PS Philosophy Statement

Philosophy Statement By Brogan Schaeffer EDUC 201 Foundations of Education Instructor Egbert Fall, 2013

PS Philosophy Statement Education is like a stream. As a student grows, the stream expands and becomes a river. His or her education continues to expand and broaden, so that upon maturity, a student reaches the ocean and is able to comprehend and much wider landscape. As a teacher, I will have the incredible opportunity to impact and inspire my students while they journey from stream to

ocean, learning and discovering, broadening their field of understanding. My greatest goal in life is to be an inspiration to others. I will encourage my students throughout the year to expand themselves and take on bigger and harder challenges. I want to be remembered by my students as the one who inspired them to explore higher ideas. As a teacher, I will endeavor to make my classroom and myself the most efficient tools possible to inspire students to focus upon exploring and delving deeper into their own education. I appreciate many aspects of the Progressive philosophy of education. In my classroom, the students will interact with the curriculum and be able to influence what they learn. This will inspire students to be more active in their education since, it will focus upon some of their own interests. I also want to maintain the values from our past; therefore, I will also be incorporating some aspects of the Perenialism Philosophy. We must learn from our past to improve our present and create a better future. I will create a classroom that encourages students learning and participation. The room itself with be kept in order and the decorations will be limited. I want my classroom to be an enjoyable place without an overwhelming amount of decorations. My classroom will have a large bookcase full of a wide array of quality literature. Books have always been a great personal inspiration, and I want to share that with my own class. I will also have a word of the day section upon my whiteboard to encourage students to expand their vocabulary. I will however, refrain

PS 3 from decorating with my walls with common inspirational posters, as they can quickly become distracting, over-whelming and clichd. The rest of the room with have the standard formal design as it reinforces the learning environment and the idea that education should be taken seriously. My students will learn to expect that all of their opinions and questions will be received well. I want students to become very open in what they express in class and willing to enter into classroom discussions. I will be very careful to encourage all opinions and never let a student feel ridiculed for expressing an odd interpretation. I will guide classroom discussions in a way that will lead students to form more solid deductions, but I want every student to be able to participate in the discussions without fear. At the end of the term, my students will have increased their vocabulary, expanded their comprehension, become more effective writers, and be better able to articulate their opinions. They will be inspired to continue learning especially outside of the classroom and to continue to broaden their minds and better articulate their opinions and beliefs. This will be achieved through a variety of assignments that will reach out to every students unique strengths. These assignments will include: essays, in-class essay exams, class discussion, and an end of term presentation. I will also offer extra credit opportunities so that through extra work, students will be able to improve their grades. This will also encourage students to learn beyond what we can cover in class. I will create an open and accepting environment in my classroom that encourages student participation and learning. I will focus on adapting my teaching to my students learning styles while maintaining core education principles and values.

PS References Kauchak, D. & Eggen, P. (2014). Introduction to teaching : becoming a professional. Boston: Pearson.