Personal Philosophy of Education

Over the last five years of my education at Laurier and Nipissing, I have been asked nu-
merous times, What does teaching mean to you? I have come into contact with colleagues who
wanted to be a teacher simply knowing they would eventually have summers off, while others
truly inspired me with their creativity and passion for teaching. These past five years have truly
taught me that teaching is teamwork. Although each teacher becomes responsible for their stu-
dents and classroom, I have learned that being able to co-teach and collaborate with fellow col-
leagues is an important skill. It has only been through my professors sharing stories and ideas
that I myself have been able to come up with my own ideas of what it means to be a teacher.
If there is one thing I do not want to do as a teacher it is to squash creativity in children,
however with the current education system this can be a difficult task. Many times, the Arts be-
come ignored or secondary to math and literacy because those are the subjects students will be
tested in, and to me this is a huge disappointment. I myself was a student whose favourite subject
was drama and I would have to wait two weeks until we could have a drama period. I think espe-
cially in the 21st century where video games and Facebook have taken over creative play, and
more and more students are losing creativity, the teacher needs to be someone who can help fos-
ter creativity amongst them. Things as simple as making up songs together to help learn concepts
about fractions, or allowing students to present a skit to the class to teach them about history
could make huge differences amongst children. I want to challenge myself to be creative and
come up with new ways to create a lesson.
The last thing I want to be is a textbook teacher, who reads right from the book and has
students answer questions. Differentiated learning is so important in order to help students truly
learn, because not everyone learns the same way. Teachers often teach the way that they learn,
but I think it is important to realize that there are so many different ways to teach a unit. For ex-
ample, math is a subject that many students struggle with and often teachers teach a lesson ac-
cording to the way that they learned that topic. However, not all students learn in the same way. I
was fortunate enough to have a professor at Nipissing who became a role model to which I look
up to. He continuously said to us, When a student says I dont understand, it DOES NOT mean
that they didnt hear you. Therefore, a teacher cannot simply teach math in one way; there are
so many different strategies that can be used and taught to students, many which I never learned
in school and I wish I had. Teachers need to be willing to learn along with their students in order
to allow them to get the most out of every lesson. There is no way to be a teacher who teachers
right out of every textbook and expect every student to learn! Intelligence is diverse, some learn
kinaesthetically and some visually, and as teachers we need to create lessons that use all types of
learning styles!
Lastly, I want to discuss the importance of not just an education, but a Catholic education.
Reverend and author James Mulligan writes about Catholic education in his paper Distinctly
Catholic. In it he writes, Teaching in a Catholic school is more than just a job or even a profes-
sion. It is a vocation. When I read this, it truly stood out to me, although I have always known I
wanted to teach in a Catholic school I never truly thought of it as a vocation. However, once I
read those words it seemed very clear and simple. As a teacher, you have so many responsibili-
ties but a Catholic teacher takes on the burden of one more. It is our job to teach our students
about God, and not simply just read bible stories, but to discuss with the students the role God
plays in our lives, the importance of prayer, and the importance of being a kind and caring per-
son. Do not allow the students to take their Catholic education for granted but to fully appreciate
it, and the teacher needs to do this as well.
Every teacher will have their own personal philosophy of teaching, their own topics they
feel most passionate about and the ones I have discussed are mine, but mostly I want to be a
teacher that students admire and remember. I know it is unrealistic to think I can make a differ-
ence in everyones lives, I still want to make my goal to try. I want to provide an environment
where students feel welcome and loved. The reason I chose teaching was for my love of children.
I love being able to talk to them and hear their thoughts and ideas, and I feel as though we have
so much to learn from them. I could never have a occupation that required me to sit at a desk and
do the same thing everyday. I love not knowing how each day will go and what new things you
will learn. There is nothing that makes me happier than seeing that light bulb go off in a students
head and I want to be the one who helps that light continue to shine!