Ashley Steele's educational philosophy

1. The Purpose of an Education<br />In the United States education, a requirement for the youth of our nation, consists of private and public schools. These institutions provide the means for individuals to either maintain the standard educational expectations of the family, or better themselves and rise from mediocre and poor backgrounds. The public education system, specifically, has played an important role in my development into adulthood. After a series of rough life changing events, such as the divorce of my parents and moving to a radically different state and school, the education system served as a stabilizer in my changing environment. Certain teachers became my surrogate family, providing the support, encouragement, and love that I lacked in my home life. My personal experiences as a child heavily influenced my educational philosophy and as I develop into the role of a teacher I recognize the responsibility elementary teachers have to their communities that extend beyond teaching multiplication and spelling. <br />Therefore, from my perspective the promotion of equity in education is a supreme consideration. All students deserve the right to an excellent education regardless of their ethnic and socio-economic circumstances. Though as individuals teachers tend to gravitate to districts that match their upbringing, as educators we have a responsibility to widen our experience, and therefore our student’s experience, by moving outside our cultural comfort zone. One advantage of this is creating a sturdier more diverse experience through scaffolding: teachers sharing their academic and life knowledge, creating a “ladder” to assist students in refining and expanding their own beliefs. Teachers must create students with high emotional intelligence and academic fervor, developing well rounded adults who love learning and return that excitement to their communities.<br />Given that the role of a teacher is to create a well rounded capable adult, successful students are active participants in their own education. Therefore, the role of a student is to maintain an open mind and a thorough acceptance of new ideas and experiences. An unquenchable thirst for knowledge is a necessity in our modern society in order to be a productive and contributing community member. <br />To create the best environment for these developing community members my classroom will be a safe haven from chaos and uncertainties. My goal is to make the physical and psychological classroom environment welcoming and comfortable to both students and instructors. To this end, certain rules and policies are essential. On the physical side, I will clearly establish the importance of responsibility and a respect for others, by enforcing policies that deal with community and personal space. For example, students must ask politely to borrow from others, and will work as a group to maintain a clean and organized classroom. I hope to instill a sense of responsibility, pride, and respect in the students for the welfare of the classroom and their classmates. Respect also plays an important role in the evaluation and grading process. Students should have the right to be treated as individuals in regards to evaluation, with numerous avenues available to assess a student’s understanding of the curriculum. Rather than treating a child who is initially unsuccessful as sub-par or a failure, I will encourage them to help me develop a solution to aid their learning. <br />By creating an environment infused with respect and positive expectations, students in my classroom will have the self worth to become lifetime learners. A lifetime learner is not only passionate about learning, but has the self efficacy to constantly set challenging goals. Due to the elementary teachers that showed me how to be a confident adult and my desire to be a competent and efficient educator, I created several professional goals for myself. I intend to not only complete a PhD, but create a public program that better serves the academic and social needs exceptional students in underserved districts. I will also maximize my influence as a teacher and a role model to foster a strong connection with my student’s community. My primary goal as a teacher is to inspire students to recognize their ability to and the importance of investing in themselves and their community. I hope to positively change the world by positively changing the lives of my students. <br />