EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY
Kristin Batchelor
I believe that the purpose of education is to provide students with opportunities to learn and understand both the world, and themselves. My role, as an educator, is to prepare the children who step into my classroom for what exists beyond the walls of their current environment and situation. I must provide them with the skills they need to be successful in a world that will not always be gentle. What they take from my classroom will be an understanding of the curriculum taught, as well as the life lessons that go beyond curriculum objectives. I believe teaching is equipping someone with the skills and tools that will help to make them knowledgeable, understandable, and freethinking. It is equipping someone to be a better human being for themselves and for others.
My classroom will promote an atmosphere of learning, safety, and security. I understand that, for some of my students, school may be the only place where they will receive love and encouragement. My classroom will be one that all students can come to, learn, and know they are accepted. I will have high expectations for each of my students and I will present the content information using differing methods in order to help each of my students learn using the styles that comes most naturally to them. As an example, for my visual learners, I will encourage note taking involving symbols and pictures, and I will provide my own, to help link the content to the visual. For my tactile and kinesthetic learners, I will provide hands-on opportunities, and include activities in class that will allow them to move around, and stay involved, so that they do not become restless. Finally, for my auditory learners, I will encourage discussions and find ways to incorporate music, or even short video clips, to help them learn the content.
I know that every child is capable of learning, and that children learn in different ways. However, children need motivation and guidance from their teachers; I intend to provide that so that my students can learn and grow. I will be accepting of all students, which I will display in my classroom via my expectations and policies. I will take time to have students respond to questions, on their own. As I walk around the room, I will observe students and assist them, based on how well they appear to understand, at that moment in time. No matter what level my students are at, I will instruct them at a higher level, while avoiding content that they find too difficult to comprehend, until they are ready for it. During their time in my class, I will expect that my students will learn how to put their entire effort into everything that they do, learn a little more about who they are as individuals, and have confidence in what they believe is important to them.
Although my certification area is not one that is part of the content of the TAKS test, I will incorporate vocabulary, reading comprehension, and life skills into my classroom to assist in preparing my students for these tests, in their other classes. I will be a team player and I will be open to suggestions, or ideas, from my colleagues and administration personnel with how to continually help and encourage my students. When possible, I will attend community events in order to be an example, to my students, for how they should support and care for the community in which they live. I will gladly welcome concerns from the parents of my students, and will ask them to call or send me an email if they have any questions regarding my class or their child.
I will work hard to be involved in my students’ lives by learning, and finding out more about, the things that they enjoy, such as music, television shows, or technology. By doing this, I will be able to relate to them, on a more personal level, so that I can provide meaningful content to them. I will also attend staff meetings, conferences, and educational seminars, as often as I can, to learn new techniques and strategies to implement in my classroom.
As a teacher, I will strive to expand my students’ capacity to learn. All students can and must learn; I intend to provide to them as best an educational experience as possible.