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Natalie Mucha
My Philosophy of Education
I want to teach because I enjoy helping young learners. It's a great feeling knowing that I
am able to pass on my knowledge and ways of solving a problem. It is the best feeling when I'm
able to explain or clarify a problem and the student understands afterward. I want to watch the
children grow to their full potential. I believe the purpose of education is to instill individuals
with knowledge, skills and develop critical thinking. This knowledge that can be applied to life
situations and help solve problems. It prepares the students to participate in society. My role as
an educator is to help students apply concepts, such as math and English, through classroom
instruction. Other roles include having to prepare lessons, grade homework, manage the
classroom, meet with parents, and work with other staff members. Being a teacher means that I
will be the classrooms parent, class disciplinarian, counselor, planner, and more. Since I'll be
spending quite some time with the students throughout the school year, I'll be a constant role
model for them.
I believe in the progressive philosophy of teaching because the curriculum is built around
personal experiences, interests, and the needs of students. It is important for students to actually
experience what is being taught. Also, I believe it is also important to help the students develop
their social and interaction skills, and they will do this with group work and activities throughout
the year. John Dewey, a philosopher, psychologist, and educator believed that education was
about growth of a child and the school played a crucial role in creating an environment that was
responsive to the child's interests and needs, and would allow the child to flourish. I couldn't
agree more with this statement because education can really challenge a child and help them

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grow into a productive member of society. Their needs and interests need to be taken into
consideration and worked with.
I am going to be teaching first graders at a public school and this is an age where social
interaction is important. I realize that my classroom may be diverse so, I will take the time to sit
with each individual child to see what their needs are. I will also observe them as they do their in
class assignments to see if there's any differences. I view a community of learners as a group of
people who share values, beliefs, and engage in learning from one another. Its an environment
where students and educators are actively constructing knowledge together. Learning
communities should be connected, cooperative, and supportive. Everyone should feel safe and
comfortable to share their thoughts and questions in my classroom.
I will be teaching phonics, math, reading, science, and social studies. This is the time
where students reading comprehension will improve along with their vocabulary. Number sense
and operations will be extremely important in this grade level. I will introduce science by
discussing living versus non-living things. Social studies would cover what the American
identity, basic human survival needs, cultural holidays, historical places, and where countries are
located. I will incorporate as many hands on activities for these subjects as possible. I think
children learn by experiencing and actually going through the motion of it. In my opinion, just
listening to the lesson is not enough. This age is a time of exploration and discovery.
As part of classroom management, I will be using incentive charts to motivate the
students to do their best and follow directions. The rules of the classroom will be posted around
the room. In my classroom, I will have a word wall to remind the students what words we have
learned. I will integrate hands on learning to the curriculum because I strongly believe it's
important. Student goal setting is something I also want to do because I believe that it will

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motivate the student to work towards their goals. Learning centers is another way that can
motivate students to see the material in a different way and give them multiple opportunities to
learn.
My curriculum design will include the goals for student learning, content, the order of the
learning experience, instructional methods, instructional resources, evaluation approaches, and
how adjustments to the plan will be made based on experience or assessment data. It's important
to have this all written out. I believe assessing for passions and interests can push us future
teachers to know our students more deeply and create a classroom designed for them. As far as
grading their work, I believe the student should have a few attempts at an assignment if they
don't quite understand the concept. I don't want them to feel overwhelmed or frustrated. I will put
the kids in groups and have the tables balanced between advanced students, average, and below
average. This way they can help each other out, however, if they still do not understand a
question I will be there to assist.
My goals for my students are to leave my classroom with more knowledge than when
they first came, whether it's learning new vocabulary words or new ways to do math application
problems. I want them to strengthen their weaknesses. My hope is that they will bring something
new with them to the next grade. In the past, I would learn about global issues by reading TIME
for kids magazines and I like the idea of that. I feel like that made me aware of some important
events or people during that time. So I would like to implement that into my future classroom as
well. I hope to have a positive and understanding relationship with the community, parents,
teaching colleagues, and administration.