​EDU 202 Portfolio Artifact # 1 – Philosophy of Education

Profession.- If I go back on the time, I remember that I was a very indecisive girl, when someone asked

me about my future career sometimes I responded “ I want to be a grocery store owner ” other times veterinary,

chef and even a singer. I know, I was a dreamer!, but it was not until I went to fourth grade when I decided that

I wanted to be a teacher, because I enjoyed guiding my friends and sister through their assignments and

homework, see them finally master what they were doing made me feel very gratified. Besides, I decided to

become a secondary education English second-language teacher because as I already said; I enjoy guiding

students to find a method that will work for them to better understand the topic they are been teach. I want to

make them enjoy the class and encourages my students to keep on track with them dream and goal and let them

know that speak a foreign language is not a sight of disadvantage or mean that you can not get a higher

education diploma and mainly; I want my students to see my classroom as a place where it is okay to fail and

learn from it but it is not acceptable to give up or never try because of other comments. My inspirations for

choosing this career as something that I want to do in my life are several; firstly during my life as a student, I

have had amazing teachers whos made me more critical, confident of myself and my abilities. I remember that

in Ms. Amparo's room there was a cardboard taped to the wall, where she used to stick a star for each task and

work delivered on time; I remember that everyone wanted a star on that wall, that was a brilliant strategy. Also,

in a middle school, I had a teacher who always encouraged us to go more beyond the taught in the class. I liked

his class because of the community project and outdoor classes. Furthermore, I have an aunt who is a teacher of

elementary education in Mexico; Last summer I had the opportunity to observe her classes, the experience was

very pleasant, the way she expresses herself to address her students and how she encourages them to improve

inspired me. Finally, two years ago I came to the United States without speaking English, I went to high school

where I was assigned to a program to learn English. Although he knew in high school that he wanted to study

education, he was not sure what subject and grade he wanted to teach; But after taking those classes in high

school, I understood that I wanted to be an ELL teacher. The patience, commitment, and enthusiasm of my ELL

teachers were a determining factor in choosing this career. I consider that having been an English learner will

be very useful to me in my career as an educator since I know and understand the main doubts and concerns of
an English learner; knowledge that will help me better understand my students and find other alternatives that

work better for them. I have also attended schools with low educational levels where the resources that schools

have are not sufficient to meet the needs of their students. Experiences that will help me understand factors

such as the fact that students have not received classes that meet or tie the United States educational standards

become a disadvantage for English Learners. Besides, I'm patient which I think is very important in this

profession given the broad diversity of students and their different backgrounds and personalities. The field

observations gave me a clearer picture of this profession and the challenges that teachers face in their day to day

classroom environment. In addition, I learned some strategies that could work to overcome those challenges, for

example, I noticed that a respectful and bias-free educational environment is the key factor for the active and

effective participation of students. Also, during my field observations, I learned that it is important to let

students know when they could improve the quality of their homework or even when their class performance is

not entirely acceptable, as long as the teacher explains to the students how they could improve. Also, something

I learned from the teacher I collaborate with is that you should never make a prior judgment of a student's

abilities or intelligence based solely on their previous record. Given that there are other external factors such as

family, the economic level or medium in which the student develops that can influence the low performance of

a student. Finally, my field observations help me to understand that it is of utmost importance to make the

culture of the students part of the class curriculum since it is part of their identity; Likewise, teachers must

adapt to the educational needs of their students and foster respect and tolerance for the culture and beliefs of

other students.

Teaching.- My current beliefs and thoughts regarding education leaned towards several educational

philosophies. I believe in the evolution of previous knowledge due to the changes in the environment around us,

teacher and school should emphasis more the consciousness of the social changes for a better society,

community projects and work team giving space to everyone at the classroom to free speech and the availability

to hear the other people point of view, therefore I think the pragmatism and progressivism are part of my

philosophical beliefs as a student-teacher. Although I believe that the subjects that promote free expression and

community work are essential in a good education; I also believe that students should be taught relevant

subjects fundamental for a solid education, subjects like mathematics, science, and history. Moreover,
discipline and good values should be part of every single student's invisible curriculum objectives that realism

and essentialism education can reach. The correlation between the past events in the History of Education in

America and the broad gap of opportunities and resources which nowadays students in usa school have access

to has shown that all the effort from the founder and every single character on the History of Education in

