Bridgette Brandt

Philosophy of Education
A quote that has always stuck out to me upon deciding to become a teacher is one by a

French essayist and moralist Joseph Joubert who writes, “to teach is to learn twice.” This simple

quote may be exactly that, but it carries a lot of meaning of what it’s like to be a teacher. This

quote to me cements my ideals that teachers are lifelong learners, we are “learning twice” every

time we teach. We are learning from our students, from our peers, and from the world around us.

Education is an important part of any society, but we’re not just raising children to be good

members of society, we are raising them to be the new generation; to change the world. The only

way to do this is to foster their growth, support their interests, building community, and learning

to grow with the students.

To foster student growth, we must first turn to the classroom; the central hub of the

learning process. From grade Kindergarten (or earlier) this is where students spend most of their

time for twelve years of their lives; twelve long years. When you think of a classroom, what do

you see? Do you see desks in perfect rows? Groups? Do you see a warm, welcoming space?

Well, what I see when I think of a classroom is collaboration; the desks are pushed together for

groupwork, there are a variety of seating for students, there are rugs, and curtains to “warm up”

the space, and there are even plants to create clean air and responsibility in the classroom (Zane,

2015). Utilizing these things can help add to the classroom environment which, in turn, leads to

success in the students.

Building rapport and relationships with not only your students, but with their parents can

help students to be successful. As an NEA article titled, Building Relationships with Students

states, “simply asking students about their weekend is the first step to connecting with them

(Sears, 2019)”. Learning about your students’ interests can also help students be successful

because they can connect with you and you can teach them using their interests. Connecting with
Bridgette Brandt
Philosophy of Education
parents is also important, because, without informed and motivated parents, we won’t have

motivated students. Getting to know the student through the parents is another way to better

understand your students. Utilizing tools such as a “wish jar” can help you understand a student’s

strengths and weaknesses and what goals their parents have for them vs. what they have for

themselves.

A sense of community plays a big role in the environment of the classroom. If students

feel like their ideas aren’t heard or they don’t feel welcome, they aren’t going to be successful.

Utilizing various community building activities such as ice breakers to get to know your students

slowly on the first few days, then diving into community bulletin boards, where the students

bring in an artifact from home or from their lives and hangs it on the board (Zane, 2015), or

using something as simple as a talking circle can help build community within the classroom.

Utilizing talking circles can benefit both you and the students by being vulnerable to each other

and talking about things that are going on in your lives, being empathetic is the first step in

building great relationships with students (Triplett & Hunter, 2005).

Learning to grow with your students means keeping an open mind, letting go of any

generalizations, preconceived notions, and your “knowledge” of lesson planning, and content for

just a bit and observe, actually observe the students. Seeing how they interact with each other

and with their environment can tell you a lot. Willing to learn next to the students by

participating in conferences, or research with the students will instill a sense of belonging,

motivation, and community in their heads. This small seed will, hopefully, blossom into

something beautiful.
Bridgette Brandt
Philosophy of Education
To restate Joseph Joubert, “to teach is to learn twice.” When we teach each new

generation, we are learning again and again. We are changing the world one mind at a time and

we learn something each time, no matter what that is, teachers are lifelong learners, and with

that, let me leave you with another favorite quote of mine: “Teaching should be such that what is

offered is perceived as a valuable gift and not as a hard duty.” –Albert Einstein