Personal Philosophy of Teaching and Learning

During my whole schooling career Ive faced several shifts in two different countries,
in Costa Rica where I started and the United States where I am planning to finish.
Education in Costa Rica is really different from here; in fact it is harder. In Costa Rica days
are longer and more subjects are taught, I used to go high school in Costa Rica from
7:00am till 4:00pm and even though we were given more subjects and more hours I always
managed to be in the top three of my classes. In Costa Rica, I was always an honors
student, and it was not because I tried hard, but because I studied really hard for each test
which were made twice every marking four times a year, and for each test I needed to study
a whole night to get grades in the range of 80-90. It all changed when I started high school
in the United States; high school here is really easy and without being disrespectful it
makes lazy students. I experienced this because as soon as I got here I never felt pressure as
I did in Costa Rica. I never really needed to study for a test like I did in Costa Rica and that
made me really lazy about going to school. I did graduate high school with 3.5 G.P.A.
without really trying and sometimes I wonder what would have if I had tried harder just like
I did in Costa Rica. I was young and did not really cared at the moment.
Moreover, there is nothing to regret I did not do badly at all in high school and it was
time to start my journal at college, which I thought it was going to be the same as high
school. It was not; college has been the hardest part of my schooling career but I still
passionate about learning and I desire with all my heart to soon finish and be a teacher.
College has taught me several values and skills needed for my life and future. One of these
experienced has been the services learning programs, the opportunity that I have received to

interact with kids and teachers has been so great and has also prepare me to be ready for my
future career as a teacher.
Furthermore, as prospective teacher I find it really difficult to focus in just one
learning theory. I think that the learning theory of Progressivism which is an educational
philosophy that stresses learning through problem solving, projects, and hands-on
experiences (Koch, pg. 56) adapts really well to teach foreign language which is what I
want to do, to be a Spanish teacher. But I also think that Behaviorism which is the theory
learning takes place in response to reinforcement from the outside environment (Koch, pg.
72) is also great when teaching another language because sometimes when teaching another
language the teacher needs to create links that could create responses in students. For
example, animal pictures and their word in Spanish, the teacher must be able to do that in
others ways as well. Overall, I think both theories are great, even though I see
Progressivisms theory in my classroom than Behaviorism I still think both can be used in
foreign language classroom.
To conclude, my expectations for my classroom are to have a clean and organize
environment, where all children participate and interact with each other. If I ever have
someone visiting they are going to see children getting along with a cool teacher that will
make them laugh and while having a good time they will learn Spanish in a way they will
never forget. I really expect to be that teacher where everyone wants to be, not because his
easiness but because the way he teaches and engage students and I really think Spanish is a
subject that could easy allowed me to do that. In resume, a really energetic and funny
classroom from my part that is what someone can hear while passing by my classroom.

Reference
Koch, J. (2012). TEACH. California: Wadsworth.