Steven Carson

Chris Treadwell
February 27th, 2016
Educational Psychology
Teaching Philosophy: Becoming Your Best Self
We all have a purpose, something we can be great at, and something that we can
use to contribute to society, to make the world a better and more accepting place. As a
teacher, my goal is to: inspire, impassion, empower, and evolve thinking. As Maslow so
importantly points out, reaching self-actualization is perhaps one of the most challenging
and most important levels of the hierarchy of needs to attain. As a teacher, I intend to help
students not only learn academically, but: learn about themselves, see themselves
succeed, overcome adversity, and push the limits of their capabilities. It can take a
lifetime of missteps and celebrations to begin to understand what makes you selfactualized, but as a teacher, I believe I can be a facilitator and a model to help students
develop intrapersonal understanding. Ultimately, I hope to help each student recognize
that the world is theirs, and that they can get informed, get inspired, and start making a
difference.
The first step in a teacher being able to help a student push their boundaries and
learn about who they are is by building a relationship and trust. Students have to feel
engaged and motivated to be more than average. As a teacher, I have to create an
environment that fosters positivity and celebrates differences. Students shouldnt be
criticized for mistakes, but instead encouraged for their effort, thinking, and exploration.
By building a relationship with my students, they will understand that challenging them
and their thinking is not a personal insult, but instead an effort by me, to make them
better and stronger. While competition can, at times, elevate the effort put forth, it is
important that grades not be used as a centerpiece of the classroom, which would
establish a competitive environment, and act as a deterrent to creating a healthy and
positive learning environment. As Alfie Kohn points out, students who feel propelled to
learn because they are captivated, motivated, and encouraged, are more likely to take
risks, think bigger, and ultimately become problem-solvers.
Students need to laugh, move, and find the value in even the most challenging
times. Never giving up and never losing the self-confidence necessary to overcome
adversity is a critical component to my classroom. Bandura emphasizes the value of
creating an environment, such as a classroom, rich with motivation to help students
become the best representation of them. Teaching and assessment practices must nurture
a love for learning and not for the attainment of an artificial reward. In giving the
students diverse experiences that represent meaningful and enjoyable moments, a
students self-efficacy grows, motivating them intrinsically to dream bigger, try harder,
and attain more. When students are activated in a productive learning cycle, they are
more likely to make more effort, take accountability for their choices, and subsequently
experience more success and self-worth. Ultimately, Constructivist classrooms, where

students can learn independently, make personal connections with the material, and selfexpress, will help foster confidence.
Differentiation is far more than a term used to represent teaching to appease many
different types of learning styles; it is an important way to put your personal relationships
with students to practice. By understanding whom a student is, you also begin to
understand how that student learns and you can subsequently put them on a clear path to
success. I believe differentiation helps you put students on that path. Similarly to
Vygotsky, I will look to teach students at a point where they are developmentally, and not
allow them to feel represented by an artificial product such as a grade. Feeling as though
the task or demand at hand is possible and attainable is crucial in motivating students.
Proximal development can help students push their boundaries, achieve more, and feel as
though the impossible is suddenly possible. Students have to be intrinsically motivated,
and by reaching them in flexible and personal means (ex. various teaching styles), they
will begin to recognize the importance and value of learning. For example, if a student
needs manipulatives to better understand a math concept, those should be readily
available, so that they do not become frustrated, unmotivated, and disengaged.
Just as I am a collaborator as an educator, students should also be given the
opportunity to collaborate. Interaction with their peers, and even the teacher, is a vital
component to learning and social development. Students learn to become independent
learners through self-exploration and collaboration, and providing that opportunity only
enhances their success. Students have viewpoints and perspectives that are as important
and necessary to learning as the teacher. If, as a class, we can listen to one another,
recognize differences, and use those differences to broaden our scope and understanding,
then learning is only further supported and then students begin to view themselves as part
of a team or society looking to accomplish similar goals.
An athlete can get injured. A singer can lose their voice. A pilot can lose their
eyesight. A student can have a bad day. Life is filled with challenges, but as an educator,
I believe it is my role to immerse students in rich and diverse academic and social
experiences to provide them with the skill-set and self-worth to overcome adversity and
become self-actualized. Students can achieve this by being engaged in the classroom and
recognizing the value in their learning by making personal and authentic connections.
Risk-taking and making mistakes is an aspect of both self-discovery and the learning
process and should be recognized as okay and not wrong. In developing an
understanding of whom they are and what they want to achieve, students will become
intrinsically motivated, and thereby nurtured in a productive and positive learning
environment. Ultimately, it is okay to fall down, but it is important to get back up, dust
yourself off, and prove to yourself who you are and who you can become. No matter the
background or challenges of a student, they will know that I serve as a teacher, a friend,
an advocate, and a shoulder to lean on, no matter what obstacle lies on the road to their
success; the only person who decides their path and subsequent success is them. My
students will know that the world is theirs, and that they can make a difference, and make
a change, while also knowing that, as Helen Keller says, Alone we can do so little; but
together we can do so much.