Rachel Whited

Education 201

Section 1001

April 23, 2020

Philosophy of Education

When I first enrolled in College back in 2014, I had set my major out to be Veterinarian.

Since 2014, that plan has completely changed for me. I chose to switch my major to Elementary

Education because I feel as though we need more teachers that are worth fighting and standing

up for the students who need help. Teaching has always been something I have low-key wanted

to do since choosing my major so long ago. I always had this doubt in the back of my mind about

becoming a veterinarian. Since switching my major to teaching, I have felt more confident in

where my career and life are headed since switching my major. One of the things that has

motivated me to continue a career in teaching is Aunt. She is a teacher for CCSD and I see all the

hard work she is putting in when it comes to her students and classroom. I can tell that she really

cares about making a difference in every single one of her student’s lives. From what I have seen

firsthand while learning in this school district is that there is always a need for teachers as

classrooms are filling up.

In my opinion, there are a couple educational philosophies that can be important to a

student who is learning. Students need to be active participants in learning is one the

philosophies that I find important. This is because, students need to be hands-on in order to learn

at a faster pace. If a teacher just has a student taking notes during a lesson, the student is less

likely to grasp and retain the information being given to them. Students tend to do better in
school when they can see the problem in front of them and solve it on their own rather than being

told how to solve the problem. Another educational philosophy I support is that learning needs to

be done with the whole body. Once again, students should be able to be more interactive in

school rather than just sit all day and watch their teacher do all the work.

When I finally become a teacher, I plan to implement a few different teaching and

learning strategies into my classroom. I plan to make my lessons more hands-on. I want my

students to be able to visualize the problems given to them and work through solving them on

their own. I also plan to make group work an essential part of my lessons. I feel as though

students learn a lot when they are working through problems with another person. This also

promotes classroom kindness and teaches children to work with other people. I would like to

measure my students level of readiness through just two tests a year; one in the beginning to

measure what they already know and one at the end of the school year to show what they have

learned. I want to have a point system in my classroom to measure the student’s behavior. Each

time a student behaves in a nice way, they will be rewarded a point. The student’s who reach ten

points will be rewarded a prize.

I feel as though there are a few qualities a teacher needs to have in order to be successful

and advance in their career. Compassion is something a teacher needs to have. When a teacher is

compassionate towards a student who is going through a rough time, this shows that the teacher

cares about their students. Another thing a teacher needs to be is kind. A kind teacher can set the

tone for how their students act towards one another. Teachers also need to be patient. When a

teacher is not patient, their students tend to think that they do not care about what they are

teaching or if their students are even grasping the information being taught. I plan to volunteer at

an elementary school once the schools are back open. I am hoping this will help me get a better
understanding of the career in front of me as well as show me what it takes to be a part of this

profession. I also would like to maybe get a student teaching job at a school to really see what a

day is like from start to finish and be hands-on in a classroom.