Catherine Hall

5 October 2018
Personal Philosophy of Education
Dr. Ash

“​Now, what really makes a teacher is love for the human child; for it is love that

transforms the social duty of the educator into the higher consciousness of a mission," Maria

Montessori. Aside from the family unit, a teacher is the most influential person in a child’s life. It

is a responsibility to not only teach well, but to create an environment suitable to learning and

conducive to growth in all areas of a child’s development. Every teacher has a responsibility to

meet the basic needs of their students. What differentiates each teacher, is the pivotal decision

of ​how ​these things should be accomplished​.​ Reading the great philosophers and psychologist

throughout my coursework, I have come to the decision that I am somewhere between a

perennialist and a neo-Thomist. In order to put the ​how ​of teaching into action, the basics must

first be covered.

First, in the order of priority, to be an intentional teacher one must provide a safe, stable,

structured, and loving environment. The most important variables to be considered when doing

this are who the teacher is and who the students are (the age of the students, and the home

and family environments of the students). Before the school year even begins, the educator

must create a classroom that is safe and welcoming through appearance and structure. The

more This does not just pertain to the superficial look of the classroom, but to the time

management and the organization of the schedule. From beginning to end, the schedule of the

class period must be very tight, concise and simple. The transitions must be well organized and

consistent. Then, once the school year has begun, the teacher must make a daily commitment

to welcoming each and every student. Every single day this commitment must be renewed and

acted upon. Loving students in this way is important because it makes the student feel important

and necessary, which is essential for learning to take place. Beyond these ways of creating a
safe and welcoming environment, an intentional educator must get to know and build trust with

his or her students and their parents. This can be done through parent-teacher conferences but

can also be done by simply being available to students. If students know that you care, they will

respond with care. This aids in classroom management, behavioral management, and the entire

future lives of the students. All of this combined, along with an endless list of small ways to love

students, creates a safe and welcoming classroom environment.

Secondly, I must teach well. By studying education and observing many different

classrooms, I have been exposed to a variety of teaching styles, philosophies, and schools of

thought. A few basic teaching methods that I hope to implement in a classroom are cooperative

learning, direct instruction, and whole-brain teaching. Cooperative learning is having students

work in small groups and learn from and with each other. Direct instruction is giving notes and

explaining complex topics that students may need extra assistance with. Whole-brain teaching

is an interactive teaching method. It includes teacher-student learning as well as

student-teacher learning and student-student learning. Through these three methods I desire to

engage all students through speech, motion, and auditory aids. Having a variety of instructional

methods is ideal for captivating attention, learning, and retaining information.

I believe that learning directly from the source, as perennialists do, is the best

way to learn. Reading the original thinkers helps one to understand the logic behind great

discoveries and theories. It is these works that give students the tools to reason well and

become great thinkers. It is through debating and dialoguing that students learn to not only think

well, but communicate well. However, I also think that it is important to be up-to-date on the

latest science, and theological discoveries. The neo-thomist perspective of intertwining faith and

reason, science and religion, is incredibly important in society today. The balance of

perennialism and neo-thomism can give a well-rounded education to any student!

 Overall, my philosophy as an educator is to be a prepared and intentional teacher, to

know my students, create a safe and loving environment for them to learn in, and teach them

well. This philosophy was shaped and strengthened through personal experience and

classroom study.