Evelyn Morales Ramirez

EDU 201

November 03, 2015

Ever since I was in elementary school I knew that when I grew up I wanted my career to

have to do with children. I changed my mind a couple of times. First I wanted to work at a

daycare and then I changed my mind and wanted to be a pediatrician. It wasn’t until high school

where I decided that I wanted to become a teacher. I chose elementary education because I feel

that there is a need for teachers who want to teach and are passionate about it. I feel like students

become more than just kids in your classroom, they become your family in a way.

The connections that are made with students go far beyond the average means. I think

that a teacher’s goal should be to see their students grow throughout the school year and help

them get to where they need to be by providing the knowledge and means necessary. Being able

to do that seems like a great accomplishment to me.

The main person who inspired me to become an educator was my first grade teacher who

was also my second grade teacher. She always seemed so happy in the classroom and you could

notice how passionate she was about teaching.

I feel like that classroom was my second family. After first grade we all wanted to

continue together for the upcoming school year and she made it happen. Letting your students

know that you care about them really says a lot and she did that. She would go above and beyond

for each and every one of us. If someone had trouble grasping a certain concept she wouldn’t

move on until that certain student understood.

 My personal knowledge is mainly about caring about the children and what their needs

are to advance in their education. As far as the actual subject matter goes, I hope to learn all I

need to teach in the courses I continue to take in college. I am patient, understanding, an active

listener, approachable, and compassionate, which are all skills that I think will help me when

becoming a teacher.

My field observation experience helped me understand the teaching environment by

giving me the chance to be in an actual classroom and see what goes on. I was able to take notes

as to how the teacher managed her classroom and went about the day teaching the lessons. I

found it to be very beneficial to have such an experience in a classroom.

As of right now I would say my educational philosophy is geared more towards

progressivism and existentialism. I believe these two philosophies dictate my currents beliefs

about education because they help mold what I deem is important in both education and the

students. They are the set of principles that will guide my professional actions in the future.

One’s educational philosophy contributes to how they teach by taking what they think is

necessary to learn and one’s beliefs bout teaching into consideration. I would consider myself to

be a possible existentialist teacher because I think there is a high importance in the individual

and emotional commitment to living authentically. I think it is important for students to develop

a greater self-knowledge and ultimately gain knowledge that they deem is important without

losing focus on the curriculum.

I would also consider myself a possible progressive teacher because I think that the most

important thing to a teacher should be the student and that’s what the progressivism educational

philosophy emphasizes. I think it is similar to the existentialism philosophy because the student’s
interest and personal growth are highly important. Although the student’s interests is a big

contribution to this philosophy it does not mean that the classroom structure is lost. This

philosophy dictates my current beliefs about education because I would want to be the kind of

teacher that serves as a guide for students to help them learn what is important to them than just

focusing on the curriculum without taking any of their personal interests into consideration.

My knowledge of historical events will set the stage for how I will think about children

and schools by allowing me to recall what events have happened that have helped mold what

education is today. I will take the events into consideration to try and improve student’s

educational future the best way that I can. I will not treat students differently by their gender or

race as it was done in the past. As far as the schools go, I would try to make my best contribution

to the school to improve the community and the overall school environment.

Along with having an educational philosophy that one identifies with it is also important

to think of the strategies that are going to be implemented. I would try to implement strategies

that would facilitate the teaching process such as incorporating more technology which would

also intrigue the students. Incorporating creative and innovative ways to present and teach are

strategies that help keep the students interested in the subject. Finding games that can be made

up based on the lesson of the day is a way to successfully keep the students actively engaged.

When teaching it is also important to keep in mind all the student variability and diversity

that one will encounter. With respects to student variability I think it is important to have the

resources necessary to properly accommodate to students with different developmental needs,

interests, abilities and disabilities. Therefore one must have different approaches to how to

handle such different needs from students. For example, if a student has troubles seeing the
board I would try to sit him as close to the board as possible. Another example would be if a

student feels that the lesson that is being taught isn’t at his level I would try to have an

alternative assignment to possibly challenge them so their interest in the lesson wouldn’t be lost.

With student diversity, I would try to incorporate all the different cultures into the lessons

whenever possible. Having all cultures incorporated into the lessons would enable the students to

make their unique contribution to the classroom.

As far as assessment goes, I would try to keep up with the latest approaches to test out

their effectiveness in the classroom. I would make weekly quizzes for math, spelling, reading

and writing, considering I plan on teaching elementary. I would also individually assess the

students work habits and observe whether they work better in groups or individually. Based on

the results of the assessments I would know whether the students are proficient on the subject

matter or whether it needs to be retaught.

In order for me to move on in the career of education I need to improve my

communication skills and learn to be more resourceful. When in the classroom not everything I

need will be provided and I will need to work with what is available to me. Although I am quite

a talkative person I seem to get shy and nervous around faces I’m not familiar with which is

something I need to work on if I plan to become a teacher. Those are the weakest qualities I

possess and that I must improve on in order to later on become and educator.

I must also continue to take the courses necessary to be able to teach the grade level I

want and volunteer in more children based activities. Volunteering in after school programs in

my local elementary school will help me work better with children. Later on when I have enough

credits I could also apply to be a substitute which is something I will definitely benefit from
since I will be in the classroom environment. Overall, there are many possible opportunities for

me to improve myself to become a future elementary teacher.