Personal Philosophy of Education

Annie Bollen
Department of Teacher Education, Georgia College and
State University
EDMG 5214: Middle Grades Learner Dr. Miriam Jordan
July 27, 2022
 I think my personal philosophy of education has developed and changed many times
over the years and will continue to. I was always the student that was told she isn’t good
enough. The student who was told you can’t do this, or you’ll never get it. I think it is one of
the main reasons I want to be a teacher. Education is in my blood, but I also want to be the
teacher I never had growing up. My memories from elementary school are pleasant, those
teachers were amazing and up until 8 grade, school was a place I enjoyed going because of the
teachers. I had a teacher in 8 grade who embarrassed me in front of the whole class and then
had teachers in high school who played favorites and let me know that if I passed their class,
that it would be at a minimal a C. I have to wonder if I had teachers who understood a theory
like Dweck’s mindset theory if their attitudes would have changed about myself and other
students.
The classes that I remember the most enjoying were the classes that we were actively
involved in and the teachers really felt like they cared. For example, one of the classes I
remember the most is my Latin classes. I took Latin for three years in high school. I remember
these classes because they were hands on. We would conjugate verbs as a class, but he would
also have hands on activities to incorporate Latin into everyday life to prove to us it wasn’t a
“dead language” as others called it. He also gave me a place where I belonged. I was able to
create a wood project and submit it to the state festival and won a prize. We laughed with this
teacher and he even taught us to sing “Happy Birthday” in Latin that I can still sing to this day.
It is honestly this teacher who I think affected me the most and he taught me one of the
learning theories I would want to incorporate into my own philosophy now, even then I didn’t
know then it was a learning theory. What I realized after studying learning theories, is that he
was incorporating Rogers humanist theory. According to Stevens-Fulbrook, this means that, he
was being real and being himself with us. This is the basis of Rogers theory. Stevens-Fulbrook
says that the “success of the teacher is their ability to build positive relationships with the
students.” There was a certain trust and understanding between my Latin teacher and us as his
students. He, like Rogers was sympathetic to our needs as students and cared about us and our
feelings. That is how I learned the birthday song in Latin, he would sing it to us for our
birthdays and encourage us as students to sing along when it was not our birthdays but
someone else’s in the class. I want my students to feel this same realness from me. I’ve told all
my students in the past that I don’t lie to them because I don’t want them to lie to me. I want
to be transparent with them and them to have a certain understanding between myself and
them, thus creating a mutual respect. I want them to feel like they can be creative, open to
new experiences and have a trust that they are safe and can be themselves in my classroom.
I also think one of the theories I’d like to incorporate into my own classroom is making
sure I remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. I studied this in undergrad as a psychology
major, but I don’t think I began to see it fully applied until I stepped into the classroom as a
paraprofessional. If a student’s basic needs are not met, I can not expect them to be able to be
at their best or learn at their best. We have so many students in Putnam County that depend
on the free breakfast they are given in the mornings so that they don’t go hungry. We also
have many children that will take home leftover breakfast at the end of the day so they have
snacks for later or in their words so they can give them to their younger brothers and sisters as
mom is not home when they get home. I also can incorporate making sure they feel safe and
secure, loved and like they have a place in my room and that their confidence is boosted in my
room so that they can move to the self-actualization stage and gauge if they are at their best. I
pride myself on being able to read people well, but it starts with knowing my students, having
those relationships, and making sure their basic needs are met so that they can be at their best
in my classroom. According to Cherry, “because Maslow’s hierarchy is depicted as a pyramid, it
suggests that basic needs must be met before an individual can move upward to higher-level
needs.” Stevens-Fulbrook state that “as students move through the levels, they feel more
comfortable in their learning environment and have the confidence to push further.” It is
because of this that I need to be sensitive to students and making sure their basic needs are
met, even if it is stage three in the pyramid love and belonging. Each student deserves to feel
loved and like they belong and have a place in my classroom.
I have worked with and learned from many amazing teachers the past three years as a
paraprofessional. I have seen learning theories such as Dreikur, though I did not know that they
were incorporating his theories at the time, Canter’s theory, Rogers, Skinner, and many others
over the past few years. I had no idea that these teachers were incorporating these theories
until I was able to study them. I have seen that no one theory is the way to run or manage your
classroom. I am hoping that I am able to take these theories and apply them to my classroom.
I want my students to have hands-on opportunities, while they learn, but also to challenge their
mind-sets, to be able to be fully engaged, have confidence in their abilities and themselves, and
to know that they are loved, valued and matter in my classroom. I would love it if they walked
away from my room knowing that failure is ok and part of the process also and that the grade
they get is not representative of who they are as a person. Afterall, a grade is just a letter. It
does not define who they are as a person, or their value on this earth.
REFERENCES

Cherry, K. (2021, November 2). Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Explore Psychology. Retrieved
July 28, 2022, from https://www.explorepsychology.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs/

Mcleod, S. (1970, January 1). Carl Rogers theory. Carl Rogers | Simply Psychology. Retrieved
July 28, 2022, from https://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-rogers.html

Stevens-Fulbrook, P. (2020). An introduction to learning theories: 15 of the most influential

learning theories, simplified and explained. Independently Published.