like that creates a better environment not only for that student to learn but for each student in the classroom. Respect is also something that can be applied outside of the classroom to each student’s everyday life. If respect can be instilled into each student then the entire world could be a better place. Another aspect of a good learning environment is as an educator being approachable to each student. One of the biggest things that makes a student comfortable in a classroom is a teacher who is approachable about any questions they may have about course material or anything in general. I want to be an understanding teacher, someone who students feel comfortable coming up to and explaining something they don’t understand, or not trying to hide something that happened personally and allowing them to ask for an extension. I want to let students know that I understand life gets in the way of things sometimes and that is okay. As a student, the best teachers were the ones that I wasn’t scared to go talk to about anything and the conversations were always constructive. 

I also believe that each student is not equal and should not be treated that way. What I mean by this is that only some students comprehend and learn the same way as others. One student may learn better with hands-on experience something like building a house that is meant to withstand an earthquake. Another student may benefit more from looking at a model and being able to see how a house is built in a high earthquake area to survive. A different student may need to see a video or be told exactly what it is. Whatever it may be each student has a different way that they comprehend information. For this reason, each student needs to be treated differently in how the student is educated. This is why I believe it is important to use many different teaching methods in the classroom. This way it allows not only for me as an educator to try different methods, but it allows the students to try and figure out how they learn the best. Once a student knows how they learn the best it opens up entirely new pathways in their education as they now can communicate with other teachers as to how they learn the best. 

I believe that lesson planning is one of the most important parts of being a teacher. This is because lesson plans can determine whether a student is successful at learning or not. This is why implementing backward design is an important part of being a teacher. I find it important as it allows for the lesson planning to focus on the content that they are learning rather than focusing on the assessment. Focusing on the assessment doesn’t create a good learning environment and creates a repetitive, memorizing culture in the classroom. This is not what I want, I want a high-learning environment that promotes learning over memorization. Since I want to focus on this idea I also find that understanding brain function to be an important part of teaching. Understanding how student brains process new information allows to create lesson plans and an environment that will facilitate learning. Repetition will be a part of the lesson as repetition is how new information works its way to long-term memory allowing it to be retained in the student’s mind. These two pieces are important to a successful classroom culture being created. If these two pieces are forgotten within my philosophy I will lose part of what makes a successful classroom. 

Education is one of the most important things in people’s lives. As an educator, it is our job to make that the most enjoyable experience that it can be. We have to do this while also making sure that each student gets the information that they are supposed to. It’s a difficult job but one that I feel a strong passion for as I have had so many teachers in my life who have made a difference and shaped who I am today.