Coleman 1 Brooke Coleman Dr.

Carr EDUC 450-01 2 October 2013 Personal Philosophy Paper As a future teacher, I want to be able to walk into a classroom and be able to do what I want with it and incorporate my aspects into it. Every teacher has a different sense of what they want to see when people enter their classrooms. No teachers classroom looks the same as any other teachers classroom because we are all different individuals that bring different qualities to the table of teaching. When I think about my individual philosophy, I know that I want students to be at the center. My classroom will have so many individual thinkers that our classroom will want to a lot of things independently rather than together, as some classrooms are. My classroom will be centered on what my students want rather than what everyone else wants, at least to an extent. When I took the McGraw-Hill assessment a few weeks ago, it said that I was an Existentialist and was nowhere near and Essentialist. The assessment, to me, was very accurate because I do not agree with the standards in which students have to learn and I do not think that students should be taught all the same because not all students learn the same way. If a teacher teaches students the same ways every day, then chances are there are some students who do not understand the material because they do not understand it the way that you are teaching it. an example of how I see this is if students are only learning what the standards what them to learn

Coleman 2 then they will not be able to broaden their horizons and learn further, interesting information that they want to learn about. As an Existentialist, I want students to be able to tell me what they want to learn not only what the standards want them to learn so that they can take a test on it at the end of the academic year. I want my students to be able to think individually rather than how everyone thinks around them. I want my students to bring in outside knowledge that they know and have found out by themselves instead of me telling them. The assessment said that I have Social Reconstructionist tendencies. I think that teachers should help to facilitate social learning but not focus on it while in school. Teachers should try and incorporate teaching students how to be good citizens as well as the parents teaching this to their students; however, I know that in some communities that is hard for parents to do because some just simply do not care about what happens with their children and how they grow up. I do, on the other hand, think that the school curriculum should focus on students. I think that students should be allowed to challenge what they think is different (Smith). All students should have the right to question something that they do not agree with. They should not be forced to go around and conform to what everyone else believes is right. I am also a big believer of kinesthetic learning for students because that is usually how I learn. Teachers who believe in kinesthetic learning usually believe in Progressivisms. I have always been the type of person, no matter what I am doing, that needs to see something before they are able to understand it and be able to replicate it. In my classroom, there will always be activities that incorporate kinesthetic learning of some sort. I think that students should be able to feel something and be able to physically feel it when they are learning, at least when it applies. Students should also be able to learn by pursuing their own interests. If we required to students to learn everything that the standards told them that they had to learn, then they would not be able

Coleman 3 to find out other information that pertains to them. They should also be able to think as a problem solver. If they are only able to think because we make them think, then they will never be able to learn information on their own when they get older. I also believe that students should be able to use technology since it is such a growing fashion in todays society. Technology is always all around us even if we do not realize it. I want my students to be able to use technology at least one time every day. In years to come, students will have to do almost everything using technology. They already have to take their SOL test on the computers even though some students do not have the abilities to use a keyboard because they have not grown up with technology such as computers in their homes because they come from a low socioeconomic status. I want to make sure that all of my students are able to use technology especially computers and the technology that I will have in my classroom. I want them to be able to work any of my technology in case for some reason I am not there or am not able to do something because I am busy doing something else. For my students who are from low socioeconomic statuses and do not have computers or other technology at home, I want them to get as familiar with keyboards and other materials before they leave my classroom so that they will prepared as they continue through school. My philosophy always seems to go back to students thinking independently. It is very broad in the sense of what I want my classroom to look like and how I want students will learn. I think that it is a good thing that my philosophy is all over the place because I want students to have choices in the classroom and not do the same things every day. I want them to have many different kinesthetic learning opportunities that only help to enhance their learning. I want each of my students to create their own meanings and go through life challenging people instead of conforming to what they believe. I never want to hear my students say how boring they think

Coleman 4 school. I want them to be energetic and enthusiastic when it comes to school. I want them to see me as an equal and someone that they can come to no matter what their circumstances are and what challenges they are facing. I know then that I will be fulfilling my dreams of becoming a teacher because of the smiles that I see on all of my students faces and their lingering to learn from me.

Coleman 5 Works Cited Zacko-Smith, J. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/1957998/Social_ Reconstruction. Education 450 Class. Education Philosophy Jigsaw. Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, Virginia.