Perez 1

Francisco Perez

Professor Christensen

EDU 202-1001

17 November 2019

Educational Philosophy

What does it mean to be a good teacher? Everyone has experienced many different types

of teachers with varying teaching styles and their way of teaching may not always work for all

students. I believe one of the most important aspects of being an effective teacher is creating a

positive learning environment in which students can learn without being stressed. Students learn

best when they can maintain a positive attitude towards being in school and they will always

remember the teachers who put in the work to make sure they were being motivated to do their

best. School should be a place where students can find themselves. By considering the

profession, teaching, instruction, and my plans I will present my educational beliefs in what

makes an effective educator. My hope is that I can use these beliefs to become an effective

educator in the future. 

The profession of teaching is something I have put a lot of thought into. I have decided to

become a teacher because I want to have a positive effect on the lives of students. I can do this

by providing them with knowledge and teaching them the skills to be successful in their future

careers. I also want to be a teacher because I have had many teachers in the past that seem to

have had very little passion for the job. If teachers are not trying their best, then how can they

expect their students to? Additionally, I have always had a passion for showing people how to do
 Perez 2

things and I am very patient with people who do not learn as fast because I myself am a slow

learner.

Different experiences have influenced my decision to become a teacher. The first

experience that led me to the idea of becoming a teacher was having a teacher who inspired me.

She was my high school U.S. history teacher. There was never a day that I did not enjoy being in

her class. She kept things interesting while still teaching us all the material. I never felt hesitant

to ask for help. She had so much charisma and passion, which I admire greatly. I want to be as

good a teacher as she is. Another experience that is keeping me on the path of becoming a

teacher is the field observation study. This allowed me to see how an experienced teacher runs

their classroom. She insisted that there is a level of respect that needs to be established. You have

to be an authority figure in the classroom without creating a negative environment. She also

explained that students won’t be rude to you unless you give them a reason to. This can be done

by creating a positive learning environment so that students do not have a negative attitude

towards the class or the teacher. The cooperating teacher from the field observation helped to

show the importance of keeping things fun in the classroom. Her students listened to her

whenever she was giving instruction and were always very friendly with her because of how

kind she is to her students. I greatly admire her and will remember what she has told me. 

The field observation has given me a lot of insight into the teaching environment. When I

was observing I noticed that the teacher was always joking and was very straightforward with

her students without being rude. It is important that teachers are not whitewashing everything.

Especially in high school, students are getting ready to move on to the world outside of school

which is not as forgiving. The teaching environment should support and encourage students to do

their best. This can be achieved by being honest with students and motivating them to work on
 Perez 3

the things they are struggling with. The cooperating teacher would accomplish this by having her

students individually answers questions and go over their answers with them. She also let her

classes she how they did on their tests as a class. The class with the highest average would be

rewarded. This encouraged different classes to improve on their test scores/ 

From my personal knowledge that school is stressful enough. Growing up, trying to fit in,

and trying to figure out what you want to do once you graduate are all very daunting. Teachers

should try not to add to that too much by being overly strict with their students. Students need a

teacher that they can trust and rely on. There are still a lot of skills that I know need to develop

before I can become an effective teacher, but I believe that most great teachers learned how to be

teachers through their own experiences in the classroom.

The educational philosophy that has influenced a lot of my current beliefs about

education is existentialism. This is a student-centered philosophy that insists that students should

determine the pace and direction of their learning. Regardless of what you do as a teacher, it is

apparent that students are going to do what they want. Each student has their aspirations and

instead of leading students to avoid those aspirations, teachers should be leading them in the

right direction of achieving their goals. Students know what interest and they should be provided

more opportunities to learn about the things they are passionate about. Therefore, it is important

to focus on education around the needs of students. In an existentialist classroom, teachers form

close relationships with their students to create a free and positive environment, which allows

students to express themselves. This also encourages students to be comfortable with the teacher,

this means that students are more willing to ask the teacher questions and get the help that they

need. This sort of communication allows teachers to understand each student's individuality and

accommodate their different educational needs. 

 Perez 4

Many different events have transpired throughout history that have shaped my

educational philosophy. For example, for many years school has had a history of racism and

sexism. It was only in 1954 that the Brown v. Board of Education ended segregation in public

schools. Teachers need to avoid any sort of bias in their classroom. Students should not feel left

out from the rest of the class. Gender discrimination is also a problem. Teachers also need to

make both male, female, and transgender students feel comfortable in their classroom to provide

them a positive learning environment. Students should never feel hesitant to express themselves.

Students who face discrimination will be led to have a negative outlook on school and in life.

Teachers can stop this by stopping any sort of student to student discrimination and refraining

from being biased themselves.

There is a lot of thought that goes into instructing in the classroom. All teachers have

different strategies that they use to run their classroom efficiently. One of the strategies that I

would like to implement in my classroom is having students turn in their cell phones at the

beginning of class. I know firsthand that students are glued to their cell phones. I have been

guilty of this in the past. I saw this strategy being used during my field observation and felt that it

made a significant difference in keeping the attention of the students. Some teachers may think

that this may lead students to dislike them but most students in her class had a positive response

to it. Much like the teacher from the field observation and my past U.S. history, I would like to

maintain a positive environment in the classroom. I believe this is an important part of keeping

students engaged during lessons. It is also important to consider student diversity in the

classroom. In my classroom, I will make sure that multiple learning styles are being considered.

Many students learn best when they can work with others. I will provide my students with many

opportunities to work with their classmates. It is also important to include engaging lessons that
 Perez 5

do not focus entirely on giving lectures. Students need to be able to participate in activities that

keep them focused on the material being presented to them. When it comes to assessment, I

believe that students should be assessed regularly through quizzes and tests. It is equally

important that teachers are being upfront with students about their scores and include their results

into a review of the quiz or test. This allows students to see how they did as a class and go over

the concepts that most of the class may have struggled with. 

Teachers need different qualities to move forward in their career. Firstly, teachers need to

be able to work with students. I do not have any experience with this yet. I hope to try substitute

teaching to get firsthand experience working with students. I would also like to start working at a

preschool within the next year to start getting experience working with students. Although I will

be teaching in high school, I believe that experience in a preschool will help. Secondly, every

teacher needs to be knowledgeable about the subject they are teaching. I am currently working

towards my associates in secondary education. By then I will have made up my mind about

which subject I would like to teach. Once I have finished my associate’s, I hope to transfer to

UNLV and get my bachelor's so that I can begin teaching in a high school. Lastly, teachers must

be able to form relationships with students and parents. Teachers need to be able to effectively

communicate with students and this cannot be done without forming relationships with them.

Students will notice when a teacher does not try to get to know them and this can give off the

feeling that the teacher does not care about them. Parents also play a role in the education of their

child and therefore it is important that teachers can communicate with parents when necessary to

help students succeed. My goal is to become much more personable and friendly so that I can

communicate effectively with both students and parents

 Perez 6

The future of students is greatly influenced by their school life. It is the responsibility of

teachers to be a part of this and do their best to provide a positive experience that encourages

growth for students. I will do this by creating a positive learning environment, forming

relationships with students, encouraging them, being honest, and having the necessary skills to

be able to teach effectively. I have been able to observe firsthand how an effective teacher runs

their classroom. I will use this knowledge in the future in my own teaching to provide the best

education possible for my students.