Running head: ARTIFACT #1 EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY 1

Artifact #1 Educational Philosophy

Ezahu Solis

College of Southern Nevada

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Artifact #1 Educational Philosophy

I chose the teaching profession because I have always had a strong desire to inspire

students to learn in a fun and refreshing way. Many times during my military career, I found

myself excited when given the opportunity to teach new soldiers how to do a specified task or

work a certain piece of equipment. This sort of devotion during my military career cleared a path

for me to understand how much I actually enjoyed teaching.

There were many people in my life who have inspired me and I realized that the best

inspirations always came in the form of teachers. One of my greatest inspirations was my Drill

Sergeant during Combat Basic Training. He was a tall, stocky man with a stern voice but a soft

spot for his soldiers. Obviously the job of a drill sergeant is that of a teacher, just in a different

environment, and he did a phenomenal job at it. When it came to teaching us how to shoot a rifle,

for example, he didn’t just spurt out instructions textbook style; he sat with each of us

individually and gave us a personalized lesson on the fundamentals of shooting as well as what

would work best for our size, body type, and natural body positioning. He understood how

important a skill like this is for a soldier so he did it without the yelling or demeaning comments.

He would always say “push ups and ringing ear drums won’t make you a better marksman” and

the principle of that statement has always stuck with me.

In addition, when it came to discipling us, he never spoke to us as if we were stupid.

During our “physical discipline training”, a euphemism for pushups, instead of saying we were

“worthless” or “idiotic” he would take a different approach. Many of the common phrases that

we heard during our discipling were “I know I’ve taught you all better than this”, “I expect this

sort of behavior from the other platoons, but not my own”, and “I’m pissed off because all I see
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are good soldiers making bad decisions”. This sort of approach to discipline in combination with

his approach to teaching inspired me not only to be better for myself, my community, my unit,

and my country, but also to be the type of teacher that he was and inspire students the way that

he inspired me and my platoon. I believe that the inspirations and work ethic that I have gathered

not just from the military, but also from my long work experience (almost 10 years working at a

grocery store) will help me be an effective teacher that focuses not just on getting things done,

but getting things done right.

My field observation helped me understand the dynamics of the teaching environment

and how important building trust and a rapport with your students really is. If it had not been for

being placed in the classroom I was in, I’m not sure if I ever would have realized how important

that sort of teacher/student rapport is and if I did, it would’ve been much farther down the road.

I got to see firsthand through my observation that because the teacher treated her students as

adults and showed that she trusted them, they acted accordingly and treated her with the same

respect. Having trust with your students builds the foundation for an efficient, well disciplined,

and happy classroom.

My education philosophy is a combination of progressivism, social reconstructionism,

and existentialism while my psychological orientation is constructivism (Sadker/Zittleman

2016). With my personal philosophies in mind, I feel as though education in this country is the

equivalent of a sports team that keeps firing their head coaches and replacing them with someone

who has a drastically approach to the sport. In other words, it seems as though we can’t decide

what sort of system to build our education on and therefore keep changing the way we do things.

With the constant change of the way our educational system functions, we cannot expect
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students, especially students of varying generations, to be on the same page. We need to come

together as educators and decide what system to operate on and continue operating with it rather

than changing it after two or three years. My observation teacher noted that over the last ten

years, the curriculum and system for teaching has constantly changed, causing not only heartache

for teachers, but students as well. Education can be as complex or as simple as we want it to be.

With my knowledge of the history of education, I feel as though our schools are heading

in the correct direction but at the same time we can’t seem to decide what steps to take without

backtracking. I feel as though students are losing interest in learning because of constant changes

in the curriculum and lack of adequate teachers. If I were to say I blame students, I would be

lying, because I was in their position not too long ago and I understand their gripes. Student

participation (in most cases) comes to a halt when the environment doesn’t help them learn. So

far, we’ve been so caught up with specific guidelines and more “effective” teaching programs

that we’ve failed to acknowledge their input. To teach students we have to listen to them first.

We need to leave the old form of teachers governing students and start learning with them.

