Section; 3.

1 Philosophy of Education 

2.3.14 – Develop a personal philosophy of education  

  

1. Contemporary Educational Theories​: 

I believe in Maslow's theory which is also known as the hierarchy of 

needs. Which is saying that in order for students to succeed in the 

classroom they need to have all five of their basic needs met. First is 

physiological needs such as air, water or food, second is safety, like 

shelter and a place to keep them safe, next is social, which means they 

are in need for love and belonging in their life, then there is ego, they 

need the self-esteem to get them through the day, they need to have 

some confidence in what they are doing, and lastly, there is 

self-actualization, which is the need to develop and grow as an 

individual. I believe in this theory because a student needs to have 

their full attention and mind on school in order to get things done but 

they aren't going to be able to do that if something like they are 

homeless or they don't have food is happening in their lives. It can be 
hard for those with all of these things to strive sometimes in school 

but imagine how hard it can be to strive if you aren't meeting all those 

standards, you'll have your mind elsewhere instead of thinking about 

doing well in school. That is why I think it is essential to check up on 

your students and make sure they are meeting these and if not them do 

everything you can to help them. To engage students in their own way 

the teacher will have to make accommodations to their teaching style 

based on the students they are teaching. For example at the beginning 

of the year my class made posters on different types of disabilities 

and how to help them. I was assigned to blindness. My group and I had 

to come up with ways to accommodate/differentiate for someone that 

may be blind. We had said that we could do more listening practices 

with them or do small groups and have students think allowed with 

them, the teacher could also take time out of their day to do one on 

one with them and to help them set up for success. (3.1.1) If you know 

that one of your students is at a disability than the rest then you need 

to be able to take charge to engage them into the lesson. In order for 

you to include all students based on Maslow’s theory we will need to 

give the students in the room confidence and make them feel like they 
can do it. During a staff meeting that my class got to listen in on (3.1.2) 

they did and activity with hexagons. This is where they would ask 

everyone the same question, for example, what would you want to be if 

you could be anything in the world, and everyone would write their 

answer down and then you would get assigned to a group and you all 

have to find ways that all your answers connect. I think this is a really 

good idea because it makes the students feel like they have things in 

common with their other classmates. Something that isn't as common 

nowadays but to access students because not everyone has technology 

at home or parents that are in touch with what's going one, we could do 

at home visits to talk about how schools are going and what the teacher 

can do to help the student in his/her case. 

  

2.​ L
​ atest Research; 

https://tomprof.stanford.edu/posting/1505 

The Stanford website of teaching and learning theories states that to 

be a successful teacher to your students you will need to try many 

different things with the students. What worked with you in school 

might not work with them in school, or what works with one of your 

classes might not work with another one of your classes. So in order to 

make sure everyone is learning the lesson well you will need to be 

flexible and understanding of the way each of your students or classes 

learn. You might need to mix it up a bit, and it could take a while. They 

said that if you don't get it the first time it doesn't mean you are a 

bad teacher it just means you have things to work on in the future. 

There are also many theories possible when it comes to education. For 

example, there is behaviorism, “Skinner (1974) believed that behavior 

is a function of its consequences.” In other words behaviorism in 

students is saying that the way they learn will be shaped with positive 

or negative reinforcement. For example if a student does well on his 

test and you give them a cookie (positive reinforcement) the student 

will most likely do well again because he got something from it. There is 

also cognitivism which is all done through the brain or the mind. 

Students will need to participate in class in order to build on their 

knowledge and get better, so a teacher could do a game with it like 

jeopardy to get all the students to think and share their own ideas 
about what they are learning in class. Another theory is constructivism 

which is like bringing your past experiences and applying them to your 

current experiences. An example of this could be if you made a mistake 

at home and then it can somehow apply to what you are learning and 

now you know more about it because of messing it up at home. Lastly, a 

theory could be the sensory theory. This is when you learn best 

through your senses, sight, touch, smell, hear and taste. This could 

work really well in a science class with all the labs you have to do 

because you will be able to visualize what is happening and so on. In 

conclusion there are many ways to teach your students so there 

shouldn't be any reason why you can't teach harder students. 

  

3.​ W
​ hat are the important goals you want to reach as a teacher? 

What meaningful outcomes do you want as a result of your 

teaching? 

The main goals I want to reach when I become a teacher are making 

sure that I have a relationship with all of my students. This could help 

me with getting to know their learning style, who they are as a person, 
how well they work with others and what their family life is like. The 

more you know about your students the easier it will be for them to 

open up to you when they are in need of help. Another goal I have is to 

bring out the best in my students. I want my students to give their full 

effort when they walk in my classroom and I want them to try. I will do 

this by giving them my full attention and show them that I care about 

what they are learning and that they aren't just learning it to learn it 

because there will always be a reason for what they are learning. As a 

teacher it would be my responsibility to have my students feel 

accepted and successful, I will do this by accomplishing the goals I 

have created above to give my students a bright future in education.