Running Head: EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

Educational Philosophy First Draft Claire Sullivan Molloy College

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

I am currently an early childhood and elementary education student, and when I graduate I will be certified to teach anywhere from Birth to Grade 6. My hope however, is that I will have the opportunity to teach on the early childhood level, especially in a preschool classroom. I have had the pleasure of working as a teachers assistant in a preschool for students ages two through five for the past two years, and I know that this is what I want to do for the rest of my life. My enthusiasm about teaching at this age level stems from the intense eagerness to learn that I have witnessed in every student I have encountered at this level. Preschool is a students introduction to the academic world, and therefore I feel it is the duty of the preschool teacher to set a positive tone for the rest of that students academic future. Through my work with preschool students, I have encountered a wide array of learners. My two years at Little Learners of Long Island have seen students from a variety of ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds with academic skills ranging from highly gifted to learning disabled. There is one thing true, though, of every student I have and will continue to encounter; they are all able to learn. I have been fortunate enough to work with a very gifted teacher who recognizes the potential for learning in every student and has her students achieving their very best every single day. Although every student learns differently, there is one element that must be present in every classroom in order for any learning to take place at any level. That element is mutual respect. Especially at the early childhood level, teachers must instill a sense of respect for their authority in their students, or otherwise they will have no control over their classes and learning can never affectively take place. I have witnessed many teachers throughout my academic career who have not instilled this respect in their students, and those classes were always the ones in which I learned the least. This was because the students did not respect these teachers authority

EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY as educators, and therefore learning was never the classs priority. However, if students do respect their teacher, then the teacher can, with ease, bring the focus of the class onto learning. A classs respect for its teacher can only exist, though, if the teacher also has respect for his or her class. The key to this respect is the appreciation of every students different learning style and strengths. As Howard Earl Gardner has asserted, every student has a different set of strengths. Teachers will encounter linguistic learners, logical-mathematical learners, and spatial learners, just to name a few. These students all have the potential to learn what they need to

know, but they learn it in different ways. Therefore, I believe that the most effective way to teach a diverse class is to follow Eleanor Duckworths theory, which states that a variety of methods can be used to teach a class the same lesson. A successful teacher must incorporate all of the different strengths of his or her diverse students in order for everyone to learn. When mutual respect is established in a classroom, there is a positive learning environment in place. The teacher is in control of his or her classroom and is therefore able to educate the students through encouragement of their strengths. This is important for a classroom at any level, but I believe it is especially important in early childhood. When a preschool classroom is a positive learning environment characterized by mutual respect, students learn to view school as something to enjoy, and an appreciation for education is instilled.