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Tanya Blatherwick

Professor Steven Saladino

Education 201

04 December 2022

Personal Philosophy of Education

I have chosen this profession because it was one that I

always wanted to do. I grew up wanting to be a teacher just

because. I was not inspired in my youth by anyone, even though I

had mostly great teachers growing up and grandparents who were

teachers. As an adult, I was inspired by my son’s first teacher

to finally enter the field after being a stay-at-home mom for

many years. She was an incredible person to my son and helped him

and I grow in unimaginable ways.

I believe my time working with Early Intervention and with

CCSD for my son’s Autism treatment gave me skills, such as

patience, some understanding of the Autistic mind, and learning

how to navigate behaviors. I believe this gives me an advantage

than a person who did not have to go through a similar situation

with a child. Learning to work with a child with Autism gives you

a completely different perspective on children and how their

minds may work. It shows you that how someone learns may be

completely different than how another person learns. You must

take all these things into consideration when trying to teach

your own child. I also briefly was a teacher’s aid within CCSD
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and that also helped me develop some skills of working in a

classroom with special needs kids.

I currently live in a low-income city, Pahrump, NV. Many

parents are poor and substance abuse is high. I believe these

issues will have significant impact on teaching in this

community. Students will likely have a variety of behavior and

educational issues that are not being addressed appropriately by

their guardians. The town is also very small, which can work to a

teacher’s advantage. School sizes are smaller and classroom sizes

are smaller compared to CCSD schools. This can be helpful in

teaching students and forming relationships with them.

There were many factors that we read about in our book that

helped me think critically about what kind of teacher I would

like to be and what kind of philosophies I would like to adopt.

When I first started the class, I had thought that I wanted to be

a strict, by the book type of teacher. After reading about the

different philosophies and psychological orientations made me

really question that strategy. I would like to do whole-student

teaching, where I encompass everything about a student into my

teaching and grading. I believe that this where our education

system is failing, and I would like to help implement changes to

how schools operate in this regard. Teachers can no longer

operate like they once did because students are no longer like

they used to be. I’m not sure if the history of education will
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help in my teaching strategies, but it will give me an idea on

why things are they way they are and how difficult it can be to

change it.

For teaching strategies, I would love to implement ones that

allow the students to decide how they learn best with me being

the “coach” or “facilitator” to that education. I truly believe

that students will be more excited or interested in learning if

they foster it within themselves and are given the opportunity to

learn in a way that suits their interests and intellectual needs.

I would love to have more instruction that focuses on student

diversity, and I hope to learn more about how to implement such

things in the classroom. I want to do more than put in a lesson

about a person of interested of a different race or culture. I

would like to have more focus around it without it seeming forced

or awkward. I feel like strategies that I learn about

incorporating more racially and culturally diverse lessons will

also help in cultivating student variability. As for assessments,

I would like my assessments to be fair and accurate. I believe

testing the students thought process as well as the student’s

ability to get the “correct” answer is important, and I would

like to form assessments that look for both, when appropriate.

There is a lot to do for me to be successful as a teacher.

On the technical side of things, I need to continue with my

schooling to obtain the appropriate degree that I need to get my

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license. I also need to obtain said license by completing the

Praxis testing. I do hope to start volunteering at a local school

next year outside of the PTO things I currently do. As for the

less technical things, I believe that I need to make

acquaintances and friends within the district. I need to prove my

worth before even interviewing. I also need to keep up with

current teacher issues and trends as well as student issues and

trends. It will take me several more years before I will be able

to obtain my license and a lot can change between then and now,

so I need to make sure my information is up to date. I also need

to start learning self-care. I do not do it now and I know it

will be important when I do start working, so I need to get into

the habit of it now.