PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

Philosophy of Education
Aubrie Murphy
EDUC 420
Messiah College

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

With the emotional, mental, and physical demands of teaching, teachers must be inspired
to teach. Teaching can be a career with delayed gratification, teachers may notice their students
have made progress towards the end of the year when they have to transition to a new group of
students. Creating a philosophy of education can help to ensure that throughout the years as a
teacher works on their career in the classroom they maintain a clear vision with the attributes that
an effective teacher must have and how they will continue to strive to be an effective teacher. I
plan to use my philosophy of education as a reference to the inspiration I feel as a new teacher,
excited and determined to make my mark on students in the classroom and continue to further
this enthusiasm I feel into growing in my abilities, pushing myself to work on aspects of my
abilities that could use development. For example, working on a math research project if you feel
as if math is a weakness.
Great teachers are effective teachers in the classroom, and as Theresa Tomas (2011) says,
in order to be a great teacher teachers must have ten traits: humility, patience, kindness &
respectfulness, enthusiasm for the content, the ability to teach through demonstration, the ability
to learn from their students, maintain positivity, engage their students, hold high expectations,
and provide an environment that supports and does not discourage mistakes. These traits are
important because they encourage the learner, creating a culture for learning as referenced in the
Danielson Framework (2013, p. 32). Creating a culture for learning makes students feel
comfortable enough to take risks and not be discouraged if they have a failed attempt.
Specifically in my content area with elementary aged students or ESL students of all ages,
teachers must know the ability of their students based on their knowledge of child development
and use known pedagogy to reach the students at their ability level. Additionally, they must give
instruction just above what the students have mastered on their own (Krashen, 1989),

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

challenging students to strive towards high achievement goals but not allowing content to be so
challenging that it becomes discouraging. When working with students, especially ESL students,
teachers and missionaries must always keep integrity as a high priority so that I may be honest
and be trusted by students. Jan Dormer (2011) writes that ESL teachers must have integrity and
connect relationally because students must know that they can trust their teacher in order to
move on and focus on their learning. If teachers have the attributes described by Thomas they
with be able to demonstrate their integrity, if done well, developing meaningful relationships that
spur a productive learning environment. I plan to do this by creating meaningful lessons that
allow students to get to know me as they learn, for example, if teaching a lesson on family
vocabulary to a group of ESL students it would be more meaningful for me to describe my own
family than to create a mock family.
To reflect on my implementation of the attributes described above I may examine my
abilities by comparing myself to evaluation tools resembling the Danielson Framework (2013),
with attention to planning and preparation, the classroom environment, instruction, and
professional responsibilities. I will show proficiency in these subject areas by intentionally
reflecting on my teaching to make sure that I am teaching according to these guidelines and
make goals for myself to improve if I observe that I am lacking in a particular domain. When
conducting planning and preparation for instruction I must use my training to support the content
that I teach and how I teach it by reflecting on relevant theorists, the appropriate child
development stage of my students, instructional design techniques, and inclusion practices or
adaptions that could to be made to accommodate the learners. I will set well defined instructional
goals and instructional objectives that have a distinct purpose, deliberately finding resources that

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

enhance student learning, as well as giving students the ability to know what is expected of them
through rubrics and clearly repeated directions.
Using my knowledge of students and content with consideration of Danielsons Domain
1: Planning and Preparation (2013) described above, I will create a classroom environment as
defined in Domain 2 that supports students, showing them that I care, creating an environment of
respect and rapport. According to Noddings (1995), Personal manifestations of care are
probably more important in childrens lives than any particular curriculum or pattern of
pedagogy (p. 676), noting the importance of the care that teachers should have for their
students as they come into the classroom. Showing students that teachers care can be done by
giving students individualized feedback, highlighting their strengths, and showing students how
excited you are to be coming in to work with their class. Care can also be shown by morally
upholding strong values, as outlined in Pennsylvanias Code of Professional Practice and
Conduct for Educators (1992) in every aspect of a teachers life, thus becoming a role model for
students. I plan to maintain the character and integrity that I have learned to uphold in my time at
Messiah College. I will strive to strengthen my classroom management through consistency,
structure and order; catering behavioral plans to meet individual learner needs, understanding
that every learner is different and may require specific and differentiated attention to be engaged
in classroom activities and regulate their behavior.
With the main goal of schools being to educate learners, Danielsons Domain 3:
Instruction (2013) is essential for teacher evaluation and reflection. My main goal when
reflecting on my instruction will be to create open-ended and high order thinking questions,
challenging students to the best of my ability. When students give responses to my questions or
create their own questions I will do my best to respond with effective descriptive feedback,

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

helping students to internalize my responses and become more independent in their reasoning
process. I plan on collecting organized and accurate data of my performance and my students
performance through the use of a variety of assessments that have the lowest possible
measurement error to showcase the students true abilities and document my effectiveness as an
educator.
Finally, with Danielsons Domain 4: Professional Responsibilities (2013) I will work
towards keeping and organizing the data and assessments I collect and participating in
meaningful and constructive dialogues with, colleagues, superiors, and parents as well as in my
own reflection about how these records mirror my performance and the students abilities. I will
be professional to all I come in contact with so that I may be a positive role model for the
students watching my behavior. It is also extremely important that I contently set goals and
continue my own learning so that I am always improving my abilities as an educator.
It is important for me to hold myself to the standards I have described so that I may
maintain the hope that I will be a great and effective teacher, with this hope I will take action,
inspiring my students to take hopeful and ultimately active roles in their own learning. As
Sergiovanni (2004) describes, hopeful leaders have active reactions, turning their hopes into
realities because All students can succeed if given appropriate support, support that I am
looking forward to providing. When I uphold these values and attributes that I have set for
myself based on the authors I have cited and my own beliefs I am giving my students the chance
to succeed. All students have the potential to do great things so if I can help support them in
achieving greatness I must do my best to facilitate their growth as well as my own.
I must always remember that an effective teacher wants the best for their students and
sees each student for their potential as future leaders in their respective fields. Each student

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION
comes in with different background knowledge, cultural or family background, and likes and
interests so they need to be treated as individuals to encourage them to continue on to becoming
unique and productive citizens as I know they are undoubtedly capable of doing.

PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION

7
References

Danielson, C. (2013). Danielson framework. The framework for teaching evaluation

instrument. Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Dormer, J. (2011). Teaching English in missions: Effectiveness and integrity. Pasadena, CA:
William Carey Library Publishers.
Krashen, S. (1989). We acquire vocabulary and spelling by reading: Additional evidence for the
input hypothesis. The Modern Language Journal, 73, 440464.
Noddings, N. (1995). Teaching themes of care. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(3). 675-679.
Pennsylvania (1992). The code of professional practice and conduct for educators.
Retrieved from http://www.portal.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/guidelines
%2C_policies%2C_complaint_forms%2C_reports_and_related_documents_/8850
Sergiovanni, T. (2004). Building a community of hope. Schools as Learning Communities, 61(8),
33-37.
Thomas, T (2011). Ten traits of a great teacher. Retrieved from
http://www.integratedcatholiclife.org/2011/10/thomas-ten-traits-of-a-greatteacher/