Running head: PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION STATEMENT 1

Philosophy of Education Statement

Ashlyn Brooke Cooper

Carson-Newman University
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Abstract

This essay is going to be a direct reflection on how I view education and its purpose in

my future students life, along with my personal life. Within this educational philosophy

statement, I will be addressing general views on education, schooling, and teaching, and I will

also talk about my personal philosophy. Some examples will include how I define education and

its purpose, how I am motivated to teach, and some strengths and weaknesses I need to improve

on to increase my effectiveness as a teacher.

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Philosophy of Education Statement

General Views on Education, Schooling, and Teaching

Education is a vital component of the American Dream. In todays society, education is

everything, and without it, you are nothing. To me, education is the key to having a successful

and normal life. If I were to define education in my terms it would be stated as this: education is

the accumulation and gathering of knowledge, whether that is inside or outside of the

confinement of a school, throughout your lifespan. In our technologically advanced society, we

are constantly learning new things each and every day. We have access to so much information,

we do not even know what to do with it all. The biggest difference for between education and

schooling is the simple fact that schooling is focused on the aspect of instruction. Schooling

focuses on instructing their students on basic subjects such as math, reading, English, social

studies, and science. While you are in school, you are being educated and furthering your

educational knowledge by being in school and receiving instruction.

Education and schooling has been around since the 1800s in early American society.

Since the beginning of this newly formed nation, education and schooling have been a key aspect

and goal of the American Dream. The founding fathers believed that its citizens should be

educated and put through schooling to help build them into a good citizen to help preserve,

protect, and to contribute to the growth of this country. They believed that education and

schooling helped fulfill two core, American principles: the pursuit of happiness and the

common good (common ground). Schooling must not only prepare students for higher

education, but it also must prepare students for the democratic life, which involved civic duties

that require complex problem-solving skills. Schooling must teach our children our history so

that, they will be educated to not repeat the same mistakes over again.
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In the United States, culture is incredibly diverse. In some areas of the United States,

such as the New England area, are often called the melting pot because of all the different

cultures people have brought there. Culture is what shapes an individual. It includes customs and

how people live within their societies. Culture is unique to an individual and social group.

Usually, individuals will group together with other individuals that share the same kind of culture

as the others, and make up a society. Sometimes, that is not the case. For example, I am from

Maryville, TN. It is an averaged-sized, southern town, outside of Knoxville. This town is

predominantly Baptist, with little diversity. In my elementary school, we had a girl move here

from Pakistan. When she came here, she brought with her her culture and lifestyle. She is

Islamic, so the way they dressed, talked with people, and went about their daily lives were much

different than me or any of my peers did. This helped me see past the narrow-minded way of

thinking I had due to my little experience with anything outside of my town. There are people

different than me, and it made me curious to learn about those people and their way of life.

Culture can impact teaching in the ways of how the material is taught. Sometimes, a teacher may

not agree with the topic due to his or her culture, and emphasizes a negative idea on the subject,

often impressing her students minds with that same thought, and vice versa. Society also has a

direct impact on learning and teaching. If society believes certain topics are bad or should not be

discussed in schools, they will ban it or strip you of your license if you decide to teach it.

Every students education is unique and different from the next. As an educator, we have

to pick up on students individuality and teach to their strengths. When we do this, not only will

the student succeed in our classrooms, but they will actually retain the information and store it in

their long-term memories, which is our ultimate goal as an educator. In order for students to truly

learn, they first have to want to learn. If a student is sitting in your class, refusing to listen or
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engage in instruction, that student is not going to learn anything nor retain the information being

taught. As educators, we have to make our lessons engaging and fun to them. We have to target

the students that just want to sleep or disengage from class. In order to do that, we have to target

the students way of learning whether that is engaging them by using visual methods, auditory

methods, lecturing methods, and even hands-on methods. In order to ensure our students are

learning the material, we have to target their individual learning style. As educators, we are

responsible for teaching a heavy load of information to our students. Majority of this time, this

information is painful and not fun to learn. In order for our student to receive this information

and to learn it, we must present it in a way that they find intriguing. We almost have to trick them

into wanting to learn about that particular boring topic. We have to be creative and energetic on

how we present this information to them. If they see a teacher lecturing his or her students, they

will disengage and zone out in a heartbeat, because they know the teacher does not care so why

should they? As an educator, we must be patient with our students. It is very rare that students

will pick up and understand lessons the first time. This is when we are put to the test. Yes, you

could just keep drilling the information into their heads until they understand it, or you can come

up with new ways to get the information across to them so they see if from different

perspectives. I feel like a quality educator has all of these attributes: creative, energetic, patient,

caring, and proud.

