Many people have different values, goals, and philosophies when it comes to teaching students. Some prefer to focus on teaching students values, diversity, or current events. Some center on being good motivators, being enthusiastic, or making sure to ask lots of questions. Still others focus on making sure students are critical thinkers, develop professional ethics, or to think creatively and critically. While all of these philosophies are essential and important, I focus on different values.
The first thing that I feel is an important philosophy is that students should become life-long learners. Throughout their lives they will continually be put in new situations, from the day they step into elementary school until the day they retire. They need to be able to take new situations and be able to learn from them. This also applies to day to day experiences. For example, even if someone has been in a job for many years, there are still new skills that he or she can learn. They should have the ability to take anything they do and learn something new from it. It is our job, as teachers, to instill this skill in them. We can do this by continually making sure that they are learning in our classroom, as well as encouraging them to learn outside the classroom.
I also believe that students should grow more than just cognitively. Students should also grow emotionally. If our students only learn facts and figures, and don’t grow as a person, then they can’t apply what they’ve learned. Students need to mature emotionally to be ready for the real world. As teachers, we have the opportunity to inspire children to grow.
To teach children, I believe that teachers should use a variety of techniques. Because kids learn in an assortment of ways, we need to adhere to that and teach them in a range of ways. We have the responsibility to teach children to the best of our abilities. If we don’t step out of the box and only try and get through to these children in one or two methods, we are failing at our job. We need to try and tap into all of our knowledge and experience so we can bring as many techniques as we can to teach children.
As teachers, we shouldn’t focus on our own abilities. Our main focus should be our students. We need to make sure they feel important and respected. If they don’t feel as though we respect them as students, we won’t get any respect in return and teaching will become very difficult. If they don’t feel as though they are of value, they won’t have any desire to learn. It is important to make sure our students get the respect that they deserve. We need to treat them with reverence and keep their self esteem high. As teachers, we have a significant impact on their lives and can make sure that they feel respected.
Finally, I believe one of the most important philosophies that a teacher should have is to orchestrate student success to stimulate further success. Children should learn at an early age what it is to succeed so they can succeed later in life. If all children know in school is failure, they will not attempt new things later in life, as well as not put as much effort into their work. All children can succeed in school, and in turn, in life, and we need to start off early.