Schools themselves present another problem. Teachers spend the most time with these kids, even

more than their parents in some cases. They have a better understanding of what these kids need.

Administration needs to take a step back and understand that they do not always know what is

best for students, teachers do. The sooner that administration understands this, the sooner we can

get back on track with giving our students a powerful education.

My strategy for teaching will come from the inspiration I gathered during my classroom

observation. I plan on building a strong rapport with my students as the foundation of my

classroom. As I’ve witnessed, when you have a strong rapport with your students as a teachers,
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especially one built on mutual trust, they tend to behave in a more disciplined manner and

choose to do the right thing out of mutual respect for you. I want to give students the opportunity

to act as adults rather than throwing power around. When you not only inspire students but also

show them that you trust them, they show the same respect back to you.

When it comes to learning and teaching my class, I will approach it in a manner almost

like an entertainer. I understand that I am supposed to be a teacher, but I want my students to feel

involved and excited for class. If I treat lessons as a show, one that keeps students engaged and

attentive, then they will strive to continue learning the subject matter on their own or even

develop a love for the subject if they didn’t before. When teaching, I will do whatever I can to

keep students engaged, whether it be presenting the lesson in a fun and refreshing way or having

the students interact with the lesson besides just the expected Q&A. With student diversity I plan

on serving inclusion as much as I possibly can. I want all my students to not only be involved,

but also ​feel​ as though they are involved. The last thing I would ever want is for a student to feel

left out of my class. With variability, at the beginning of the semester I will have my students

take tests to determine their best learning approach, and from there, I will continuously adjust the

curriculum to ensure that all students’ teaching needs are met. One of the biggest points for me

will be to also ask students what I can do to improve classroom instruction if they feel as though

it is lacking. Finally, I will assess my students obviously by their test grades, but also beyond. I

want to assess them in categories like how well they interact with others, how often they

participate in class, their work rate, and their overall happiness in the class. Those with low

scores will have a private conference with me so that I can determine what their needs are as well
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as what they feel the classroom is lacking. As I’ve said many times, as teachers we must listen to

our students because we are learning with them, not teaching at them.

I believe there are many qualities that you need to possess in this career, but I feel as

though some of the most important ones are patience, resilience, critical thinking, and empathy.

If you are patient then you will serve as a good teacher to your students. When you feel as

though you have exhausted yourself and students still say they don’t understand a concept,

patience will help you give a little more. If you are resilient then you have already won a battle

that you haven’t faced yet. When, lets say, a student who you felt had the ability to succeed fails,

even after all the work you put into helping him succeed, resilience will give you the strength to

continue working with them to ensure that they are successful in the future. Resilience means

never giving up even when you feel as though you can’t go any further. Critical thinking is a rare

trait that not many people possess in this world. When you think critically you are on top of any

situation that is thrown at you. When students face you with difficult situations or questions,

thinking critically will ensure that you and your students will come out on top. Finally, empathy

will make you the teacher that you need to be for your students. Unfortunately, some students

come from broken homes and heavy backgrounds. Empathy will help you see them as a

struggling student rather than as a delinquent, which perhaps, is how most people in their lives

have viewed them.

To ensure that I am a successful and efficient teacher, I will be spending most of my

twenties studying. After my associates, I plan on substitute teaching at different schools to gain

experience and a “feel” for the school district. I’d also like to take that time to talk with students

and see what their view is on school and learning to have a better understanding of where they
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are coming from and what might need to be improved. After I earn my bachelors, I plan on

diving directly into teaching full-time while also working towards my masters and eventually my

doctorate. I will use my experiences as a substitute teacher to influence how I teach as a full-time

teacher. My goal is to one day be the music department head for a university and I do not take

that goal lightly. From that position I’d like to expand my idea of talking to students about

education and relaying that to the higher levels of administration to influence a better teaching

system and a happier student body. In the end, I just want to make a difference in students’ lives

because they deserve it.

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References

Sadker, David Miller. Zittleman, Karen R. (2016). ​Teachers, Schools, and Society: A Brief

Introduction to Education. ​New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.