Educational Philosophy

In college, I remember sitting in what my professor called "the northwest quadrant" of the room. That is because my five friends and I always sat in the same space for every class. We were lucky to have the same course schedule. As I reflect back on being an undergrad, these are the memories that come to mind first: time spent with friends... time spent traveling... and time spent eating! I can still feel the brain freezes I got from the smoothies at Neptune Hall...

Isn't it a strange thing that the "learning" part doesn't come to mind first? College exposed me to a lot of material, theories, and knowledge. But most of it did not click until I got my first job as a teacher. That is when I was reaching back for my textbooks, looking through my notes, and trying to remember that one thing that my professor kept saying over and over again... whatever it was, it didn't stick like real experience has stuck.

This lesson became crystallized for me when I undertook my Masters degree. I was studying alongside my career. I found that learning with an immediate application into my job is the winning combination. I am not the only one who thinks this way. Taylor and Kroth (2009) break down the concept of andragogy, the study of how adults learn. As kids, we are good with "postponed application," but as adults... we want to use it now!

This realization is what led me to create this post; I have decided to re-write my educational philosophy. I remember doing this as an undergrad for an assignment... but I have so much more to say now! With almost 10 years of experience since graduating, I have decided to re-do this task. 

In preparation for the 2018-19 school year, I updated my educational philosophy. I am sharing it with you in hopes that it will bring inspiration for your teaching practice as well!

I plan on putting my statement in a prominent place in my classroom to remind me of my goals and responsibilities as an educator. To do this, I turned my educational philosophy into a poster that I can keep at my desk!

Here is a preview of it. Though the full document has much more detail, the poster includes the topic sentences for each of my paragraphs. I think it makes a great reminder of what I believe to be important.

If you're interested in reading my full philosophy or printing the posters for your classroom, it is available by clicking here.

Reference:
Taylor, B. & Kroth, M. (2009) Andragogy's transisiton into the future: Meta-analysis of andragogy and its search for a measurable instrument. Journal of Adult Education, 38(1)

Let me know! What do you believe to be important about education?