This document provides guidance for developing a personal educational philosophy. It outlines the key components to include such as objectives of education, curriculum, teacher qualities, and student qualities. Tips are provided such as using complete sentences, incorporating references to educational thinkers, and maintaining a positive tone. Sample philosophy statements and websites with additional resources are also referenced. The goal is to articulate a coherent philosophy grounded in theory that will guide one's teaching approach.

1. Guía para el Proyecto Filosofía Educativa Personal
¿Qué es una filosofía educativa personal?
Para que un educador pueda realizar su labor responsablemente necesita fundamentos racionales,
coherentes y lógicos. Estos fundamentos constituyen su filosofía educativa. Podríamos entonces definir
la filosofía educativa personal como las bases racionales y lógicas sobre las cuales el educador justifica
sus decisiones pedagógicas las cuales pueden ser consistentes con las teorías y conceptos de una
posición filosófica o con una combinación de varias posiciones.
Al finalizar el semestre debes redactar tu propia filosofía educativa, siguiendo las instrucciones dadas
en esta guía. Tu filosofía debe estar basada en las lecturas de la clase que describen lo que piensan o
creen educadores o filósofos con los que coincides y que han ayudado a formar tus creencias
personales. Parte de estas lecturas requeridas es el documento Competencias del candidato a maestros
basadas en filosofías educativas, teorías de base de conocimiento, investigación y la sabiduría de la
práctica (Extraído del el Marco Conceptual del PPMES).
Tips para la redacción de tu Filosofía Educativa Personal
• Tu ensayo debe tener un mínimo de 5 páginas y un máximo de 10 a espacio y medio. El mismo
tiene un valor de 100 puntos.
• Tu filosofía educativa debe reflejar tu propio acercamiento a la educación por lo tanto debes
redactar tu filosofía en forma de ensayo y en primera persona.
• Podrías comenzar ofreciendo los datos personales y profesionales más relevantes que
influencian tu ejecución como futuro profesional de la educación (dos o tres oraciones.)
• Continua organizando tu escrito usando los títulos de los temas presentados en la tabla de
Temas para la Filosofía Educativa.
• Toma en consideración todos los puntos mencionados en la Tabla de Temas para tu Filosofía
Educativa Personal(cada “bullet” tiene valor). Usa la tabla como una lista de cotejo.
• Recuerda que la redacción de un ensayo debe seguir una narrativa lógica y coherente y no
contener estrictamente las respuestas a las preguntas guías.
• Haz referencia a las ideas filosóficas y educativas que influyen en tus creencias. Debes respaldar
tus posturas con las teorías que has aprendido y estás aprendiendo.
• Al seleccionar las teorías, puedes considerar los conocimientos que tengas de los resultados de
las últimas investigaciones en el campo de las neurociencias acerca de cómo los seres humanos
aprenden.
• Un párrafo se compone de dos o más oraciones. Simplifica tus oraciones para que sean cortas y
concisas.
• La primera oración del párrafo presenta una idea. Luego las demás oraciones explican la idea.
No discutas más de una idea por párrafo.
• Si el postulado u oración que utilizas es de algún filósofo debes darle crédito.
• La ortografía y gramática además de la coherencia y lógica del texto será evaluada.
Para otros consejos y ejemplos de filosofías educativas pueden acceder la página
http://www.edulink.org/portfolio/.

2. Temas para tu Filosofía Educativa Personal
Los objetivos o fines de la educación
En esta parte debes tomar en considerar lo siguiente:
• Modelos filosóficos y teorías educativas de aprendizaje que sustentan tu posición
• Para que debe preparar la educación a los seres humanos
• Roles de la familia y la comunidad
(MC #3 Possess knowledge of learning)
Acerca del Currículo
En esta parte debes tomar en cuenta y considerar lo siguiente:
• Qué se debe enseñar y por qué
• Cómo seleccionar y organizar el currículo
• Cómo enseñarías
• Quién debe decidir lo que se enseña
(MC #4 Demonstrate creative critical thinking)
Cualidades y destrezas que tendrías como maestro
En esta parte debes tomar en cuenta y considerar lo siguiente:
• Cual será tu rol como maestro (facilitador, guía, autoridad)
• Cuáles cualidades y destrezas debes poseer como maestro
• Cuál es tu posición ante la evaluación y el avalúo
• Cómo manejarías la disciplina
• Como tomarás en cuenta las individualidades del estudiante para asegurarte de llegar a todos
• Como tomarás en cuenta las etapas del desarrollo del estudiante
(MC #5 Exhibit comprehensive formation – communication leadership skills)
Cualidades y destrezas a desarrollarse en tus estudiantes
En esta parte debes tomar en cuenta y considerar lo siguiente:
• Como vas a alcanzar la gran diversidad de estudiantes que tendrás en tu salón de clases
• Cuales cualidades y destrezas ayudaras a desarrollar en tu comunidad de estudiantes
• Cuál será el rol de los estudiantes
• Qué esperas de los estudiantes en el futuro
(MC# 8 Demonstrate caring dispositions)

