Melissa G. Brooks
Philosophy of Education
Upon completing an education program
at a four year University, one can be titled a teacher. Upon sharing of oneself with a child and
enhancing his knowledge, one becomes a teacher. Many experiences have led to my
decision to become a teacher. Those experiences have helped me realize that I
want to be the kind of teacher who makes a difference in the minds and lives of
my students. I hope to provide my
students with a safe, encouraging place to come to each day. I want to provide, for my students, a
classroom environment filled with knowledge, hope, and excitement. I plan to create this environment by helping
my students discover and enhance their gifts and learning styles.
Children need consistency and guidelines
as they uncover their individual gifts and skills. I will allow my students to
help establish the rules and guidelines of our classroom. This will enable them to feel a sense of
ownership over the rules they will be expected to follow. In implementing the rules that my students
and I create, I will be kind but firm and consistent yet fair. I will find a balance between showing my
students that I care about them and in being an authority figure in their
lives.
All children have different styles
of learning. In realizing that my
students will all learn in different ways; I will set up my classroom in a way
that will accommodate those different learning styles (some visual learning
stimuli, some auditory, some hands-on, etc.)
I will also use a variety of teaching methods to present subject matter
to students. In recognizing and
encouraging the different learning needs of my students, I will have students
work with classmates that learn differently than they do. This will allow students to better understand
and appreciate that not everyone does or learns things the same way. This will
help instill in my students the understanding that differences make individuals
special and important.
Each child comes from a different
background and situation. Because of this, a classroom should seek to meet the
needs of all students. All children
have special gifts and talents. Sometimes these gifts are hidden behind their
home lives and backgrounds. My classroom will be filled with the work of
students and will be a place where they can express their ideas and gifts. Sometimes school is the only place where a
child can be his/her self and share what he/she knows. Often, children are labeled as unable to
learn or succeed, based solely on their appearance or the situation from which
they come. This excerpt from Jean
Warren’s poem expresses what I believe all children possess- a treasure to be
discovered.
Searching for Gold
Look beneath the grin
Look for that which sparkles
Buried deep within.
Search for that which glitters
Treasures to unfold
All children have a wonderful gift
to offer the world. By providing them with a safe, nurturing place to explore
and learn, I hope to help them uncover that gift and reveal it to the world. As
a teacher, I want to be the person that children can come to with questions,
answers, and stories of how they have learned about themselves and the world
around them. Someone once said, “The
way you teach may not matter at all, but you never know, it might”. I may not be able to help all of my students
discover their gifts, but you never know…. I might.