Running head: MY EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY 1

Janice Kotch and Rita Pierson

Educational Philosophy

EDTE 265: Exploration of Teach & Learning in Diverse K-12 Settings

Biridiana Mora Tovar

Personal Philosophy about Education

 As educators we need to create a fun and safe learning environment where the students

look forward to learning. I want to build an environment where my teaching is more of a student

centered learning environment. A major aspect in life is going to school, and in school are

teachers that guide us and teach us how to live in a society where we have to think for ourselves

at one point or another. In high school a teacher that inspired me was my English teacher. Even

though English isn’t my strongest suit, he made it very easy in a strange way. What made him

inspire me is that he would accommodate the whole class in a discussion where everyone

participated and it didn’t feel forced; he kept it “real”. He didn’t sugar coat anything because he

wanted us to be ready for life outside of high school. While watching the TED talk Every kid

needs a champion by Rita Pierson she said something that resonated with how I want to teach

and how I was inspired by my English teacher; Pierson said “Kids don’t learn from people they

don’t like”. When Pierson said that everything made sense. I finally understood why I would

have trouble building that connection with my other teachers, it was because my other teachers

did everything by the books. My English teacher made us think for ourselves unlike my other

teachers.

I believe that not one student learns the same way. We learn from our mistakes as well

from others. We need to look past the curriculum and the books. Each student has a unique

approach whether it be hands-on, visual, or any other method that suits them best. To ensure that

every student in the classroom learns to the best of their abilities and beyond. It is our

responsibility as teachers to consider their needs into our lesson plans. I think education is very

important and we have a responsibility to educate the students and fulfill their needs and

differences. I would want everyone in my classroom to acknowledge their individuality in order

to maintain a diverse/ranging atmosphere that is welcoming where the kids could learn from one

another and me.

The curriculum can honestly make or break one's education. Curriculum is what we want

our children to know and be able to do. The curriculum today is such a sensitive topic to some

people but a curriculum is set up to have goals for growth and development and not limit

opportunities for our students to learn. In the book Teach: Introduction to Education, Janice

Kotch talks about the hidden curriculum and states “Hence, the hidden curriculum indicates how

we interact with students, how we enact the rules of the school culture, and how we

communicate our expectations for student achievements and demeanor and our own passion for

teaching and learning ”(33). Giving the students a feel of what the real world is like, by

providing educational examples, really fosters the students to make sense of the curriculum. In

today's society many curriculums are being “adjusted” to remove certain learning objectives in

history because the students' parents don’t want them learning how we got to today. My

perspective in how children learn from a curriculum is how we recognize the importance of

active engagement, the differences of individuals, cultural/background context, and how we

connect the real world experiences that will empower the students to become lifelong learners

and active contributors to their own education.

Effective assessments are crucial for providing the students with opportunities for

reflection and self-assessments for a deeper understanding of concepts. Assessments not only

evaluate the students knowledge and abilities but they also provide them with a chance to

consider how they are learning and pinpointing areas where they need to grow and communicate

their understanding to others. We make students' thinking visible to not just themselves but to
others as well by providing each kid the tools and resources they need to study on their own, to

let them build their own ideas rather than me the teacher repeating information to them over and

over again. Learning is an adventure to one's self-discovery. We find ways to accommodate our

needs to grow. This is how I would urge my students to draw their own conclusions from the

information or concepts I provide them so that they can create their own knowledge and keep

growing as a student and individual.

 References

Koch, J. (2023). Teach: Introduction to Education (Fifth Edition ed.). Sage Publications.

Pierson, R. (2013). (n.d.). Every kid needs a champion [TV series episode]. In TED. TED Ideas

worth spreading.