EDU 201 Philosophy

Mackenzie Howie

EDU 201

Portfolio Artifact 4

4/28/19

I. The Profession I’m choosing this profession to make a difference. As a teenager, I thought a

lot about changing the world and started working in politics to get to that goal. I had a lot of

successes, but realized that wasn’t really what I wanted to do. Working with kids became a lot of

fun and I thought I could change the world while still having fun with them.

My high school government teacher inspires me, even today. He got me excited about

politics and the world, and he was a fantastic teacher. He’s who I want to be someday. If I can

inspire one student the way he inspired me, I’ll have made a huge impact on the world.

The skills and background I have that will serve me as a teacher come mostly from the

world of psychology. A psychotherapist and someone who ran a mental health facility raised me.

Through them, I learned about what makes people act the way they do. I think that background

will help me in figuring out how to work with all kinds of students.

My understanding of the Clark County school system isn’t as strong as it should be. I

never thought I’d be involved in this world, so I’m still really new to it. But this introduction to

education and a few of my other education courses has helped a lot with that.

II. Teaching My educational philosophy falls into both existentialism and reconstructionism.

Existentialism dictates my views on education by having me encourage all of my students to ask

as many questions as they can. Reconstructionism, on the other hand, dictates my educational
EDU 201 Personal Philosophy 2

views by not only constantly questioning what is going on, but by wanting to change for the

better on a constant basis.

My knowledge of historical events within education will help me be aware of the students

I have and how they could have been denied a basic education before. It will also help me

remember how far education has come and how much more can change for the better in this

career field.

III. Instruction The strategies I plan to implement involve setting rules that are for the safety

and ease of learning for everyone in my class. I also intend to implement a classroom setting that

has a flow and comfort level to it, while still having constant reminders of what we’ve learned

set up around the room. When it comes to learning, I’m aware that there are so many different

kinds of learning and that students all have different ways of actually taking in information. I

intend to try to teach in all the ways available and gauge my students in what ways they learn

best. In student diversity and variability, it’s important to recognize that everyone on the planet is

different and that different is a good thing. We all have to respect each other and learn from each

other. In terms of behavior, as I stated before, I will have rules I will implement in all of my

classrooms. When it comes to assessments, I do not want to make a big deal out of them and will

remind my students that not everyone is good at taking tests and that that is okay.

IV. Future In moving forward with this career, I have to have a thicker skin and I have to have a

greater sense of authority. I need to stop caring what students say or think about me. I also have

to remember I’m the adult in charge, which is really hard for me! I think working more with

actual students like I’ve been doing for the last year will help me immensely with these two

things. I also think finishing up my degree will help me to be a better teacher overall.