America have been not vain; Also, those events make me think about USA schools as institutions where our

future students will develop the needed principles for to forge a brilliant and successful future given the wide

variety of subjects and extracurricular activities that our schools offer to their students, besides teacher and

schools staff are well prepared and trained to assist students in several ways, for example, all school has

psychologists and counselors to assist and advise students throughout the school year, teacher and parents work

together to ensure appropriate education to students and schools have a security staff whose in collaboration

con the police department work together to ensure the safety and well-being of teachers, students, and

maintenance personnel. However, I recognize that even though access to elementary and secondary education

in this country is free; The funds that the federal government and states destinate to each scholar district are not

equal for all states and socioeconomic levels. Therefore, several schools suffer from the lack of financial

resources to be able to provide their students with the resources necessary to receive high-standard educational

courses and met the goal that I mentioned before. By another hand, when I think about students in USA school I

can see the picture of a met plot where several races and cultures are mixed tougher in a community where

everyone has different beliefs, thoughts, backgrounds, etc, but also where all of them share the same objective

in without matter where they came from being able to communicate to a universal language; Unfortunately, we

cannot ignore the cases of violence, racism, and the consumption of drugs among other which are damage our

students and denied them the opportunity to have a better school performance.

Instruction.- Given the broad variety of cultures, languages, and beliefs in an ELL classroom. One of my

mean goals would be the implementation of classroom rules that promote tolerance and respect to each other

culture and point of view. Besides classroom rules, I will implement some activities that promote the free

speech and creativity of students while at the same time they are learning to be more emphatic and inclusive,

For example, I can ask students to give a presentation about their origin countries, with the use of posters,

drawing and collages made on their own. This activity will help students to know more about their peers,
practice tolerance to each other, and exploit their creativity and expression skills. Also by changing students'

seats often students will have the opportunity to interact and to establish a better relationship with each other,

another goal related to emotional and cognitive self-regulation approaches is discipline, I will show and explain

to my students' classroom discipline and the importance of to do so their responsibilities at class; My strategy to

achieve the appropriate discipline would reward good behavior and effort, I will direct my teaching profession

by the following ideas "It is okay to fail but there is no excuse to do not try " and " Everyone can learn but not

everyone learns by the same way"; Related to executive and fictional skills to classwork and assignments, I will

test and analyze my student's performance and skills at the beginning of the course to identify the class learning

method and based on my observation. I will develop a study plan that better met my student's learning process.

However, if there is a student or group of students who do not share their classmate's learning methods I will

work to find a method that better works for those students. Also, I believe that giving students activities that

promote and develop their creativity and personal interest will be an efficient method to capture student's

interest and enthusiasm. Therefore sometimes I will give me students the opportunity to turn in assignment with

the method or presentation that they decide as soon as their work demonstrates the student compression and

mastering of the topic assigned, For example, one student could submit a poem summarizing the main ideas of

the assigned topic, while another student could submit a drawing illustrating the same topic but using a different

presentation method. Regarding the evaluations, I do not agree with the current evaluation methods I consider

that the potential of the students reduce considerably when they are under too much pressure; However, the

teacher must follow the exam policies established by the School Districts and give the students certain time to

finish their exams, Therefore, I will give my students practice tests to improve their scores. I will also assign a

higher percentage to class assignments and projects, and I will reduce test percentages. Regarding my grading

method, I appreciate the effort and dedication of students, therefore I will use a rubric to grade my students'

assignments and tests. Also, late assignments will receive a lower grade and lastly, attendance and class

participation will count toward the final grade.

Futures.- To move forward in this career a teacher must be ethically given that besides parents-teacher must

be a model role for students, also a teacher must be critical, throughout this career there will be several

circumstances where a teacher will have to think critically before to made decisions for example, when a
teacher has suspicions that a student has been a victim of child abuse the teacher most think critically and alert

the school authorities before taking action by his or her self. Besides, patience is indispensable to move forward

on this career given the broad variety of student's personalities, edges, and backgrounds teachers must have the

ability to manage temperamental character and disappointment behaviors that some students present especially

in the high school level also is important to establish a good relationship with students as long as a teacher does

not lose the classroom authority. Strong communication skills and ability to listen will help teachers to better

connect with parents, colleges and school members as well. Lastly be passionate about your profession and

possess a strong knowledge about your subject would be part of an ideal teacher. To achieve my goals I’m

planning to attend college for two years to obtain my associate degree in secondary education teaching and to

prepare for the Core Academic Skills for Educator Test (Praxis Core test), Besides I will get a job to financial

some of my student's supplies. I used to take extra English courses to increase my vocabulary and

communication skills and I'm planning to transfer to UNLV after two years of college to obtain my bachelor's

degree in Secondary Education.

Smart Thinking Tutor Response