Personal Philosophy

Up until my junior year of college, I was a nursing major striving to work in Pediatrics. I

have known since the beginning that working with children is where my heart was. I play

softball here at Carson-Newman, and it challenged me significantly while I was a nursing major.

Many of my clinicals and games would coincide, resulting in missed clinicals that you could not
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make up. Clinicals are a vital component in a nursing education, and it was something that I was

continuous missing due to my sport. Due to the constant missing of class, I had to change my

major. My grades were poor for the first time in my college career and I was completely stressed

out. Over the summer, I told myself that I would really think about my next step in my education

and where I wanted it to go. During this past summer, I took a job with my best friend at

Kindercare learning centers. At Kindercare, I got to work with children ages infant-5. Kindercare

learning centers is more of a preschool than it is daycare. We are responsible for teaching lesson

plans and curriculum to our children, regardless of age. For instance, our toddlers would be

below the age of 2, and they would be able to identify colors and shapes. Our 2s class learned

all about dinosaurs this summer, along with insects and their body parts. Be able to do this all

summer long, really showed me my heart was in teaching. I have always loved school and have

always knew I would end up in education at some point in my life, I just always thought it would

be later on in my life. Regardless, God has stepped in and really taken the reins from me.

The kind of teacher I aspire to be is the teacher who really cares about her students and

their success, inside and outside of the classroom. I want a personal relationship with all of my

students that even when they move on from my class, they feel like they can come talk to me and

ask for guidance or whatever they need. I want to be a teacher that really gets her students

excited for learning every day and just letting them know that they are loved and cared for. In my

classroom, my educational philosophy is very diverse. I do not identify with just one of the

categories, I identify with all of them because I think they are all uniquely important for a quality

education. I think perennialism is important because its black-and-white. I feel like my students

need to know how to reason on their own, not with someone holding their hand. I think

essentialism is important, because my students need to know how to function in everyday life. If
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they go to school and do not learn how to manage their money, they will end up poor and

homeless. They need to know essential skills on how to live on their own without their parents.

Without these basic life skills, they will never be able to have a family or have a good life. Those

are just some examples, but I feel that each type of instruction will influence me because I feel

like each one brings a new set of vital skills to the table for my students to have.

My first order of business as a teacher will be to learn how each one of my students learn

best. If that means that I need to lecture my students, but include guided notes, videos, and

games within it, then I will. Creativity will be key in my teaching and its something that I am

good at. I want to come up with crazy, fun ways for my students to learn the information as well

as retain the information. What I also consider a strength is my flexibility and my ability to let

loose of the reins educators hold. I want my students to take part and hold of their education. I

want them to come up with ideas to learn about different topics that will help them succeed in the

classroom. If I am teaching a lesson, and Ann Jo comes up to me and says that we should make a

foldable to help organize the information and break it down simpler, then thats what we need to

do. Your students know best about how they learn, and if they feel like something is not working

with the instruction, then they need to be able to have that voice to tell you so without fear of

being reprehended.

In order to increase my effectiveness as a teacher, I feel like I need to grow in every area.

You can never be perfect in an area in my opinion. I feel like there is always room to grow and to

learn about new concepts and ways of teaching. Education is constantly changing, and within the

last ten years, technology has really taken hold of every classroom in America. If I had to choose

specific areas for me right now, I would say just being comfortable in front of a class and

classroom management. I do not have much experience in a classroom yet, and with time I will
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get that. Right now, I just get nervous when I feel like I have to stand in front of a class. I cannot

be a good teacher if I am not comfortable in front of my students, because they will just pick me

apart. I will also say I need to work on classroom management, because I know it is always a

challenge to new teachers. I want to be able to have fun with my children, but they need to know

when to draw the line. If my classroom has no structure or discipline, it will be chaotic and my

students will not learn anything. I think those are the two most important areas that I need to

work on to ensure my effectiveness as an educator.

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References

A. (1996, December). Finding Common Ground in an Era of Fragile Support. Retrieved

November 06, 2017, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/policy-

priorities/dec96/num07/toc.aspx