DON MARIANO MARCOS MEMORIAL STATE UNIVERSITY

SOUTH LA UNION CAMPUS

COLLEGE OF GRADUATE STUDIES
Agoo, La Union

Nero M. Paderes Inquiry & Reflection #2

Doctor of Philosophy in Science Education February 8, 2018

Are certain philosophies present in my educational experiences? How do these philosophies

help me examine and reflect on my beliefs and practices in education?

In my teaching career I have developed my own beliefs and attitudes. My educational

philosophy is a mixture of how I desire to impart knowledge and a drive to be a lifelong learner. My
reason for developing an educational philosophy is to reflect on and improve my classroom
interaction and overall effectiveness. Through the development of this philosophy, I believe it will
lead to classroom success. Realism also is extremely important for me as a teacher. Being genuine
and modeling trust can significantly help establish a successful learning environment and maintain a
collaborative climate in the classroom. Being true or real means that I should admit when I don’t
know something, remain calm always and model kindness and patience, follow through with
consequences, smile often, laugh with students, and sit with students and offer options, but give
students a chance to problem solve on their own.

My philosophy being a facilitator or teacher is that I am responsible for establishing a

successful adult learning environment, one that values and enables learning for both students and
teacher. I thoroughly believe that students are responsible for their own learning because the greatest
learning occurs when adults take responsibility for determining what they learn, learn what is
personally beneficial, learn what they discover for themselves, and learn from both experience and
feedback instead of just experience alone. I strongly believe that the classroom climate must be safe,
professional, and collaborative, allowing students to feel at ease to express their views, share
experiences, and discuss differences of opinion. I must also facilitate effectively to integrate student
experiences into our discussions and use those examples to illustrate relevant teaching points. It is
important that I create and preserve a complex, rigorous, and realistic classroom climate that is both
student- and problem-centric, while ensuring that I provide enough tools and information to solve a
problem, but not give the answer. Furthermore, my personal contribution to sustaining a learning
environment includes motivation, aptitude, presentation, repetition, and reinforcement. Last, honest
feedback is critical to maintaining an effective and realistic adult learning environment, as well as
helping students see themselves and achieve “personal movement”.

I must also be prepared to adopt multiple roles in the classroom (facilitator, teacher, instructor,
coach, consultant, counselor, and mentor). I need to be prepared to seamlessly transition between
these roles to effectively contribute to student learning. For my primary role as a facilitator, flexibility
also includes the ability to diagnose and intervene when necessary to enhance learning and support
individual and group growth. Additional areas of flexibility include technical assistance, course
management, and student administration when required. To establish and maintain competence as a
facilitator, I must be skillful in the execution of both content and process. First, I must completely
understand the lesson material so that I don’t require notes and I am conversational on relevant content
and process topics. Second, I must know how to diagnose student and group behaviors and recognize
when and how to intervene. And third, I must be able to use my prior experiences as an instructor and
and leader to reinforce, but not dominate, classroom discussions. We desire our students to achieve
“movement” while attending our classes. As a facilitator, I also desire to achieve movement though
self-study, classroom experience, and training/certifications. Additionally, I can increase and
maintain competence as a facilitator by consistently asking for feedback from peers, students, and
superiors; focusing on faculty development; leveraging the expertise of peer faculty; and being a team
player in our organization.

Additionally, my life philosophy and priorities are faith, family, and Country, with emphasis
on competence, caring, and balance. Therefore, I can further achieve authenticity by “being myself”
in the classroom and “modeling personal and ASISTian values.”