Kimberly Hall

Secondary Education
Artifact #1

My Educational Philosophy

Throughout my life, almost five decades now, I was taught, and believed education is the

essential foundation to a successful adult life. With a broader educational portfolio, further

avenues and doors to influential as well as financial opportunities are accessible. However,

most educational goals of many youth in modern society, are stimulated by the reward of a

high paying occupation upon completion of a higher education degree. Being very wealthy

were never dreams of mine like most youth, but instead, just a sense of being comfortable

would due for me. I grew up very poor, but with a family that made my life abundantly rich.

The youngest child of seven, my parents kept my siblings and I, numb to the dire situations and

hardships my family had faced when I was a youth. My mother, who achieved her GED after

conceiving seven children, is the inspirational force in my becoming a teacher. She was a true

matriarch that taught her children how to show respect, and also how to achieve it. I can still

hear her in my mind saying, “No one in this world is going to give you anything, you have to go

get it!” Through my educational experiences, it is a statement that has often come into

thought, somewhat to inspire me when necessary. I often thought of this statement during my

first-grade year of elementary school. I didn’t do as well as hoped, and was actually retained in

the first-grade for an additional year. I was embarrassed and I felt as if I was truly ignorant, but

that was not the case at all. The following year, I had a teacher who inspired me to achieve

dreams I thought were unreachable. My parents had limited education and could not help, but
this teacher, filled the gaps my parents left, by supplying my parents and myself with essential

tools and resources, we had no prior knowledge of. Needless to say, I passed the first grade

that year, and continued on to achieve my high school diploma. Through the years, I’ve only

encountered a handful of teachers that made an impact on my learning experience the way she

did, and I’m grateful to her even to this day, for it. She inspired me to read, which expanded

my vocabulary and helped with my grammar, something I was really in need of. She helped me

open up and become a part of the class, instead of someone occupying space in her class. This

approach brought up my self-esteem, which was really low because of my failed attempt at

first-grade, and ridicule from other children. Don’t feel sorry for me though, because that

ridicule was a driving force to complete my high school diploma. I learned from her pushing

me, success is attainable.

During my field observation, I realized I must be creative in my pursuits in educating students

of today, because of all the diverse factors that influence how we can interact with one

another. I observed many students whom were engaged, however multiple students seemed

to be a little checked out. Miss Amanda Tapia, the teacher I observed, diligently taught her

class, but was often confronted with situations, such as student’s internet errors, or no

responses from students, making her believe they are gone. I also see this in my own online

classes, which can be quite frustrating even as a student. The act of building a rapport

between student and teacher, which is crucial to a conducive learning environment, is almost

nonexistent, unless an extra effort is made. As Covid19 restraints are loosened, I hope future

observations will help me better understand the true aspect of teaching students in a high

school classroom environment. Personally, I have been a facilitator in Las Vegas, for multiple
years, however I teach licensing requirements for Property and Casualty insurance in the state

of Nevada to adults. I was also an instructor during my fifteen-year military career in the U.S.

Navy, where I taught shipboard firefighting. These personal experiences have proven to me,

that I can inspire and teach an individual something they had no knowledge of, and teach them

in a way that they can retain the information I’m trying to instill. To be able to impact someone

in that manner is a quality I believe is priceless. I would first and foremost like to teach

somewhere in the Nevada prison system, but I must complete my Bachelor’s degrees in dual

majors in Secondary Education and English. Ultimately, in about 10 years or so, I’d like to retire

in overseas Panama and teach English to overseas inhabitants, but I have a lot of Spanish I need

to learn prior to going so I’ll continue my education in Spanish indefinitely.

Due to many of the personal experiences I’ve encountered in my life, I hope to teach and

help students gain a sense of self respect, along with the ability to show respect for one

another. Students have no idea the pressures and stresses they place upon one another, when

someone is considered different or out of the norm. I want my classrooms to have a sense of

understanding, when it comes to personal beliefs about gender, sexual orientation or race. All

children and adults, have the right to learn in a free and civilized society, free of ridicule or fear.

With a dual approach, involving progressivism and social reconstructionism, I hope to extend

the learning methods of all three learning styles, auditory, visual and kinesthetic, to all students

so they can better understand through different processes such as hearing, seeing or touching,

in a diverse, multicultural classroom. I want my lectures to be factual and socially based as

often as possible, and not a derivative of learning only from common core standards such as

The Great Books. The standards will be set high in all class levels I teach, but within reach of
achieving greatness. Testing will not be spontaneous like some teachers may do, but will be

given in a way to make the thought process for the students more conducive to retaining what

they learned, and meet the objective of the assignment given. The assessments I hope to give

my students, will make them think outside the box, helping them formulate different

approaches to different situations. A “progressive teacher facilitates learning by helping

students formulate meaningful questions and devise strategies to answer those questions.”

(Sadker&Zittleman, 2018p.159) I want the student’s I encounter in their lives, to be pragmatic,

“a way to determine if an idea has merit” (Sadker&Zittleman, 2018p.160) in different concepts

formed throughout their lives, so that idea should start in the classroom. In my classroom

environment, I will welcome debate so both sides can learn from the other, and I will not be

standing at the front of the class, but instead, walking through it interacting with students to

engage and stimulate their young minds. With the psychological approach known as

behaviorism, my students will be encouraged to focus their studies on how to make a better

world, or at least, how to make a difference in it. “Behaviorism is derived from the belief that

free will is an illusion and that human beings are shaped entirely by their environment. Alter a

person’s environment, and you will alter his or her thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.” (Sadker

and Zittleman 2018p169) Whether it be to focus their minds on social inequalities impacting

them personally, or to find a better method towards tackling a growing injustice that may

impact them in the future. “Social challenges and problems provide a natural (and moral)

direction for curricular and instructional activities. Racism, sexism, climate change and

environmental pollution, homelessness, poverty, substance abuse, homophobia, and violence

are rooted in misinformation and thrive in ignorance. Therefore, social reconstructionist, that I
believe myself to be, believe that school is the ideal place to begin ameliorating social

problems. “(Sadker&Zittleman 2018p.161) It is our role as teachers, to openly engage students

with these social disorders, to help students have self-understanding of what is happening in

society around them.