Bridget OLeary

Teaching Philosophy
Final Draft
My teaching philosophy has been influenced largely by my personal
experiences, by readings, by discussions and by a few teachers who have had
impacts on my thoughts and ideas. I identify with the worldview of constructivism
as is described in Creswell ****. Constructivists believe in group learning, they
believe that learning is an active process that accesses and assesses prior
knowledge. Moreover, constructivists value personal experiences and opinions as a
way to answer questions, and enhance ones learning. I strongly believe that if
students have some control over their own learning, and are thus held accountable
for their learning, they will find greater success in the classroom. The philosophy
that includes students being held accountable for their learning is called
Existentialism. Existentialists encourage students to exercise freedom of choice, and
to set their own goals. Students are encouraged through the guiding of their
teachers to become independent thinkers and learners. This philosophy relates to
the philosophy of Progressivism where students interests and needs are the driving
force behind the curriculum. Through this philosophy, students are in charge of
creating the curriculum for what they want to learn. These two philosophies
together contain a plethora of the ideas that I have found to be most relatable to
how I would like my classroom to be organized (Huerta, 43). I have developed a
personal philosophy that combines the three of these theories and philosophies, as I
feel they are intertwined in a way that would allow the student voice to be
represented in the most effective and positive way. I want my students to
understand the significance of their learning, and I want them to be allowed to
showcase their interests and allow those interests to guide the learning process.
Allowing students to create connections between their lives and interests, to their
learning will allow for a greater understanding of the content, and what the content
means to them. I have come to understand that it is not always the job of the teacher
to lecture to the students; rather they should have some control over how and what
they learn. In this way, the teacher is more of a facilitator to learning. I think Paulo
Freire is getting at this idea in his Chapter 2 of Pedagogy of the Oppressed where he
essentially condemns the idea of the teacher being the head of the classroom, and
the one in charge of filling up the students with the information they need to know.
Ive spent significant time reflecting on the idea of diversity within the
classroom and what this means to me as a teacher. As a language teacher I have
found the concept of diversity something to encourage, and embrace. But how will I
do this within my own classroom? I think that it is important to know your students
funds of knowledge, where do they come from? What is there home life like? What
cultural do they identify with? What financial situation do they come from?
Accepting diversity also means accepting where a student is from, and how they are
able to deal with varying circumstances (Moll, 133). I feel there are numerous
different ways one can interact with diversity in the classroom, to begin with, I
would say making the classroom a comfortable, safe, learning environment. Some
ways in which I would do this are based on Chapter 15 in Educational Foundations

An Anthology of Critical Readings titled What to look for in a Classroom by Alfie

Kohn. He supplies the reader with ways to make your classroom a safe and
comfortable place for students to be. One such example he gives pertains to
interacting with diversity in the classroom. He states in the category labeled good
signs that the following should be represented on the walls of the classroom
Information about, and personal mementos of, the people who spend time together
in this classroom, this to me is a great way to interact with and accept the diversity
that exists in the classroom setting.
Reflective thought and critical thinking are two strategies that I believe are
essential in a classroom setting. Paulo Freire elaborates on this in Chapter 2 of
Pedagogy of the Oppressed where he denounces the idea that students should be
forced to memorize everything they are being taught. He says this turns them into
containers into receptacles to be filled by teachers. (Freire, 1). The notion of
students being described as garbage cans does not do justice for teaching. What he
later describes as proper ways of teaching resonates with how I view the need for
critical thinking, and reflective thought. He states, The student no longer docile
listeners are now critical co-investigators in dialogue with the teacher. (Freire,
6). This teacher-student relationship only exists in a classroom where the teacher
does not believe that they are the end all, be all to teaching the material. The teacher
who believes in critical thinking, believes that as Friere states, authentic thinking
takes place in communication, meaning that students must take control of their
thinking, it is neither the place, nor the responsibility of the teacher to own that
thinking (Freire, 4).
In the first draft of this paper, I was unaware of the diverse and assortment of
philosophical ideals that go along with teaching, and what they each mean to me as a
person. After extensive reading, and reflecting on discussions we have had in all of
graduate studies classes, I was able to refine my philosophy so it is more specific,
and is backed up by research, and scholarly texts. I have found that while I initially
thought my sole philosophy was a constructivist philosophy, I actually have been
able to dip my toes into a variety of different philosophies, and pull ideas from each.
If there was one thing I was able to learn about teaching philosophies over the
course of this semester, it is that there is not one specific philosophy that a teacher
should have, they should pull and use ideas from many different areas of thinking to
fine-tune, and make their own philosophy unique to themselves.