Personal Philosophy of Teaching

I will try to put into words my developing personal philosophy of teaching. I

add the word developing because I believe that as a novice teacher, I am
beginning to realize my own pre-existing beliefs and values regarding
education and teaching as I formally acquire the theoretical and pedagogical
foundations of the teaching profession itself. Each new course, reading, and
discussion has potential to influence my philosophy of teaching. Therefore,
instead of discussing my personal philosophy of teaching, perhaps I
should discuss my dynamic philosophy of teaching.
VIEWS FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
Before beginning my discussion about my own personal philosophy of
teaching, I think it is important to think about my own schooling as a child
and how that has shaped my views. Therefore, first I will reflect on my
public school experience and how that has influenced my teaching.
Implications to teaching
I feel that in a way I have somewhat of a traditionalist nature from my
elementary school days. I think that teachers deserve respect and should
maintain a level of control in the classroom. I think that when teachers
genuinely care for their students, it shows in the way they teach and in the
time they devote to their students. This kind of caring nature is bound to
positively affect their students.
Conclusion of personal experience
I feel that in many ways, both my positive and negative experiences with
public schooling directly shaped my own philosophy of teaching. As a future
educator, I come into the teaching establishment with criticism of the entire
system of schooling. At the same time, I think that I now have a more open
mind about schooling because I did not participate in the public education
system for most of my post-adolescent youth. I was able to seek out and
discover things on my own during that time. In addition to my criticisms of
schooling, I also have a lot of sympathy and understanding for teaching as a
profession. I have seen how hard teachers can work, how much they can
care, and how difficult their jobs can be. As the situation currently exists
within the America public education system, I believe that teachers are far
too under appreciated considering the enormous social responsibility that

they have as perpetuators of our society's beliefs, ideas, and accumulated

knowledge.
On a daily basis I am engaged in cultural boundary crossing with my spouse
as we exchange and construct meaning between our different cultures and
languages. I feel that I learned a great deal about people and the world from
a young age due to my openness to other cultures. This openness also helped
to broaden my perspective and understand behavior in different contexts.
Meeting and interacting throughout my life with people from cultural
backgrounds different than my own has helped me to broaden my
perspective about the world and consider different viewpoints. Additionally,
traveling to other countries has greatly affected the way that I currently
perceive the world around me. Perhaps due to my own experiences, I think
that a broad perspective is an essential quality that teachers should possess. I
feel that a broad perspective is important because a broad perspective can
help a teacher recognize that there are multiple ways to approach any issue.
This recognition may then lead to increased understanding, patience, and
acceptance.
THEORETICAL VIEWS
Theory
In my own personal philosophy of teaching, I believe that it is important to
be consciously aware of the theory behind what I teach and the way that I
teach. It is empowering to understand the theories associated with my field
and to be able to articulate my opinions professionally. Also, I think that it is
necessary to be aware of the complex interplay that exists between teaching,
learning, and curricular theories in actual classroom practice.
Social Constructivist
Social constructivism is the education theory that I am most interested in as
a teacher, and I believe that I manifest this theory in my classroom through
my approach to teaching.Through my lesson plans for my writing course, I
attempt to make social theory a reality. According to McComiskey (2000,
pp. 6-7), there are...
three levels of composition: textual, rhetorical, and discursive. At the
textual level of composing, we focus our attention on the linguistic

characteristics of writing. At the rhetorical level, we focus on the generative

and restrictive agencies (audience, purpose, etc.) of communicative
situations. And at the discursive level of composing, we focus our attention
on the institutional (economic, political, social, and cultural) forces that
condition our very identities as writers.
In all of my lessons, I have my students focus on each of these levels of
composition at different points during the writing process.
Critical pedagogy
Having presented my primary philosophical persuasion regarding education,
I discuss about critical pedagogy, which is another teaching theory that
interests me and is also in line with social constructivist thought. According
to Wenger (1998), Education is not merely formative- it is transformative
(p. 263).
Teaching values, beliefs, and goals
You should consider what you believe is the end goal or purpose of
education:

content mastery
engaged citizenry
individual fulfillment
critical thinking
problem solving
discovery and knowledge generation
teamwork
self-directed learning
experiential learning
Classroom technique
Whole language
Creativity
Evaluation

CONCLUSION
In wrapping up my personal philosophy of teaching, I would like to say that
I have tried to include some of my attitudes, beliefs, and feelings in an

organized manner regarding teaching and learning from the micro-level of

the individual and the classroom to the macro-level of society. While not
entirely comprehensive, I feel that this attempt to make explicit my teaching
philosophy is, for the time being, complete. As mentioned in my
introduction, since my philosophy is currently undergoing intense
development, I would consider this paper a work in progress awaiting
additional experience, insight, and theory for future development also.