Educational Philosophy

                My educational philosophy is continuing to change.  I think that most teachers’ educational philosophies continue to grow and change.  As I am just starting to have experiences in the classroom and develop my ideas of pedagogy, my philosophy is a work in progress.  While reading the text the philosophy that I related to the most was progressivism.  I think that my philosophy has been developed by my experiences as a student growing up as well as my ideas of what I would like to do as a teacher.  I think that one of my greatest goals as a teacher is to reach out to student and to let them know how much I care about them as individuals.   Teachers have a unique position in the lives of young people.  Besides their care givers, teachers often have more interaction with young people than any other adults.   Teachers can use this opportunity to demonstrate to students important lifelong lessons that can impact many lives.  I think an example of this is Mrs. Kelso in Aukland New Zeleand.  Mrs. Kelso's class blog shows examples of how they effect the community (here is a link to their class blog: http://www.classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=71175).  My example from a high school teacher and coach helped me to see how much impact a teacher can have in a student’s life.   This coach would tell his athletes that to be the best athlete they could be, they would also have to be better students, brothers, sons, neighbors, or employees.  What he taught me definitely helped me to become a better athlete and more importantly a better person.

                As a social studies composite major, I will have many opportunities to allow my students get involved in the education process.   I had teachers that would spend most of the time lecturing and telling you what they knew about a subject.  I think that as I teach, I would love to allow students to decide how they learn.  This blog teaches new teachers different ways to get their students involved: http://docereestdiscere.wordpress.com/  There are many different ways to learn about social studies.  Sometimes lecture can be very affective but it should not be the only tool used by a teacher.  I plan to have many discussions and to bring in many hands on examples.  Recently watching a teacher in a Utah studies class go over the state symbols, I thought it would be fun to bring in items such as a sego lily (the state flower), and let the students taste it.  I learned that the sego lily was the state flower but forgot that it was the state flower because the pioneers would eat it.  If I had a chance to eat one myself, I think that I would remember that experience and never forget that fact.  Because I will be new to teaching I think that blogs like the one listed above and this blog about teaching US history: http://sacschoolblogs.org/ushistory/ will be great resources in finding new plans, ideas, and strategies.  It is also fun for students to see what other students around the country or even the world are doing.   I plan to let students feel important and needed in the classroom.  I think that they can plan for the future and determine when and how things are learned.  I plan to create classroom constitutions and to let the students help determine rules and sign a classroom constitution that can demonstrate democracy in action.  I just hope that through my efforts I will have the ability to make an impact in my student’s lives, like my teachers have in mine.