Philosophy of Education

Kathleen McKeown

The following Philosophy of Education is the statement of my personal beliefs and views

on the field of education. There should be a balance between emotion and intellect. No teacher

can be successful without a passion for teaching and changing lives of students. With this being

said, it is also very important for teachers to be experts in the content knowledge of their subject.

I believe that students need structure and routine to be successful in their current and

future lives. Teachers need to set expectations for their students at the beginning of the year to

set a baseline for their education. However, there will be flexibility in my teaching practice to

meet the needs of individual learners. Throughout my teaching I will use a variety of instruction

methods to show the different strengths of students including but not limited to, direct

instruction, cooperative learning, inquiry, brainstorming, think-pair-share, and team games.

There will be a social environment that embraces the cultural differences of each student.

I believe it is important for students to show individuality, progress, and change

throughout their educational experience. Educating students is more than just presenting them

with a question and telling them the answer. My philosophical orientation implies that I will

teach in a way that promotes students to think critically and creatively by providing the proper

materials and support. I am a firm believer in differentiated instruction. The concept of multiple

intelligence is very important to take into consideration to help deliver the information in a way

that each student will fully understand and connect with. I want students to be lifelong learners

and I will achieve this by providing opportunities for exploration and experimentation after

providing background knowledge that adds relevancy to each students’ own experiences. I will
use scaffolding to build confidence in each student so they will take their own risks in learning.

Assessment is a crucial part of students learning process as well as the teachers. Pre-assessment,

formative and summative assessments should be conducted to track the understanding of the

students. Assessments can be formal and informal, as long as information can be tracked and

instruction can be adjusted based on the results.