My Philosophy of Teaching

Luis A. Moreno Gaspar

Ivy Tech Community College
Central Indiana
When you repeat a mistake, it is not a mistake anymore: it is a decision.
Paulo Coelho
Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in.
Leonardo da Vinci

I decided to become a teacher to help integrate minority groups into the educational system in order to
have more diversified school systems in this country. Furthermore, I want to help update the United
States Educational System, which has shown repeatedly that it is not working. One can see this because
the dropout rate is constantly increasing. I admire most of the Latino students that I work with at the
high school level; they have shown that if we give them the necessary attention and emotional support
they can accomplish anything in life. Unfortunately, teachers who are not prepared to work with
different cultures and adapt to different religious views are not ready to work with the new generations
of students. I am one hundred percent certain that my professional preparation is going to help me
provide a high quality education to all students from different educational, economical, and social
backgrounds. I am constantly motivated to be a teacher when I see a happy face of a student when
he/she understands a new topic. I want to be a teacher because I want to change the life of students
and consequently the social environment that they live in.
I believe students and teachers need to work collaboratively to achieve a high standard of education in
and out of the classroom. Each student is an individual with unique characteristics, interests, abilities,
and needs that teachers have to take the time to understand. Teachers need to understand that they
cannot always be satisfied with the minimum achievements from the students. Challenging a student to
always set high goals in life and guide them in the correct path will allow them to graduate from high
school and college. Nevertheless, the students need to understand that they have to be conscious about
their actions, ideas, and principles in order to be the best students that they can be. I also believe that
teachers need to teach students to care about humanity and promote social changes for the good of the
society. In addition, students need to learn to question everything to acquire a high level of
intellectuality.
In my educational and professional experiences in elementary, secondary, and college level classrooms,
have inspired me to try to create a classroom atmosphere that inspires students to be independent
learners. I can use the Montessori Method, High/ Scope Approach or Reggio Emilia Approach method to
achieve this goal. In addition, I have been able to understand that teachers, parents, and students need
to work collaboratively to ensure high levels of education. I demand that parents attend to a monthly
conference to know how his/her child is doing in class. Students, in my classes, are going to know that I
require them to be responsible for their preparation and promptness to my classes. I am determined to
be a great teacher; therefore, I need to educate my students to always try to solve problems by
themselves before asking for any help. That is why I have to teach them how to use a book and all the

educational resources available to them to ensure that they are prepare to solve any problems in real
life. In addition, I am going to demonstrate how to make a complex problem so simple that any student
can understand and be able to solve, but without allowing the core of the problem to be disrupted. I
want my students to evaluate my teaching methods and offer suggestions that can help me to explain
concepts more clearly to them and commit more. In addition, I believe that students have to follow
classroom rules and obey an adult this is why I have zero tolerance for students misconduct.
I do not want to be another person in their lives; instead, I want to be the person that changes their
lives for good. In education, a teacher needs to be open to new ideas, new challenges, and new
disparagements from people. The new generations of teachers need to help students understand ideas
and not just memorize things. I want students to feel in harmony when they are in the classroom; they
have to feel that they are the future of their country. I support educating those students who are hungry
for knowledge, who want to devour the world and become someone important in life. My philosophy is
not new but it is difficult to implement, the reason is that many teachers and administrators do not
want to get to know the new generation of students, and consequently, they cannot create a new
educational curriculum that can help cope with the new educational challenges. I will change that and I
will make sure that every student is educated properly.