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Jordan Marzka

Mrs. C

EDU 202

15 November 2019

Philosophy of Teaching

Why this profession? I feel almost every teacher gets asked this question consistently

throughout an everyday basis and even through their whole lives. With everything that goes on

in school districts today from scandals, teachers’ wages, even workloads it is no wonder this

question as always brought up. For me personally the reason I choose this profession would

have to be the profession, the teaching aspect, the instructional time, and the future I will

create for myself.

When it comes to being asked why this profession there are three very important

people that come to mind for me. My mother, Mr. Johnson my 11th grade history teacher, and

my high school wrestling coach. These three people and body what the true meaning of being a

teacher is. My mother spent many years is a history teacher all across the valley and left her

mark as a teacher. Although she works in administration now, she will still keep some of her old

lesson plans around the house and sometimes she shares the stories of her implementing her

lessons and seeing kids’ eyes light up. My 11th grade history teacher was by far one of the most

impressive teachers I’ve ever come across after years of being surrounded by teachers and

academic staff. I have always said I wanted to teach like him and the way he teaches. Mr.

Johnson always had this quote “the students of today are the leaders of tomorrow” such a

simple yet powerful quote is what drove him day and day out. He is by far one the most
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personable guys I have ever met on the planet earth. He was always able to connect to kids that

didn’t seem like they wanted to learn or didn’t have any natural one. The best way I could

describe is teaching would be engaging and intelligent at the same time. He was always able to

make his point get a crossed even the most oblivious student in the classroom. I’ve always said

he was so good at teaching that if you didn’t understand something, he would be able to teach

it to you eight different ways until you were able to comprehend the subject. That is the bar I

want to set for myself as an educator in the southern Nevada Valley. Finally, my high school

wrestling coach who goes by the name of Coach Yack was very instrumental in my high school

life because of how much time I put into the sport of wrestling. He is an amazing guy who has

always cared about the interest of his students and how he could better help them succeed not

only in the classroom but in life. I’ll never forget the first time I told him I wanted to be an

educator once I graduated from college and how his eyes immediately rose from the computer

screen and his classic smirk, he made towards me. He has always been good to me and help me

in any way he could to better me academically and as a person. All three of them make

excellent role models for me and how I want to teach. I would take a little bits and pieces from

all of them, I would most definitely take my mom’s interactive lesson plans, Mr. Johnson’s

personality, and my coach his heart. Since I have a unique opportunity being able to be

surrounded by educators my whole life, I feel my life experiences will be a huge help. The skills I

bring to the table is my life experiences and knowledge. Being that I am very personable person

I think being able to connect with students from all types of backgrounds will be beneficial to

all. With my field observations I can better understand the different types of classrooms and

classroom variety that I will face on a daily basis in the southern Nevada Valley. The field
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observations have given me a better insight onto day-to-day basis of what a teacher goes

through and how even the transition from one class to another, even being able to see the

teachers themselves recount their own teaching philosophies.

When commenting on a teaching philosophy, today more than ever I feel it is very

important to highlight where America is that as a country and how the world is as a whole

when it comes to the unity in diversity. My educational philosophy and philosophical

orientation would center around the idea that “any kid can learn it just depends what day and

at what time they do learn” being able to not only reflect on myself but being able to reflect on

the country as a whole is a massive part of teaching, I feel. Teaching doesn’t just happen in a

classroom, but it also happens in the real world when a kid is left alone, and they have to figure

out for themselves how they will take in information. Understanding this will better prep me for

the classroom and the classroom environment I will create when it comes to instructional time.

Instructional time is arguably the most valuable part of school. Teachers go to school to

learn how to teach I want children go to school; they are expected to come back with some sort

of knowledge they have retained. Some teaching strategies I will implement would be my

person ability, understanding biases, and being able to create a safe environment for all

students. I feel first and foremost my personality will be the olive branch to all of my students.

Being that I feel I am very personable I think being able to have an open classroom where

people feel safe and are able to freely express some selves and not worry about being judged

by the teacher or by classmates is a huge step towards instructional time being valuable.

Furthermore, I feel my personality will better create a safe environment because of how I

would like to operate my classroom. Focusing on a less authoritative grip and warning free flow
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style I feel the kids will be able to see the information and give it to them and be able to create

self-induced conversations that sparks new roads of learning. Only half of the battle is getting

them tired, the other side is understanding student’s diversity and learning differences along

with assessments is just as important. Student diversity and learning differences is a guaranteed

no matter where you are in the world. Understanding each student is unique in their own

special way allows for the teacher to understand that their lesson plans have to be able to be

loose enough and be able to implement new and different ranges of learning styles. Being able

to better adhere to students and their learning styles will allow for more learning opportunities

and put the students forward into being able to learn more. The most important part of

instructional time most importantly would be overcoming one’s own biases and understanding

the different cultures affect how students act and how they go about on their daily lives. Being

able to understand aspects like this of every student that I encounter or help set myself up for a

better future.

For my future I must focus on three main aspects, finishing the College of Southern

Nevada with an associate degree in secondary education, moving forward to the University of

Nevada Las Vegas in obtaining my bachelor’s degree in secondary education, and obtaining my

teaching license in the state of Nevada. To stay on this track, I must focus on all my classes one

day at a time and continually go throughout my day and maintain a high GPA to set myself on

the right track for success. I also have to take the Praxis exam and show I am fit to teach in the

state of Nevada. While doing all this I will continue to volunteer at Coronado high school as a

wrestling coach not only to add it to any future resumes but also being able to help out with the

development of kids round the valley. I will continue working my job and will continue pushing
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myself harder and harder as to when I graduate college, I will not have a ginormous pile of debt

when I am fresh out. Understanding all of this I know that there is a lot of work ahead of me

that needs to be done to accomplish my goals to successfully become a teacher and having a

strong Philosophy of education will help me go in the right direction.

Why this profession? Even after fully understanding the concepts and the benefits that

come with being a teacher peoples consistently still ask this question. For some it is not a

feasible thing to do because they look at the world in a monetary way and cannot look past

that. I on the other hand sees that as a teacher you can do better for the world than any other

profession out there. Let’s never forget “the students of today are the leaders of tomorrow”

Mr. Johnson, 11th grade history Teacher.