Philosophy of Teaching

Amber Black

I developed my teaching philosophy after seeing what my own kids have gone through at
school struggling to learn certain subjects and ending up with failing grades. It made me wonder
what learning opportunities teachers provide to students. It is disappointing to know that some
teachers would rather regurgitate information from a book than offer meaningful learning
opportunities. If students do not comprehend the material but the teacher moves on anyway, that
is a disservice to students. My teaching philosophy is to ensure students understand the material
and have successful and meaningful learning opportunities.
I believe students need meaningful learning opportunities from which they can gain
knowledge, feel confident in their learning and thrive mentally, emotionally and socially. I want
to make sure students understand material before proceeding to the next level or phase of
instruction. To do this, I need to follow several cognitive development concepts for effective
teaching and meaningful learning. Some teaching concepts I will use in my practice to provide
cognitive development and meaningful learning opportunities are practice, self-efficacy,
motivation, social cognition, and constructivism.
The first concept, practice, is essential for students to be successful. They must be
provided multiple opportunities to learn a skill or understand new material. Practice will give
students chances to develop their new knowledge into a strong foundation to continue to build
upon. The more proficient students become their ability to believe in himself or herself will also
rise. The second concept, self-efficacy, is important for students to believe in their ability to
accomplish a task or goal. Having high self-efficacy allows students to be more understanding,
have an open-mind, and strive to learn more. When they see what they are capable of
understanding, it can develop their ability to believe in themselves, which can motivate them to
want to learn more.
The third concept, motivation, is important for students to be successful. Teachers can
inspire motivation, and they can utilize peers to inspire motivation, as well. Motivating students
to learn is important for their academic achievement. When students see they can learn from their
peers and have encouraging interactions and exchanges, they will develop a greater enthusiasm
toward learning. The fourth concept, social cognition, provides students with the opportunity to
learn from each other. Interactions gives students the chance to gain new knowledge but also
helps them develop maturity and intellectual growth. Ensuring students are working together in
an inspiring collaboration is beneficial for all students involved.
The last concept I chose, to aid in cognitive development, is constructivism. For students
to be successful, they have to be given the opportunity to construct knowledge on their own.
By allowing students to consider what they already know, ask questions, explore ideas and
develop new thoughts about information provided, either on own or through social learning
experiences, I am giving students a chance to construct their own knowledge and create
meaningful learning experiences.
By taking advantage of practice, self-efficacy, motivation, social cognition, and
constructivism, I will have a great start to effective teaching and successful learning. My goal for
teaching is to help students learn and provide students with meaningful learning opportunities. I
want to ensure students understand topics before moving on to the next. Each of these concepts
offers powerful learning experiences. Combining these concepts will provide effective teaching
and successful learning for impressive cognitive development.