My Educational Philosophy Statement

Over the years I have written these philosophies, and it seems every time I write one its so
different from the last. A few things I find very important in teaching is letting your students be
comfortable with you. Not to the point that the students do not respect you, but to a point where
the students feel comfortable enough to come to you with issues. As a female I want to be the
teacher that students feel like they can tell me things about their personal life, maybe not as a
friend but more as an advisor. I want students to know if they are struggling in my class they can
come to my office and I will help in any way I possibly can. In high school I was terrified of my
math teacher, she was loud and very stern about her homework policies. Until the day I skipped
lunch to come in and have a conversation with her, she sat with me and helped explain the
material one on one and from that point on I never had a fear in her class. I knew I could come to
her and say “I’m completely lost” and she would sit with me, before, after or during school to
help me understand. I hope to have that same relationship with all of my students. I believe
teacher involvement is a huge part of what school lacks in today’s time.
Next on my list of importances would be making sure my students understand the material I
present to them each day. I want the students to come in each day knowing they will learn
something, maybe not a skill or idea they will use every day in their adult lives, but they will
learn something useful. I plan to also use some of the tactics I learned in a class last semester. I
want to ask very open-ended questions to invoke students to use their brains. Not just to find the
words from the book and repeat them. I want my students to sit and think about things maybe a
little deeper than they usually would. By doing things like this, not only will it help them in
college by preparing them to use their minds to form actual opinions but to also help open their
eyes to the fact that no opinion is wrong and not everyone will agree or have the same
experiences.
I am planning to teach students about Agriculture, which if you are not familiar with is basically
being a farmer, rancher, or a plant grower in general. My interest in this field came from my
early exposure to the livestock raising students may partake in at the local county show. The love
for this field only grew as I joined the Rivercrest FFA and learned the many parts of FFA as well
as agriculture. My main purpose as an educator is to teach students that Agriculture is not just
cows and corn. It is so much more, without Ag. we would not have shampoo, clothes, food, or
even makeup. Yet most people think it’s as simple as cows and corn, they think farmers are just
those who are riding tractors and wearing overalls, but it can be so very different. In places like
Colorado where marijauna is legal to grow and consume farmers may wear popular sneakers and
funky hats while being covered in tattoos. But this does not make them any less of a farmer, they
may not be stereotypical but they still participate in the same activities such as checking the
soils, regulating watering systems and harvesting a crop. While in East Texas we are more
accustomed to seeing farmers in cowboy hats and overalls on rusty tractors harvesting corn and
cotton.
As a future educator I want my students to leave my classroom knowing something new about a
dying art we call Agriculture. In the words of the FFA creed ,“I believe in the future of
agriculture, with a faith born not of words but of deed”.