My philosophy of education is that of a social reconstructionist and I believe that the

purpose of education is to help students become model citizens who help take care of the world

and ensure the continuation of American democracy. I believe that the role of the student in

education is to come to class as much as they can, with open minds and their personal

experiences.

As an educator, I’m doing everything that I can to ensure that the student receives the

support they need at school. Whether it’s keeping extra supplies in my class in case a student

needs something or a box of granola bars in case the student isn’t able to get food for lunch or

breakfast. However, there’s only so much I can do for a student since they’re only at school for

half the day. The other half of the day, students are at home, and this is where the parents come

in. The role of the parents is, to the best of their ability, to ensure that the child has a warm and

safe environment where they can sleep, eat, and do all the necessary tasks in life. As well as to

provide assistance if able to with the child’s schoolwork.

The role of the community is to ensure that students are able to get the support necessary

at school, whether it’s school funding, meals, supplies, support, etc. The community should also

ensure that the student receives the necessary support at home if the parents are unable to provide

it, whether it’s food stamps, supplies, clothing, etc.

I believe that my role as an educator and as a social reconstructionist is to create a safe

place in my classroom where students can work together to create a strong community where

learning can occur every day. In this community, I will work to achieve my vision statement of

fostering students' ability to identify and stand up for their own personal beliefs and values,

regardless of what they are. While ensuring that our future society will have well educated and

well informed future voters, allowing for the continuation of our democracy.
 In my philosophy of education, I’d define my community of learners as the next

generation of America’s leaders. Whatever my students aspire to be in life, I want them to be

able to reach their full potential. I plan to reach the wide diversity of students in my classroom by

encouraging everyone to share their thoughts and opinions whenever there’s a discussion because

everyone has their own unique viewpoint and experiences that they can share with the class to

help everyone gain a better and more in-depth understanding. I can continue to encourage my

students to discuss their aspirations and goals by continuing to build that strong sense of

community inside of our classroom so that students will feel comfortable enough to share with

the class.

Life-changing events happen every day. This is why, as future voters and upholders of

American Democracy, it is absolutely essential that my students are globally aware of what is

going on around them. To help grow this global awareness, I can show my students a short news

clip that highlights some of the major events that happened in the past week or I could assign

students a “current event” assignment where students can choose any subject they care about

(global warming, poaching, etc.), read a news article about it and write a brief paper in regards to

their reaction. By doing this, students are learning about topics they care about and value, while

also becoming cognizant of what is going on globally around them.

For my philosophy of education, when talking about relationships with my fellow

educators, students, parents, admin, etc. I’d hope to have an open, casual, but still respectful

relationship. What I mean by this is, I want whoever has something to say to me, to be able to

come up to me, share what needs to be said, then do what needs to be done, and then we can

continue to have that relationship. For example, if a student has a lot of things going on in their

life and they feel like they need to talk to someone, I want them to be able to come to me and let
me know what’s going on, and then we can work together to come up with a plan of action that

works for all parties involved.

Instructional strategies

In my philosophy of education, the instructional strategies I plan to use are to value and

build upon my students’ prior knowledge, especially those who are English Language Learners.

While holding my students to high yet achievable standards, I will try to adjust the course

content to make it as culturally relevant as possible. By tailoring the course as much as I can

towards my students and building upon their experiences, students are more likely to not only

engage in the content, but they are more likely to retain the information if it pertains to them

compared to if it is solely related to the standard.

The way I plan to manage my classroom is to be proactive and mitigate future conflicts

by spending the time to form strong relationships with my students as well as to create that

tight-knit community inside the classroom. Together, my students and I will create norms and

rules for our community to help establish clear boundaries and expectations. Throughout the

year, we will review our norms and rules to serve as a refresher and we will continue to hold

everyone to those standards, including myself, as no one is above the law. If outbursts do occur, I

will take the time to sit myself down with the student to talk to them and try to understand the

reason behind it because there’s always a reason behind the action. Then the student and I will

try to work towards a solution.