Reanna Gray

EDU 201 Spring

4/21/2020

Personal Philosophy

When I was growing up, I wanted to be a teacher. I did not know what grade I wanted to teach
just knew what I wanted to do. While we were growing up, I was watching my brother go through a
troubled childhood. Between him getting in trouble and struggling in school, I thought I wanted to invest
my time in Criminal Justice. I thought about become a social worker but as I met and talked to more
people in the field, I decided it wasn’t for me. I then started volunteering at my children’s school and the
passion and enthusiasm of the students made me want to change my degree and pursue becoming a
teacher.

I personally love children. I love working with children and watching them grow. The excitement
on their little faces when they learn or understand something new gives me all the feels. I enjoy
watching their little minds at work, wanting to learn more. When I was volunteering in my daughter’s
kindergarten classroom it inspired me. It inspired me to want to follow my dream of becoming a
teacher, having my room to call my own “Classroom”. The thought of 25 little kindergarteners calling me
Mrs. Gray, was a dream that I had always envisioned. As I enrolled back into school, I started working at
my children’s elementary school. I knew I needed and wanted the hands-on experience to guide me
through my journey. Reading books and taking classes is always a plus but they can’t explain some
situations that happen that don’t get mentioned in the books or classes. I feel that working at the school
I can create my list of skills that I can use that will help me be a better educator. Being new to the field is
also scary and I tend to feel like I do not know enough. I have decided to take all the information being
given to me and take what I need to help me succeed. I think there are many complexities in our school
system, in which most can only be fixed within the higher-ups of the district.

I cannot just choose one philosophy to dictate my current beliefs about education. Some
philosophies have some things I agree with but also contain things I disagree with. I would like to
incorporate a variety of the philosophies into my educational plans, with the hope that it works and they
can blend well together. Although I have seen the roughness of our school system plummet downhill, I
am hoping that we as educators can work together in bringing our school system back. I know a lot of
parents are switching over to charter schools but I feel if the district can eventually pull everything
together it can be fixed. Yes, it will take a while but I feel it is doable and our educators deserve it. With
our current economic situation, it has been proven that our educators are not only important but are
heroes, in which they can accomplish whatever problems may occur. We can only hope that things this
time can be turned around and fixed properly, hopefully.

In my classroom, I would like to implement the whole brain learning. I would also love to
incorporate the 7 strategies of learning but would like to emphasize a few of the strategies. Some of the
strategies I would like to emphasize are visualization, differentiation, behavior management, and
professional development. I would also like to use cooperative learning, inquiry-based instruction, and
technology in the classroom strategies to help build up my classroom but also my students. I would like
my students to know they are all the same and they are all equal learners. Even though the students are
not going to all be on the same track academically. I want them to know no matter how different they
are including diversity, behavior, or academically – we are all the same and will be treated the same.

There are many qualities I still need to take to succeed in my dream journey. I had to re-enroll
into school and start from the beginning. I started at CSN and took the step to graduate in two years
with their two-year associates program. After I graduate I plan on transferring to a four-year college to
obtain my bachelor's degree in elementary education. When I graduate hopefully I can secure a job in an
educator position and grow from there. I would love to get my masters soon after. Along my journey, I
am willing to take any licensing, volunteering, and educational courses, I can to help better myself for
my educator career.