Minerva Mejia

ETEC 424.01W
Professor Wolfe
7 July 2019
My Educational Philosophy
As time progresses, classrooms change based on diversity and students with different
styles of learning need an environment where they are comfortable to learn and explore their
knowledge. My educational philosophy is that all students should be taught with love and
passion no matter their background. A quote that I live by is from Malala Yousufzai, and she
says, “They cannot stop me. I will get my education, if it is in the home, school, or anyplace.”
Education is an amazing benefit in someone’s life and therefore nobody should be denied the
chance to explore their knowledge.
I have always been involved in the educational field, in December 2011, I was the PTO
president in a charter school and the school had a rule for female students where they were not
allowed to wear pants. They were only allowed to wear skirts at all times, even during the winter
and students were not happy wearing skirts. Parents and student started to complain because
students were in a school, they wanted to be, but the parents want their children to have the
choice to wear pants at any time. Therefore, my place as the PTO president was to help the
students have a comfortable environment so they can achieve their goals. At that moment my
instinct was to help the students and their parents to reach their wish to allow their daughters to
have the choice to wear skirts or pants so they can be covered in the winter. Consequently, it
took a whole year between meetings and persistence, but I was able to convince the principal and
the school committee to allow the female students to wear pants if they wish. Therefore, my
passion is to help the students have a voice and help them achieve their goals. Later on, I started
working in the Dallas ISD HIPPY program as an instructor and working here allowed me to have
more experience and helped me to open a path to see my passion for teaching. I want to give
back to the community of which my children attended school and benefited from. As Dr. Seuss
says, “The more that you read, the more things you will know, the more you learn, the more
places you’ll go.”
Therefore, as a little girl, I always used to play teacher and I would teach my brothers and
sister by copying the way my teacher used to teach me and the way he graded the homework,
activities, and assessments. My role model was my teacher because as a child he taught me to
never give up. Mr. Antonio Ortega was always going the extra mile for his students. For
example, some students missed school for weeks and he took his personal time to go to their
home and ask the reason why they were absent. He made sure that the students who were absent
have the work done and provided resources so they will not stay behind. Mr. Ortega did not have
all the opportunities that we have now because this happened a long time ago by in the seventies.
Watching Mr. Ortega teach his student, affected me in the future and motivated me to also help
students learn. Therefore, when my children started going to school, I wanted to be more
involved in their education and make sure their teachers were also passionate like Mr. Ortega
was with me. One December I was volunteering in my daughter’s classroom by helping her
teacher cut material, organize copies, and help manage her class. The way this teacher was
teaching was meaningful for each student because they felt like they had somebody who was
there for them when they needed to ask questions or just simply provide trust to her students
when they were working on any activity. Her work and all the activities that she was doing with
her students called my attention. The students were engaging and responding to her lesson plan,
and the teacher was working with her students with a lot of passion which inspired me to become
a teacher who gives everything that is possible and impossible for the benefit of their student’s
education.
Therefore, teachers with years of experience tend to manage all types of classrooms
better than a new teacher who lacks experience when they are teaching by themselves. If a new
teacher is starting their first year of teaching and have no experience with teaching a diversity of
students, if this teacher is not motivated to try and help every student no matter their cultural
differences, then they tend to quit because their strategies are not working they want because
every case is different in every school. Consequently, support from the teacher’s team is
important because they help guide the rookie to master their field and will eventually benefit the
students, campus, and community. As an educator, it is important to be open-minded to gain
knowledge from colleagues because collaborating makes for strong strategies that will benefit
students and have a successful school year. Any help from colleagues must be taken positively to
thrive in the educational career because that’s how we learn, by sharing the knowledge and
implementing the advice from the experienced teachers and learning at every opportunity that is
available.
An educator has the position of being a role model in a child’s life by teaching good
models, respect, and being persistent. Some students lack affection, care, and understanding from
the people in their life, therefore, teachers can be the person who believes in a student and later is
a motivation for them when they are older, like Mr. Ortega was for me when I was a child. My
main educational philosophy is to form strong foundations of basic skills, knowledge, and
respect with care, passion, and dedication to each student.