Alexis D.

Adams
Dr. Jake Burdick
EDCI58500
Teaching Philosophy

“Teaching Philosophy”

“The function of education, therefore, is to teach one to think intensively and to

think critically…Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education” (King,

2021), is a quote commonly used in the world of education. This quote derives from the

article,“The Purpose of Education”, written by Martin Luther King Jr. , in 1941, for the

Morehouse College campus newspaper. Being that I would see this quote often, when

searching for quotes to use during Black History Month, or when I would want to utilize it

in an email signature, I decided to read the article in which it came from, in hopes of

gaining a deeper understanding of the context of the quote. This article offered a great

perspective on the purpose and importance of education. In this article, Martin Luther

King not only shared his beliefs on education and its true purpose and role in society,

but also warned about the negative consequences that could occur if individuals are not

taught to “sift and weigh evidence, to discern true from the false, the real from the

unreal, and the facts from fiction” (King, 2021). After reading this article, I was shocked

that the claims and statements are still very relevant to society and education today.

A philosophy is an idea, perspective, or attitude held by a person that ultimately

serves as the guide in how one conducts themselves.After reflecting on both my

educational and teaching philosophy, I discovered that both of my philosophies are

cohesive and have a huge impact on how I operate as both an individual learner and as
an educator. In regards to my viewpoint on education and its importance, I believe that

knowledge is the antonym of ignorance. Knowledge allows people to understand

themselves, others, society, and the physical world around them. However, not all

knowledgeable people do good things in society, thus, character building is also an

extremely vital role of education. When people construct knowledge, they are able to

grow and evolve into successful individuals, as well as positively impact society in many

ways. My philosophy, or perspective, of education laid the foundation for my teaching

philosophy. As an educator, my goal has always been to create a welcoming and safe

learning environment for all students regardless of gender, socioeconomic

backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, and etc, where students are able to gain knowledge

and skills necessary to be successful and reach their individual academic goals- I view

myself more as a facilitator of learning instead of the traditional conductor. I aim to help

a child develop holistically, making sure to incorporate social emotional learning,

authentic and relatable lessons, real life connections with academic skills, and foster a

community of learners that seek knowledge.

I know for an environment to be deemed safe, students have to feel supported

socially, mentally, and emotionally, which first requires building authentic relationships

with the students. Specifically, “social-emotional learning (SEL) represents an

educational model for improving social-emotional competencies of all students and is

known as a long-term education program connecting school, family, and community”

(Kim et al., 2022). Social Emotional Learning is a new trend in education and I feel as if

it is a step in the right direction for society as a whole. Educators typically introduce and

present information, skills, and concepts without biases, making school, and other
educational settings, great places for students to develop socially and emotionally.

People have many different perspectives on how life should be lived, how people should

communicate and interact with one another, as well as how one should process and

express emotions, so I believe that social emotional curriculums allows for students to

gain a their own understanding and perspective on how to build and maintain healthy

social interactions and relationships, as well as how to understand and express their

feelings in a healthy, productive manner. For example, when I was teaching middle

school and 4th graders in Elementary, I created a simple model for incorporating Social

Emotional Lessons in our daily schedule. Each Monday, I would introduce the SEL

topic, trait, or concept that would be focused on that week. However, before introducing

the new topic, I would do a five minute reflection on the previously learned concept or

skill, and ask the students how they plan to continue to apply this lesson to themselves.

Then, I would introduce the new concept, assessing background knowledge before

going through the lesson. We would do an activity or watch a video that allows the

student to gain an understanding of the concept, go through the lesson, and then do a

timed write in journals- in which they had to respond to a question or prompt that

focuses on the concept or skill. To end, I would allow three students to volunteer to

share their responses with the class. Each day after the initial lessons, we would do a

check in during community circle or have a discussion on different elements of the

lesson. On Friday, the students would participate in a journaling exercise where they

discuss how they applied the concept this week. Utilizing social emotional learning

curriculums in the classroom not only builds community in the classroom, but will also
allow for students to develop skills that also assist with challenges with the academic

curriculums.

