INTRODUCTION

Like Coconut Trees, Teachers are considered as thetrees of life;they have intricate role and
purposes in the society. They can befriends, brothers, sisters and parents.

I am a simple student aiming to help my own family to get abetter and well-deserved life. I
reached the final stage of education in the normal Philippine educational setting withsacrifices
and thorns that had fined me into a better individual. Atthis point in time I am just waiting for
several days and I wouldsoon reach the portal of a new beginning. However, there arespecial
memoirs that I want to keep in my chosen profession. Thefield experience that I had at this
moment is perfectly amazingmixed with flexibility and enthusiasm spiced with stress
andheadaches. With this collection of my experiences, surely thememories would never fade in
my spines until this portfolio of mine would be in good hands. More to that, I would like
tobecome a teacher not only by profession but by heart who wouldnot only do things on my own
but for the minds and souls of myfuture students.As a teacher I love the sound of silence. I pride
myself onkeeping order in my world - my room. Seriously though, manytimes strict
disciplinarians have problems with balance. It is hardto balance being strict with not becoming
overbearing. I should want to come to the class to learn. They should not beafraid. I will make
sure that I am always consistent and fair. I canhave your 'peace' and enjoy it too. All kidding
aside, life is easierfor a popular teacher in many ways. However, there are somedrawbacks.
Students never leave you alone!!! They are alwayshanging around your room after school. You
have to be carefulnot to become too friendly with kids and allow this to cause you todecrease
the quality of your teaching.
My educational philosophy statement should be a document thatserves to guide and inspire me
throughout my teaching career. It capturesthe positive aspirations of my career and should act
as a centerpiece aroundwhich all of my decisions rotate. My educational philosophy can guide
mydiscussions in job interviews, be placed in a teaching portfolio, and even becommunicated to
students and their parents. Why did I become a teacher?What do I believe about students
learning? How do I see the role of teachersin a community?Since philosophy is the art which
teaches us how to live, and sincechildren need to learn it as much as we do at other ages, why
do we notinstruct them in it? But in truth I know nothing about the philosophy of education
except this: that the greatest and the most important difficultyknown to human learning seems to
lie in that area which treats how to bringup children and how to educate them. Teaching people
how to thinkcorrectly and to use language carefully is a pretty good start for education. To begin,
it is useful to briefly summarize my upbringing as this furtherexplains my interest in education.I
believe I focused more in life when I was in my high school years andlearned a lot during the
college pace. I was best molded and shaped by myhigh school mentors and environment. I was
not a hardworking but generallya kind student at the beginning. Fortunately, I have no failure in
any of mysubjects. I am currently enrolled and a graduating student of Bachelor of Secondary
Education major in Biological Science. I am now a part time tutorat one of the tutorial center in
the town and I handle grade 4 and highschool, primarily science related subjects. None of my
parents wereteachers/lecturers. Probably the most important reason for taking
educationseriously though comes from the reality of life that my parents cannot affordto send
me to a school where my most desired course are available.

Nonetheless, I do not blame them because this route that I have taken nowhas thought me
wide-ranging lessons in life.I certainly do not believe in just sitting in a classroom which is
unnatural,unhealthy, and limited. It is obvious we did not evolve to learn by sitting inclassrooms,
in segregated age groups - but to be active, out and about doingthings, talking, watching and
learning from other people and other objectsaround us. This is what I would call an evolutionary
approach to teaching andgetting kids more active at school would also greatly help to combat
theobesity epidemic of the world. The school has always been the most important means of
transferringthe wealth of tradition from one generation to the next. This applies today inan even
higher degree than in former times, for through moderndevelopment of the economic life, the
family as bearer of tradition andeducation has been weakened. The continuance and health of
human societyis therefore in a still higher degree dependent on the school than
formerly.Sometimes one sees in the school simply the instrument for transferring acertain
maximum quantity of knowledge to the growing generation. But thatis not right. Knowledge is
dead; the school however, serves the living. Itshould develop in the young individuals those
qualities and capabilitieswhich are of value for the welfare of the commonwealth. But that does
notmean that individuality should be destroyed and the individual become amere tool of the
community, like a bee or an ant. For a community of standardized individuals without personal
originality and personal aimswould be a poor community without possibilities for development.
On thecontrary, the aim must be the training of independently acting and thinkingindividuals,
who, however, see in the service of the community their highestlife problem. To me the worst
thing seems to be for a school principally to work withmethods of fear, force and artificial
authority. Such treatment destroys thesound sentiments, the sincerity, and the self-confidence of
the pupil. Itproduces the submissive subject. The school and the teacher must guard against
employing the easy methodof creating individual ambition, in order to induce the pupils to
diligent work. The desire to be acknowledged as better, stronger, or more intelligent than afellow
being or scholar easily leads to an excessively egoistic psychologicaladjustment, which may
become injurious for the individual and for thecommunity. Schools may favor freedom by
encouraging independentthought. Only if outward and inner freedom are constantly and
consciouslypursued is there a possibility of spiritual development and perfection andthus of
improving man's outward and inner life. (Einstein) I believe, indeed,that overemphasis on the
purely intellectual attitude, often directed solely tothe practical and factual, in our education, has
led directly to the impairment

of ethical values. I am not thinking so much of the dangers with whichtechnical progress has
directly confronted mankind, as of the stifling of mutual human considerations by a 'matter-of-
fact' habit of thought whichhas come to lie like a killing frost upon human relations. That the
wonderfulthings that you learn in your schools are the work of many generations,produced by
enthusiastic effort and infinite labor in every country of theworld. All this is put into your hands as
your inheritance in order that youmay receive it, honor it, and add to it, and one day faithfully
hand it on toyour children.I particularly agree with

Einstein

, that education has two centralfunctions relating to the individual and their society.i) To educate
the individual as a free individual To understand and usecritical thinking skills for determining
the Truth for themselves.ii) To educate the individual as a part of Society Virtually all our
knowledge,our clothes, our food is produced by others in our society, thus we oweSociety and
have a responsibility to contribute back to Society.I also strongly agree with Einstein that
education should be fun rather thanforced that force and punishment play no part in a good
education. Thus Idetest the attitude of punishing children for not doing their homework!
Thereare many great minds through human history, and I largely agree withNietzsche that
education is often corrupted by educators that we shouldseek the source of great knowledge,
not the corrupted interpretations of itfrom lesser minds. According to Confucius, if you want to
become an efficienteducator, study the past so you could define the future. Similar to this thingis
the fact that as an educator, know and examine first the character of youstudents so that you
would be able to give the proper nourishment both totheir mind and character. Learn to be
gentle yet effective to the students.Compulsory physical exercise does no harm to the body, but
compulsorylearning never sticks to the mind. I believe that a teacher is morallyobligated to enter
the classroom with only the highest of expectations foreach and every one of her students.
Thus, the teacher maximizes thepositive benefits that naturally come along with any self-fulfilling
prophecy;with dedication, perseverance, and hard work, her students will rise to theoccasion. I
aim to bring an open mind, a positive attitude, and highexpectations to the classroom each day.
I believe that I owe it to mystudents, as well as the community, to bring consistency, diligence,
andwarmth to my job in the hope that I can ultimately inspire and encouragesuch traits in the
children as well. It is nice to hear students exchangingideas about a matter relevant to the topic
so it is also good to remember thatit is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a
thought.
Reflective Journal 1: Planning and Implementation of Learning Programs
2. How do you ensure that your learning activities are relevant to thetopic? What factors
do you consider? Do you implement theseeffectively? How?