Philosophy of Education

Chief Dey (Ex Relation: Desiree Keys)

 When I was in the third grade I met this wonderful woman whose name is Ms. Georges

(Ms. G). Ms. G was my third grade teacher and she is the reason why I feel in love with learning.

See, in first and second grade I had to go to summer school. I struggled a lot with reading.

Although I loved reading interpreting the literature is what made it difficult. But when I met Ms.

G she taught me how to study, how to understand, and how to remember patterns. She is the

reason that when I was eight years old I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I graded her exams and

I created lesson plans with her. She even allowed me to play the role of a teacher for a day and I

loved it.

However, as time went on my idea of teaching changed. In middle school I was bullied

and although I created my own tutoring program for students struggling in math and there is no

greater feeling than watching a student who is struggling understand something for the first time.

My negative experience with fellow classmates made me afraid to be a teacher. What if I am not

respected? What if the students do not like me? What if they do not listen? What if they make me

cry because children can be mean? What if I fail them? All of this negativity is the reason why

when I went to college the first time it was not for education.

Somehow I ended up working in the medical field. I never had aspirations to be in the

medical field when I was younger and I did not have them as an adult. It was just a convenient

move. The trade schools are cheap, short, and the likelihood of getting a good job was high. I

spent five years in the medical field convincing myself that this was what I wanted although

never really being happy. One of the jobs I had was as a dialysis technician and I loved my

patients but I also felt so powerless. I gave these people another day to live but thats all it ever

was. Just one more day. If they miss that day they may never come back. I was never sensitive to
death but when you develop and emotional connection with the patients especially the ones that

you see more than your own family, every loss hurts. I was tired of living under this black cloud

and the only time I ever felt like I was under the Sun was when I surrounded myself with

children.

I was a volunteer at the museum of natural history here in Las Vegas and my work

consisted of playing with the children. On Sundays we would take the animals out of there cages

and the children would hold them and learn about the animals. There was this actor who would

come in and play the role of an Egyptian and teach the kids about Egypt. The more I surrounded

myself with children the more I noticed two very important things. One, children are not

terrifying. They are curious, respectful to outside adults, they place no judgement, and are

willing to learn. Two, children are full of life. Even children who struggle at home hold on to

positive outlooks, they are fun, they are funny, and they give me such joy. Not a gloomy cloud in

the sky when a child is around. My field observation supported that. The third graders were

working from home and they were still focused on learning. With the hundreds of distraction a

child has in their home I was so proud of their ability to listen and eagerness to learn. My

observation teacher said that children tend to want to please the adults in their life. All of these

elements have removed my fear of children and failing them. But still it was not until I

developed a loving connection with my nephew who is now 6, that I truly understood my love of

teaching.

I purchased a slime kit that he had to create. We used measuring cups and he learned the

difference between tablespoon and teaspoon. He learned about milliliters and then I watched him

teach it to his cousin. While I was teaching him how to create slim and watching him teach his
cousin my nephew asked me, “ Why do you talk like that?” And I asked him “Talk like what?”

And he goes, “You know, you are so calm and happy.” To which his cousin added “Yea, you are

really nice, you don’t yell. I like it.” To give a little background my nephew and his cousin live in

NYC. New Yorkers are very loud whether they are angry or happy they are still screaming. When

my nephew and his cousin were done with the slim kit they had to clean up which they did

without problem. I noticed at that moment that the children responded well to the fact that I

spoke to them calmly and to being positive. In a way they were mimicking the energy I was

presenting to them. I believe that this skill will help me connect with students and make me a

better teacher. The fact that I do not talk down to children, I do not yell at children, and I speak to

them in a way that they appreciate and they show me respect in return. My current interaction

with children is allowing me to understand how to communicate with them. But my own

experiences as a child and as an adult defines the type of teacher I will be.

My confusion throughout my adult years and constant shifts in career goals is the reason

why my philosophy of teaching is Existentialism. I believe that I was trained by past teachers to

think like everyone else, to see like everyone else, and to be like everyone else. When I became

an adult I did not know who I was or what I wanted to be. My fellow high school classmates are

also currently suffering the same fate. We are all in our late 20’s with no idea as to who we are or

how to navigate through the world. I envied those who knew when they were children what they

wanted to be. I do not wish the loss of self on anyone and as a teacher it is my responsibility to

create a safe place where a child can learn about the outside world while enhancing who they

already are. If a child leaves my classroom confused about themselves then I have failed.
 Although not proven I appreciate the work of Howard Gardner in regards to multiple

intelligences. In school the smart kids tend to be the ones who do well on exams or answer all the

questions. However, with the idea of multiple intelligences I come to an understanding that we

are all intelligent in our own way. In a perfect world I will have enough resources and support to

where I can use this tool to meet the specific needs of a child. For example, let's say Matthew is

having difficulty with math and he is a naturalist intellect. I could use plants, such as measuring

the amount of water needed to help the seed blossom if his issues is with measurements. I can

bring in rocks and use it so he can learn to add and subtract with it. I can use his dominant

natural intelligence to benefit him in the classroom. Another example is Susie who is struggling

with biology and learning the bones in the body. Susie is a bodily-kinesthetic intellect so we

come up with a dance and a song to help her remember. Use the strength the student already has

to improve their learning abilities. They will grow as students but most importantly they will also

grow as individuals.

Now this may be positive thinking, because without enough support if I have too many

students in a classroom which is what most teachers face then I will be unable to create a specific

course of learning to each students strengths. However, that does not mean that I cannot do it at a

bigger scale to help deal with the diversity in a classroom. What I mean by this is instead of just

teaching Susie a bone dance and song I can teach it to the whole class. Instead of just using rocks

with Matthew, I can use it with everyone. Instead of just teaching Matthew measurements by

growing plants I can use it for the whole class and simultaneously add a science lesson. If I can

constantly present different methods of teaching to the students then I will be giving every
student an opportunity to succeed. However, before I can help students succeed I must first

become a license teacher.

In order to become a license teacher my goal is to get my associates in elementary

education. Since I already have a bachelor degree after I acquire my associates I will apply for

the Alternate Route to Licensure program (ARL). The reason I decided to wait until I have my

associates is because I want to be as prepared as possible before jumping into a classroom. I have

read horror stories of previous ARL candidates who do not last because of the shock they receive

in the new environment. Receiving the associates, connecting with current teacher, and learning

from experts will hopefully prevent that from becoming my future. I also plan on obtaining as

many praxis study guides and practice test as I can. I took the practice praxis math test recently

and realized that I do not remember anything about math, from geometry to algebra, I did very

poorly on that exam. I must study as much as possible and relearn as much as I can so that when

I do take it, I will only have to take it once.

I have had difficulty in relearning who I am and what I want to be. For the first time in

my adult life I can confidently say that I am heading in a direction of absolute satisfaction. I have

never been more convinced that I am heading down the correct career path for myself. There is

no doubt in my mind that if I spend the rest of my life teaching and being surrounded by children

that I will live a full happy life.

 Reference

Parkay, Forrest W. Becoming a Teacher . 11th ed., Pearson Education, 2018.