Academic curriculum can be challenging and difficult for students, especially

when they are not able to make real life connections with the lessons and skills being

taught. As an educator, my goal is to not only create learning experiences that allow for

students to have authentic learning opportunities, but also form genuine connections

with the skills, concepts, or lessons. One way that this can be achieved is through

problem based learning, which “is an educational approach that utilizes the principles of

collaborative learning in small groups…that uses a systematic approach, starting with

an authentic, real-life problem scenario as a context in which learning is not separated

from practice as students collaborate and learn”( Ghani et al., p. 1200). Each quarter, I

introduce a problem based learning scenario to the students, and they thoroughly enjoy

the process. I allow the students to find their own groups, or I group them based on a

mix of skill levels, but regardless of how they are grouped, students have to learn how

to problem solve and collaborate with one another, in order to successfully solve the

problem. With my fourth grade students, one of my favorite PBL lessons was one titled

“Thanksgiving Dinner ''. The students have to figure out how to buy and prepare a

Thanksgiving dinner for an allotted amount of people, with an allotted amount of money.

Each person attending the dinner has a specific diet or seating accommodations that

have to be considered, and the students have to decide what food or groceries they

need to buy in order to feed everyone. They also have to decide how to seat guests, as

some of the guests can’t sit by other guests and so forth. There are multiple steps that

have to be completed, so this is done over the course of the week, so this is typically
used as a summative assessment at the end of the quarter. This PBL activity requires

the students to utilize math, and some reading skills, that were taught during the entire

quarter, so some students do really well and find the process easier than other students

who may not have mastered certain skills yet. At the end, we do a whole group

discussion, where students discuss their processes, take-aways, and challenges with

the activity. I believe that problem based learning activities allow students to identify and

recognize their current knowledge, as well as determine where there are gaps in their

knowledge. The collaborative aspect of Problem Based Learning allows for the students

to acquire new knowledge, in hopes of bridging the possible gaps they may have. All in

all, Problem Based Learning is a great holistic approach to learning, and allows for

students to have an active role in their learning.

I believe that the learning process requires students to have active roles in their

learning, but also requires consistent “good” teaching and feedback from their teachers.

In regards to evaluation and assessment methods, I typically assess students by giving

immediate feedback when working in small groups led by myself, provide rubrics with

feedback when students complete projects, weekly quizzes and remediation on skills

that were not mastered, as well as testing on skills at the end of units or completing

projects or PBLs at the end of the quarter- in which multiple skills are assessed. I

believe that without feedback, students are not able to fully identify and understand their

progress with skills. By providing immediate and concise feedback, students are given

the opportunity to learn from and fix their mistakes, which ultimately will lead to mastery

of the skills, concepts, and instructional goals. Being that my major goal as an educator

is to help develop the child holistically and equip them with the necessary social,
emotional, and academic skills needed to be successful in reaching their individual

goals, I believe that students should leave my class with good problem solving and

critical thinking skills, as well as feel confident as learners in any setting. One of my

major goals for improving my teaching is to continue to become knowledgeable about

approaches to instruction and learning that will allow me to provide authentic learning

experiences that stick with students beyond the classroom. I also want to learn how to

give feedback that allows students to grow as learners. Lastly, I want to learn more

ways to implement social emotional learning in fun, creative, captivating ways, in order

for students to be able to apply the concepts in everyday life.

Ghani, A. S. A., Rahim, A. F. A., Yusoff, M. S. B., & Hadie, S. N. H. (2021, April 21). Effective
learning behavior in problem-based learning: A scoping review. Medical science
educator. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8059994/

Kim D, Lim JH, An J (2022) The quality and effectiveness of Social-Emotional Learning
(SEL) intervention studies in Korea: A meta-analysis. PLoS ONE 17(6): e0269996.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269996

King , M. L. (2021, May 21). “The Purpose of Education.” The Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Research and Education Institute.
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/purpose-education