Miss Brown's Classroom Philosophy
An educator wears many hats in the classroom. An educator is not only responsible to teach students, but an educator must also protect the well being of each of those students while they are under their care. As an English teacher I want my students to realize that English is far more than a subject studied in school, but also my teaching philosophy.
E is for Enlighten. As an educator I feel it is important not only to educate my students within the discipline, but to also enlighten my students on areas of life they did not realize existed. I do not want to only enlighten students to discover how to think critically about the world they live in, but to realize their view of the world and their place in it. The process of enlightenment will be accomplished via the remaining goals of my teaching philosophy.
N is for Nurture. As said before, a teacher wears many caps. One of those caps is to nurture each of their students so that they will feel welcome, comfortable and cared for in the classroom. I want my students to feel as though all of their basic needs are being met when they are in my class. With the essential needs taken care of they will then be able to focus all of their energies on achieving enlightenment and knowledge. Beyond caring about their academic success, I want my students to know that I also genuinely care about each one of them. I also want them to feel comfortable discussing and resolving personal dilemmas in the hope that they would then be able to better focus on fulfilling their full academic potential.
G is for Guide. I realized that students, as well as myself, are not perfect. They will make mistakes. They will misbehave for whatever reason. They will feel like failures sometimes too. As a teacher, I do not feel that me telling them what to do whenever an issue arises will help them better able to think for themselves. Rather, I will do my best to guide my students to solutions to the problems they may have. As a guide, I will provide them with resources, advice, personal wisdom, and the encouragement that I believe in them and that they can find the solutions to their problem.
L is for Love. While listed fourth, I believe love is the most important component of my teaching philosophy. From the first day of school, and everyday thereafter, I will communicate to my students how much I love each and every single one of them, not only verbally but in everything I do (i.e., how I call on all of them equally, when I attend their extra-curricular activities/events, when I volunteer my time to assist them to achieve their full academic potential, by offering a smile, saying ‘please’ and ‘thank you’, by offering a listening ear, by offering a shoulder to cry on, and the list goes on). I truly believe students will strive to perform to the best of their ability if they know their teacher truly cares about them and believes they can achieve great things in order to be more successful.
I is for Interesting. English has not always scored high on the most favorite subject scoreboard amongst students. So, I have taken it upon myself to prove to students that English can be interesting too. It may not be interesting all the time but I will guarantee that by the end of Ms. Brown’s English class, each student will have gained a new found interest in English. As a result of being so connected with each of my students it should only come naturally that I will be able to create lessons to intrigue and interest each of them.
S is for Safe. I can only imagine how difficult it would be for any student to focus on anything, including learning (English), if they did not even feel safe in their surrounding environment. I realize that I cannot protect all my students all of the time. However, I do feel as though they should feel my classroom can be a safe haven for them to relax. In my classroom, my students should feel safe from physical harm and also feel safe to express their minds and personality among their peers. For, how can learning take place if students are afraid to share with each other and work together?
H is for Heal. Problems do not always develop in the classroom. Many students enter a classroom with a lot of baggage due to pain, sorrow, grief, fear, etc. As a teacher, I feel I also have to wear the cap of a healer. I will have to love and nurture each of my students so that they will feel safe and only then will I be able to guide them to their path of enlightenment via the numerous interesting lessons they will learn throughout their time with me.
Teaching is more than just the teacher having an authoritative control over students. Rather via a sound teaching philosophy, students should become enlightened, be nurtured, be loved, be interested, feel safe, and be able to heal from any past so they will be able to thereafter continue to achieve their full academic potential.