Brian Dixon

10/24/20
EDU 202
Roster #3
Philosophy of Education Paper

The thought of becoming a teacher first popped into my head in July of 2017. I didn’t

take it seriously at the time, I hadn’t thought about being a teacher since I was a small child,

when almost anything I noticed day to day could have become a thought or a daydream of the

future in my impressionable mind. I imagined saving people as a fireman, stopping crime as a

policeman, even curing people as a doctor. So, of course I had thought about becoming a teacher,

but that’s all it had been was just a thought. So, in 2017 when it popped into my head again, I

almost laughed it off as if I were back in recess dreaming of the future again. 

The thought occurred to me during a shift at a warehouse job where I worked for 3

months. Some of the higher-ups at the facility noticed that I was intelligent and I had learned

quickly how to use the heavy machinery. After only 3 weeks working in the brand-new facility

they asked if I would like to take on extra responsibility as a “Learning Ambassador” which

basically translates to “teaching people how to drive forklifts”. This shocked me because I’ve

never been interested in learning that skill whatsoever, but here I was, obviously good enough at

the job that they wanted me to teach the skill to others in the warehouse. I agreed, only trying to

add more responsibilities to make the day go by faster. What I found was something I wasn’t just

good at, but I had fun doing. Working at that warehouse was my least favorite job I have ever

had, there were no windows anywhere, you were stuck in this huge building for 11 hours a day,

you had no social interaction at all. Lunch breaks were short and unpaid. However, on days that I

was performing my duties as a Learning Ambassador, I was having the time of my life. I had the
social interaction I was craving, it made the time in the depressing warehouse fly by and it was

satisfying to watch the people I was teaching go from looking nervously at the intimidating

machines they were about to pilot for the first time to comfortably zooming around the practice

area as if they were a natural. I left that warehouse job in October 2017 to become a casino

security officer. The thought of being a teacher had temporarily left my mind until late 2019. It

became apparent that I was not interested in advancing in my security career, and decided I

wanted to go back to school. The only thing in my mind was the joy I had while teaching people

how to drive machinery. Although training somebody to drive a forklift, and teaching 30

teenagers in a classroom are 2 completely different animals, I’m using the confidence I felt then

to power my motivation now.

In my experience as a student, I always learned best when I had a teacher who treated me

as a human being, not as a child. That’s the basis I want to build my teaching career around.

That’s the rule I always want to remember in the back of my mind. Some teachers like to go

about teaching with an authoritative route. They allow absolutely no horseplay and follow a set

schedule every single day. I’m sure that works for some people, teachers and students alike, but

it makes me feel uneasy. School isn’t a military camp. I still keep in touch with my Spanish

teacher from high school and I consider her a friend. We keep in touch and I care about her

because she treated me like a person instead of just a kid. We all knew she was the boss of the

class, but she treated us as equals and even 12 years later I still remember tactics she’d use to

help us understand material, I remember songs she’d teach us in Spanish, I even remember the

one time she had to give me detention for misbehaving for a substitute. I don’t remember any

other detention in any other class for my entire 13 years of school. It could have been once; it

could have been ten times I had detention and I seriously don’t remember. But I remember that
one because I knew I disappointed her so badly. That’s the type of teacher that sticks with you

for your entire life. I want to be like that.

How do I incorporate that into one of the 5 teaching philosophies? Not a single one of

them stands out to me as better than the rest. I think there should an essentialism baseline but

only to a certain degree. I think there are a few basic subjects that should be taught to everyone

no matter what like basic mathematics, basic grammar, a bit of world history and maybe even a

science like biology. From there however I think each child has a different path they need to get

to. I like the idea of existentialism on paper, but it seems a bit to extreme to me. A teacher should

be able to assist students in finding the right direction for their lives, but having an entire school

focused on this idea and this idea alone seems crazy. Some people don’t even start thinking on

this level into well into their 20s or 30s, I’m not sure I was even capable of looking inward at

myself like this until I was in my 20s. I think a sprinkle of all or most of the teaching

philosophies is the best option. I personally am drawn to having some structure that comes with

essentialism, being able to speak openly about real world problems like racism or climate change

that comes with the social reconstructionism approach and assisting students into helping them

figure out what their true purpose in life is with the existentialism approach.

Five years from now, I hope to be teaching middle or high schoolers. Where? I don’t

have the slightest idea. I’ve lived in Las Vegas for 28 years and although I love the city I live in,

I feel like I need to explore the country and the world. I don’t want to be a person who lives his

entire life in one place. I want different experiences, I want to meet new people and someday I

hope I get to make an impact on students and inspire them the same way my Spanish teacher did

to me and my classmates 12 years ago.