3. Your educational philosophy reflects your own approach to education; this
philosophy should be based on your personal beliefs, which in turn should show an
influence of college work, readings, and thinkers. Consequently, when appropriate,
"drop names" in your philosophy. For example, "As Erikson, I believe that children
go through a series of mini-crisis as they mature and it will be part of my task is to
assist young people in making these transitions." However, be sure you understand
the philosophy of the person being quoted since you may be asked questions about
it at an interview.
1. Appropriate grammar is mandatory; among other things, be careful with the
following:
a. Watch agreement - for example, "The student should do all of their
work."
b. Be sure to write using COMPLETE sentences.
c. Use only one idea for each paragraph and be sure to provide a
transition between paragraphs. Use topic sentences.
d. Be aware of you change voice in the paper, i.e., "As teachers, we
should treat the parents with respect; they need to understand that
parents must be part of the solution." or "It is important for everyone
to ... thus you should not be critical of ..."
e. Alternate the use of "she" and "he" to avoid the clumsy phrasing or
"she or he".
2. The following are some of the things that you can address in your philosophy
 use of cooperative learning
 management techniques
 parent involvement
 technology
 diversity
2A philosophy does not have a cover page; be sure your name and title is on
the first page of your philosophy.
3You cannot write an educational philosophy in one paragraph!
4Your educational philosophy should have an introduction and a conclusion; your
conclusion should provide a "logical" ending to your philosophy.
5Avoid using the same phrase over and over in your philosophy. For example,
avoid using the word "teacher" several times in the same paragraph or near
each other - check your thesaurus for alternative choices of words.
6Your philosophy should be positive. While there may well be problems with our
educational system, a prospective employer does not really want to hear how
bad things are - s/he is interested in what you are going to do to make the
classroom experience a better one of the students. You are writing a personal
philosophy, not a critique of the educational system.
7Avoid the use of jargon. If you do use "educational jargon", explain how you
are going to impact the student. For example, rather than writing "I strongly
belief in inclusion." write "I believe that inclusion is a key ingredient in the
makeup of the classroom and I will support inclusion through practices such as
using alternative assessments and preparing lessons which appeal to different
learning styles."

4. 8Your philosophy, along with your letter of interest, are among the first things a
prospective employer will see. The appearance of these documents is
important. Your word processor may have some pre-formatted documents,
such as resumes) that you can use as a starting point.
9Under no circumstances, should you mail anything (except personal letters of
reference) that is not prepared on a word processor or typewriter.
10Avoid the use of different fonts on a page; use the most "readable" font
available - you may have to experiment a bit to get the possible font -
remember, what looks good on a screen may look different when printed.
11Use a font that is easy to read and of an appropriate size - avoid any fonts
under 12 cpi.
12Avoid broad generalizations - while you may want to say "I believe that all
children can learn" - the statement is relatively meaningless without examples of
how you will put that into action.
13Avoid overly complex sentences, vague or which offer sweeping
generalizations.
14Your philosophy should be POSITIVE - we know there are problems in
education - we do not want to read about those in your own philosophy - rather
we want to read how you will make a difference!
15Use some of the information in in your book, i.e., from the section on
philosophies, to include in your own philosophy.
16Some suggestions on word usage:
 "I believe..." is more forceful than, "My belief is ..."
 Instead of "Education should ..." or "I will try ..." be more positive and
use "I believe that ..." or "I will ..."
 Avoid the use of "I hope..." or "Hopefully ..." for something more
positive, such as "I will ..."
 Rather than writing "In school students should experience ...." use "In
my classroom, students will experience ..."
 Instead of writing "Teachers will ... " use "I will ..."
17Have someone review your philosophy for accuracy and eye catching
appearance.
If you are looking for some good websites that also offer information about writing
your philosophies, several good ones are suggested:
• Ed 302 - Katharine E. Cummings, Ph.D.
• Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning
• Enhancing Education @ Carnegie Mellon
• Developing a Teaching Philosophy - Ohio State University
In terms of appearance, there are several factors to keep in mind. Thanks to Bill
Baber, a list of suggestions is offered for you:
• don't use more than 3 font styles per page, as it makes the content harder to
read
• do use serif fonts (like Times New Roman) if the font is small (10 point or
smaller)

5. • non-serif fonts (like Arial) are fine for normal- to large-size fonts (11 point or
larger)
• Interesting historical tidbit - fonts are measured in "picas". Traditional fonts
originally measured 72 picas to the inch; thus one character at a font size of
72 should measure one inch. Theoretically, six characters in a 12-point font
should equal one inch, but this is not always the case with more modern
fonts.
• when thinking through a page layout, make your style consistent throughout
the document (i.e., don't left-justify some things and right-justify others)
• when creating documents with page numbers on opposite sides (such as
folded handouts or booklets), always print a mock-up and actually fold it
BEFORE you send it to a printer
• -use the Character Map feature for European or other foreign characters
(such as em dashes, German/Scandinavian umlauts, French accents, etc.)
• be careful choosing colors - high-contrast is best (black on white background
for text, though light fonts on a dark background works well for headings or
sidebars). Avoid using bright backgrounds or fonts (except briefly for signs),
as this quickly tires the eye.
• be careful when you use full-justification (both left and right). Long words
tend to throw off the sense of balance and can create large spaces that
detract from one's reading. However, you can overcome this by playing
around with actual font manipulation (in Word, choose Format, Font, then
Character spacing - try it).
• get the text on paper BEFORE you format it (write, edit, then format just
before you print)
• finally, less is more (aim for clarity above all)
For additional information, download the PDF file, How to Write a Statement of
Teaching Philosophy which appeared in the Chronicle of Higher Education.