Crystal Stinson

EDHP 503
My Philosophy of Teaching
Essential factors to good teaching are universal. In order to be a good teacher you must
first have a passion to teach and enjoy teaching. The profession is saturated with teachers that do
not enjoy what they do which negatively impacts the learning of their students. The teaching
profession also calls for you to be organized, flexible, have a strength in oral presentation and to be
committed to your students. Teachers must also be creative and develop creative methods of
instruction. Lastly, a teacher must have a nurturing mindset. Teaching a student is becoming an
active contributor to the psyche and character of a student and should always add to the person in
a positive manner.
The role of a teacher should be internally driven. Some roles that are part of my philosophy
of teaching are role modeling and facilitator of learning. Students learn by observation and
repetitive presentation of facts. Behavior is important in professional school and in this realm of
education, learned behavior is the cornerstone of being a clinician. It is important that we take on
role modeling as teachers in professional school to exemplify patient interaction to students. No
one student learns the same and being able to facilitate the learning of all students and adapt
teaching styles to be effective for the entire class is a role that must be mastered by a teacher.
Always remain accessible and approachable to your students.
The role of the student is to be an active participant in learning. The student should
progress from being externally motivated to learn to being internally motivated by a desire within to
master their field of study rather than perform well on an exam. The student should take
responsibility for determining their own learning style and how to master and retain information in
the most efficient manner, also leaving time for scholarly pursuit of information outside of what is
required for examination purposes. A student should progress from rote learning to meaningful
learning.
The goals toward which a teachers efforts should be geared are to ensure that all students
are able to grasp, understand and apply what they are teaching. Time and planning should be put
into the organization and preparation of learning material. Teachers should not strive to make
assessment mechanisms as difficult as possible but design assessment methods that adequately
communicate if your students are grasping the concepts. A teachers ultimate goal should be that
every student learns in their classroom. This sounds easy but can be a challenging when students
with novel learning styles are present in your classroom.
To ensure the continuous development of this vision (achievement of these goals), a
teacher would never stop being a student. Every day new advances in technology and new
research is available to teachers on how to maximize the learning of their students. A teacher must
never become complacent but continuously strive to be an expert in their field and learn as much
as they can on how to be effective in the classroom. Always be receptive to the feedback of your
students and use this to develop your teaching style and strengthen weaknesses.