MS. ARMS PHILOSOPHY

In elementary and high school, the purpose of education is to equip students with basic knowledge that they will need for life and in the process learn helpful life lessons that will allow them to take challenges head on. In college, it is to equip students for their future careers. I would like to teach in lower elementary. I feel lower elementary is so important in fulfilling the purpose of education because students learn things at that age that they will need for the rest of their lives, regardless of their future careers. Examples would include, the ABC’s, addition and subtraction, and reading comprehension. It is also where students start to learn about themselves. They start to figure out who they are and who they want to be. This is where they learn many lessons they will use when they grow up and as a teacher I hope to influence them in a positive way.
As a teacher, I will definitely be a supporter, cheerleader, and someone who will not give up on them. I want to make sure no child is left behind and ultimately understands the content and can apply it, not just gets the assignments done. The type of pedagogy I would employ would be as a facilitator. Instead of using lectures and having the students memorize information they will soon forgot, I hope to implement lots of activities where students will be able use their own unique skills to solve problems. I hope to do this by using lots of project and hands-on activities in the classroom to keep the students involved. This goes with my idea that a student’s role should be an active participant. They should want to learn and know the material as much as I want them to. They should always be striving to understand, and if they do not, doing whatever it takes to understand. Ultimately, I want to make sure students are involved in their learning because it is just that, their learning and their education. This coincides with my philosophic theory, progressivism, because progressivism is based on the students needs rather than the teachers. Students should be active in their education and their interests should be taken into consideration. Overall, the students and their thriving in school should be more important than the teacher or content, and making sure they are successful should be the number one priority.