First Philosophy

I am the oldest of three children from a single-parent home in Mississippi. I love the South, but I also love to travel and have new experiences. My mother always encouraged us to get a good education so that we could have better jobs. The strong emphasis she put on education has instilled in me a strong desire to have a good education. In my pursuit of education, I developed a strong ideal of what a good teacher should be and do, based on the failures and successes that I saw in the teachers who taught me. My bachelor's degree is in Spanish, so enrolled in the AMP program in the spring of 2010 to pursue teaching certification in Spanish.

I believe that teachers are far more significant than just purveyors of information. The teachers that I remember vividly were the ones who were really excited about what they taught and clearly enjoyed teaching. I want to be that teacher, encouraging my students and helping them learn while I show them the significance of the things I teach them. While I do not remember specifically the content that these teachers taught, I still remember the excitement that I had for the subject. Spanish is a perfect example. My high school Spanish teacher was very enthusiastic and we all spoke Spanish to each other when we were not in Spanish class. Out of 12 students, 5 of us majored or minored in the language.

A good teacher should instill in his/her students a love for learning and not just teach facts. The theory of education that most closely aligns with what I believe is still the essentialist theory. Essentialists believe that students should be taught “traditional American virtues such as respect for authority perseverance, fidelity to duty, consideration for others, and practicality.” (Paris 2005) I do agree that these ideals should be taught to our students, but my alignment with this theory is more because of the essentialists' presentation of a more global ideal of what should be taught. The typical educational theory seems to be concerned with a more myopic view of education, concerning themselves with the way students are taught, disciplined, and motivated. I propose that motivated teachers create motivated students. Motivated students who are excited about education will be easier to discipline. Their excitement will enhance their learning. The 4MAT system supports these beliefs. The first goal in the 4MAT approach to teaching is to get the students engaged. This excitement that the students have will be a huge part of their success in education. My goal in my classroom is to keep my students excited by keeping the class fun and engaging.

I worked for many years for the Air Force in an organization that claimed to have the ability to teach monkeys. The attrition rate in this organization was less than 1 percent. There, I learned how to teach using the same theories that the Air Force used with such resounding success. I have been eliciting emotional response before beginning instruction, so it is nice to have a class that teaches the same methodology. For many of the topics I taught, there was no real way to make the content relevant to the people I taught, so that will be something that I have to work on.

Without saying that 4MAT is the final word in teaching methodology, I will say that I like it very much. While it may not be feasible to do a wheel for each unit, it is certainly beneficial to start students with an emotional experience, avoid too much lecture, and end with a relevant project that gets them out of textbooks and into actual learning. Another tenet of my philosophy is that students should be taught to think critically to help them ascertain which information is reliable and which is not. While the 4MAT system does not actively purport that it teaches this ability, the teachers who use it will ultimately be able to teach their students how to distinguish reliable information.

I will implement my philosophy in my classroom through the use of videos, songs, and other non-standard instruction methods to keep students excited and engaged. My excitement will transfer to my students, keeping them interested in the subject matter. I will try to make students see the meaning and relevance of the content and how it applies to their lives.

Work Cited:

Paris, N. (2005). Educational philosophies. Retrieved from http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~nparis/educ7700/EDUCATIONAL%20PHILOSOPHIES%20(Major)_.doc