TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy as defined by Wikipedia is the study of general and fundamental problems, such
as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, beliefs and language.

Teaching as defined by Farrant (1990) is a process that facilitates learning.

Teaching philosophy is a reflection of your personal teaching beliefs and values. It is a

statement of what you believe about teaching and learning, why you hold these beliefs, and
how you implement these beliefs and values in the classroom (Student Internship Handbook,
2015). Brookfield (1990) defines philosophy of teaching as “a personal vision of teaching,
critical rational of teaching and a sense of purpose of teaching”. In other words, a teaching
philosophy reflects a teacher’s personal teaching values and beliefs.

STATEMENT OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Many teachers think teaching is the impartation of knowledge to the learners. Those teachers
who have this belief, think learners are empty vessels for that matter does not have anything
to contribute in the teaching and learning process, but it is the teacher who does everything.
On contrary, learners have something to contribute in the teaching and learning process when
the enabling environment is created. This is so because every individual by birth has some
form of knowledge and experiences on which further learning can be constructed, thus
serving as a stepping or foundation stone.

My philosophy on this note is “lesson should be made as much practical and participatory as
possible for effective teaching and learning”.

VALIDITY OF THE TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Students were able to bring out different solution to different situation at almost all the
lessons I had throughout my intern. I believe students have greater respect for their teachers,
their peers, and the lessons presented when they feel motivated, safe and sure of what is
expected of them. What I have realized as a teacher is that each student comes to class with
his/her preconceived notion about teaching and learning. I also believe the responsibility as a
teacher is to inspire my students to learn and understand the theoretical and practical concept
of whatever they learn so as to use in solving problems and thereby enabling them to pursue
knowledge actively and become independent thinkers and not people who will just memorize
ideas, as Farrant puts it “Knowledge gained by self-effort and discovery is better assimilated
and remembered than that which is merely memorized”. By memorizing the subject matter,
the students do not learn the concept but only store it for a short while and therefore cannot
apply it practically. Information is not directly poured into the learner’smind, rather learners
should be encouraged to explore their world, discover knowledge, reflect and think critically.
However, the validity of my philosophy is the manifestation of the success always achieved
at the end of the lesson.

APPLICATION OF TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

In applying this philosophy, I always ensure that my teaching strategy encompasses each and
every member of the class by involving them in class activities such as questions and
answers, discussion and demonstration depending on the topic being treated at a particular
moment. I also try as much as possible to organize and use teaching and learning materials to
ensure practicality of my lesson. I believe students should work collaboratively to determine
their learning goals, set their learning paths to reach their goals and monitor their learning
progress. To achieve this, I will encourage learners’ participation or active involvement,
arouse students’ interest, attract learners’ attention, stimulate students thinking and encourage
feedback as well as rehearsals or practices

Furthermore, I believe that respect for my students is one of the most important things I can
show - not only to encourage their openness to the material I am presenting, but also to
inspire them to respect each other and all other humans and one of the most important
concepts I hope to impart to students is that learning is a process that never ends so they
should always take their learning serious. For me, the learning process includes improving
myself professionally. I want to read more about formal learning theories to expand my
understanding of how learning takes place. As I continue to instruct classes, I also aim to
enhance my ease and confidence in front of classrooms and audiences. I plan to experiment
with different methods and means of presenting information to classes in order to improve the
learning atmosphere I create for students.

EFFECTIVENESS
My teaching philosophy helped the students to developed self-discovery and deep
understanding in all my lessons. It facilitated students’ thinking skill and enables learning to
occur through an open sharing of ideas and a careful approach to questions and answers.
When the voice of each student is heard and the environment evolves, students feel free to
express their views, it promotes respect for them and increases student’s level of participation
in the lesson. Also, it captures students with various disabilities and creates cordial
relationship among students and teacher to addresses those disabilities.

CONCLUSION

Students are different. They come with different motivations, different skills, different
preferred learning styles and different abilities willingness to invest time in learning.
Recognizing and accepting these differences are important for a teacher to be able to help
each student find the best path to reach their potentials.

I believe each and every child has the potential to bring something unique and special to the
world. I owe it my responsibility as a teacher to assist, direct, instruct and allow them to
discover who they are, so they can express their own opinions and nurture their own ideas. I
was able to achieve my lesson objectives within some stipulated time and also students
grasped the concept easily by giving them the tools to become successful in life.

I support the idea of one educationist, John Commenius who once said “I seek the method
that will make learners learn more and teachers teach less”. In simple terms, when a good
teacher teaches and when you ask the students who taught you, they will say the teacher, but
when a very good teacher who makes his / her lesson practical as much as possible teaches
and you ask learners who taught you, they will say we learned it on our own.