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My Teaching Philosophy
Rachel Neuman
University of Arkansas
November 19, 2015

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Teaching Philosophy Paper
WHY DO I WANT TO BECOME A TEACHER?
I have wanted to become a teacher for as long as I can remember. As early as age four,
people thought that I would only say I wanted to become a teacher because that was a common
answer for my age. No one understood that truly was what I wanted to be. In high school, I had
the opportunity to student teach my junior and senior year. During my junior year, I student
taught an eighth grade science classroom with a teacher I previously had. I loved working with
eighth grade. During my senior year, I student taught a fifth grade class with a teacher I had as
my kindergarten student teacher. It was a completely different shift of procedures, maturity, and
feel in the classroom. It did not take me very long to realize that I wanted to be a teacher at the
secondary level. Towards the end of my senior year, I decided that I wanted to specialize in
family and consumer sciences. Student teaching in the classroom made me think about why I
truly wanted to become a teacher and the kind of teacher I wanted to be when I had my own
classroom. The primary reason I want to be a teacher is because I want to make a difference in
students lives like the teachers that I had throughout my junior high and high school career did
for me. Without the teachers that I had, I would not be where I am today.
WHO INFLUENCED MY DECISION TO BECOME A TEACHER?
Throughout my education, I was lucky enough to have so many role models and positive
influences on my life. In junior high, my seventh grade science teacher, who I student taught for
junior year of high school, became one of the most influential people on my life to this day. Mr.
Strain always pushed me to do my best at everything. He knew the potential that I had and
worked with me to reach my goals. His class was difficult but so rewarding in the end. Mr. Strain
never failed to make me laugh in his class and by his attitude you could tell that he loved what he

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did. Another influence on my life was Mr. Barnett. Mr. Barnett was my eighth grade history
teacher. He never failed to greet us at the door every day as we walked into his classroom. Mr.
Barnett always had a positive attitude no matter what was going on. Going into my freshman
year of high school, I learned that he was diagnosed with leukemia. Throughout his three-year
battle he kept his uplifting attitude. When he had to stop teaching he was devastated. He loved
every second of teaching and working with students. Even though Mr. Barnett is no longer here,
his legacy remains. Lastly, one of the many influential teachers from high school was my
newspaper and English teacher, Mrs. Bourland. Mrs. Bourland is someone that I consider the
most kind-hearted people Ive ever met. She was not only my teacher but also someone that I
could talk to if I was having problems. Mrs. Bourland always talked about how she never regrets
becoming a teacher and that she loved her job more than anything. All of my teachers were
influential to me in different ways, but the thing they had in common is that they love what they
did. If they did not have a passion for teaching then their attitudes towards me and other students
would likely not have been the same. My personal goal for when I become a teacher is to be like
each one of these teachers. I know how passionate I am about teaching but my hope is to show
that to each of my students. I want to challenge them but also feel that they are able to
accomplish anything that they put their mind to.
METHODS AND STRATEGIES
There are a variety methods and strategies that I plan on implementing into my
classroom. These methods and strategies take into account aspects from different theories. One
theory I will keep in mind while planning a lesson is the information processing theory. This
theory directly correlates to understanding students learning and memory process. My goal is to
incorporate this into my lessons primarily by my questioning and discussion techniques. For

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example, by asking students to recall information that they learned in previous class periods they
will be able to build upon what they already know, also known as elaboration. Elaboration is
used to help students make those connections with information they already know. This will help
them push it into their long-term memory.
Another theory that I believe is important to keep in mind while teaching is Vygotskys
Sociocultural Theory of Cognitive Development. This theory is based on the idea that human
activities take place in social settings and cant be understood apart from these settings and that
social interactions create our cognitive structures and thinking processes. There are three
influences, according to Vygotsky, on cognitive development: social source of individual
thought, cultural tools, and the zone of proximal development. One of the main points Vygotsky
makes in his theory is that socialization is key to learning. I will incorporate this theory into my
teaching by providing students with opportunities to participate in discussion as a class and in
groups. By incorporating the zone of proximal development and using scaffolding, I can help
individually challenge each students thinking.
CONCLUSION
My personal philosophy of education is based upon the information I have learned in my
education classes, observations, and most importantly my personal experiences. I want to be a
teacher because of the influences I have had in my life and throughout my education. In the end,
I truly believe that a teacher who loves what they do makes all of the difference and I hope to
portray that to each one of my students.