Philosophy of Education

Mya Daniels

According to the Education Philosophy Inventory from www.authenticeducating.com,

one of my teaching philosophies is existentialism style. The existentialism of teaching

philosophy is the belief of using students’ unique characteristics and cultivating a classroom

environment that matches their individual differences. Existentialism is taking the student’s

qualities and creating an education that is based on their individual needs, to take their best

qualities and develop them more, but also taking their areas of need, to develop them overtime to

areas of strengths. By having this type of philosophy, teachers are harnessing each of the unique

qualities students possess and bring to the classroom and celebrating and developing students to

become better students from when they originally entered the classroom.

Other than using the student’s unique characteristics, I believe their education should be

adapted to meet their needs. Being a special education teacher, I have my own “toolbox”. My

“toolbox” was designed to meet the needs of all students. With that being said, I have a variety of

student needs in my classroom. I use my “toolbox” to create an environment that celebrates

everyone's unique characteristics and strengthens their areas of needs. At the beginning of each

year, I find it important to give student interest surveys and to build rapport. By giving student

interest surveys I am able to discover their pronouns, hobbies, preferred learning styles, and so

much more. When I am building rapport with my students, I am able to identify their areas of

strengths, needs, and learn more in depth knowledge of their interests. All students have their

own strengths and needs, and the role I try to fill as their teacher is using their strengths for my

advantage, but tailoring the curriculum to enhance their areas of needs. This way, students will

be more well rounded when exiting my classroom.

 In my existential teaching, this can be student-centered work. I create a curriculum that is

based around their needs, but they have choice in the ways they complete their work. For

example, for summative projects, there’s a list of projects students can choose to show their

understanding of the content. For example, one of my most recent projects gave a list of

presentation options for students. Some of my students created a Google Slides presentation,

while another student created a cereal box presentation. Students often feel as though they are

learning content because they have to. I want students to have a choice in how they are

demonstrating their learning. It is important to me to have open lines of communication with all

students, so they have the understanding of why they are learning the content, and have the

opportunity to ask questions.

All of my lessons use careful planning to meet the needs of all of my students. It is

carefully scaffolded to accommodate their abilities. Students often feel in other classes they are

learning the content because they have to. I create a curriculum that engages students through

choice. Students have options in which they can complete their work or how to show their level

of understanding. I also use choice within my classroom management. For example, students can

choose not to complete in-class assignments, however their choice can have consequences. If

students choose not to complete their assignments, I notify students that it will affect their grade,

and occasionally students will have to complete their work during recess or lunch time. All

students have the choices, however, they are not free of the consequences of their choices.