Education Philosophy Through the classes I have taken at Northern Virginia Community College and my experience in the Early

Childhood Education field, I have established a personal education philosophy to execute in the classroom. I believe education to be the foundation of success within our society. Education, especially early childhood education, allows us to learn fundamental principles so we may continuously expand our knowledge. Education can take place in any encouraging situation, such as the home, school, or outside environments. I hope to create a preschool program or center that is heavily focused on the arts, including music, movement, and art. This philosophy reflects the arts classroom I hope to develop. I will begin by stating that I believe creating a safe and supportive classroom environment to be one of the most important aspects of my education philosophy. First, I believe a classroom should be clean, organized, and void of harmful objects. This includes keeping dangerous liquids and first aid supplies out of childrens reach, cleaning the room at the end of each day, and organizing materials and games so they may be properly utilized. The classroom should also provide games, materials, and toys appropriate for the age group occupying the room. Including developmentally appropriate items will ensure the healthy development of each child in the classroom. Within this safe and supportive environment, I will act as a facilitator by modeling attitudes and problem solving strategies to encourage positive behavior among my students. I will not use corrective behavioral strategies to punish, shame, or exclude children from the group. I will constantly ask open-ended questions to encourage learning exploration and language development in my students. More importantly, I believe demonstration in the classroom to be a key component to scaffold a childs learning. I hope to correctly demonstrate how to do something so I can encourage children as they work through challenging problems and activities. Above all, I will encourage children to freely express creativity in my classroom, while stepping beyond their comfort zones. A music, arts, and movement curriculum should include various opportunities to explore the arts through dancing, singing, listening, visualization experiences, and moving. I will provide many experiences that promote the creative development of young children such as, integrating other academic disciplines into art activities and using music to support the emotional development of children. I am most passionate about teaching music to young children. No matter the age, developmental level, or ability of the child, children have musical instinct. I believe every child brings a unique prospective, socially and culturally, into the music learning environment. When creating an implementing an arts curriculum (music, movement, and art), I will heavily focus on teaching musical experiences. In my classroom, I will strive to create a balance between teacher instruction and child-directed experiences. Young children are especially curious about their surrounding, so I believe it is incredibly important for them to explore the world around them using hands-on activities. This reveals my interest in the constructivist theory, which declares that children learn using first hand investigation of stimulating activities. I will provide children with materials and activities that encourage hands-on experiences such as, playing with musical instruments and molding various things out of clay.

As shown above, I tend to think of myself as a constructivist because I have been greatly influenced by the theorist Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky believed knowledge to be coconstructed, meaning molded by interactions with people and surroundings, while influenced by environment and culture. As Vygotsky, I believe social interactions to be the most significant event in shaping the childs cognitive and language development. While teaching music classes, I hope to heavily promote language development, through sing-a-longs, group activities, and encouraging creative expression in the classroom. I understand that my philosophy may change over time depending on relevant trends and teaching methods. Reflecting on my own teaching strategies may also force me to change my educational philosophy to better suit the children in my classroom.