Joselyn Castaneda

November 23, 2015

LBS 203
Philosophy of Education
Teachers all have different philosophies for teaching, which is expected because no one

thinks the same. As a future educator I believe that students' minds are always changing and I

have to be adapting constantly to ensure the future education of my students. My ultimate goal as

an educator is to ensure my students have the best possible teaching environment.

The purpose of teaching is to prepare children for the world. As Mann argued "All

Americans should be educated in "common schools that would complement what families taught

their children at home." (Oakes and Lipton 2002). As the world advances and more technology

arises the home environment is no longer enough to teach students what they need to know, for

this reason students are taught more advanced material such as Mathematics, Science, English,

History and so forth. In preparing students for the world educators utilize a variety of teaching

methods.
There are a variety of teaching methods, but I believe that students learn best under an

inquiry based method. This method is defined as "a process that is driven by questioning,

thoughtful investigating, making sense of information, and developing new understanding."

(Dana and Burns 2013). I believe that students learn best under this condition because they are

allowed more freedom and more time to discuss certain topics, whereas sitting in a classroom

listening to a teacher lecture the entire time. They experience hands on activities and are able to

retain more information.

The way I would address the issues of diversity and equity is by ensuring that I take into

consideration every single one of my student's needs and not just a single group of them. I would

address every student's beliefs and ethnic background because not addressing these differences

hinders a student's learning because lack of self-reflection allows dominant group members to
live with the delusion that simply being nice means they have no connection to racism

(Hackman 2005).
I believe that what I teach should be diverse and challenging social norms. What I mean

by this is that I would teach books that have been controversial due to their content based on

racial history and other problems such as Esperanza Rising and Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry. I

would stress that an inquiry based method be used to teach these books due to the freedom

students have in regards to questions about the books. What I would stress in my classroom is a

safe environment where students are able to express their ideas and expand their knowledge.
Effective teachers all share three things in common, which are "knowledge of learners

and their development in social contexts, knowledge of subject matter and curriculum goals, and

knowledge of teaching." (Bransford, Darling-Hammond, and Lepage 2005). All effective

teachers should know how their students learn best. Secondly, educators should be

knowledgeable in the subjects they teach. Lastly educators should know what their end goals is

and what they need to accomplish before the semester is over. As a future teacher going into her

profession I have a responsibility to always keep learning and developing because students are

constantly getting smarter as technology advances.

All in all, I believe that as an educator I am meant to be the artist who molds and prepares

students for the world. I will provide an inquiry based learning classroom in order to promote

student involvement. I will also promote a socially just environment that addresses the variety of

enteric backgrounds in my classroom. Students should feel safe and able to express their ideas

freely. Lastly, as a future educator there is a duty to be met by me, which is to always be prepared

to learn from my students and be ready to take on new challenges.

 Works Cited
1. Darling-Hammond, L. (n.d.). Preparing Teachers for a Changing World: What Teachers
Should Learn and Be Able to Do
2. Dana, N.F., Burns, J.B., Wolkenhauer, R.M., (2013). The common core and inquiry. In
Dana, N.F., Burns, J.B., Wolkenhauer, R.M., Inquiring into the common core (1
13). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin
3. Oakes, J. & Lipton, M. (2002). Teaching to change the world. Boston: McGraw-Hill.