Educational History and Personal Philosophy Education Statement
It must be remembered that the purpose of education
is not to fill the minds of students with facts.
It is to teach them to think, if that is possible,
and always to think for themselves.
-Robert Hutchins
I view education as a tool that opens minds and introduces it to the world around us. It allows us to form different perspectives of looking at life. It helps us build opinions and have points of view, on everything we come across on our path. Education is the process of gaining information about the world around us through active participation and immediate experience. Education, is not only about lessons and words in textbooks. It also is about the experiences deriving form the environment and close surroundings such as: society, culture, family, friends, teachers. Both, school and social environment should come together in harmony to help us develop our interests and abilities to full potentials and guide us in to the future.
I was born in the country of Poland. I have attended school there for about 7 years, before moving to United States. I remember my studies being organized in the form of lectures, reading, writing, loads of homework and text memorization. I also recall, frequent oral and written exams. Student-teacher relationship was very professional and cold .There were days, when I walked to school terrified of making a mistake on my poem recital exam. I hardly remember school and educational approach, to be fun or even interesting. Everything was very automatic and mechanical. When I came to this country, I started attending seventh grade in Brooklyn. I was shocked by the vast differences in teaching approaches and children interactions with the teachers. The new school environment was warm and welcoming. Children felt more liberated to express their opinions and points of views. My early educational experiences have strongly influenced the way I teach my students.
As a preschool teacher, I strive for nurturing and safe school environment which is very essential for successful development. I want my students to feel comfortable and safe in expressing their personalities, thoughts and ideas. Most of all, I yearn for my students to develop independent thinking skills and intrinsic motivation for learning. I would like to teach how to think instead of what to think, by allowing to engage in frequent choice and decision making, as well as freedom to derive independently at solutions.
I believe that, teachers of young children have the important role of providing children with an appropriate, well rounded educational curriculum that promotes their physical, cognitive and social-emotional development and learning. When preparing lesson plans, I always consider the use of activities and projects that stimulate children simultaneously in several areas of development. I support the idea of a curriculum based on thematic units, which focuses strongly on children’s interest as well as everyday life information and skills. When choosing thematic units, I think about how to actively engage children in creative and critical thinking and how to help those children understand and learn about the world around them. One of the main developmental goals of young children is to make sense of their world and organize it in to meaningful and manageable categories or schemas (Copple and Bredekamp 2009).
Preschool education should provide many opportunities for fun and engaging social interaction, play and movement activities. I trust that children learn significantly through being active in their environment. Therefore, I strongly support integrating enrichment classes such as yoga, music and special art classes in to the curriculum. As well as providing many opportunities for free play. Erickson regarded play as means through which young children learn about themselves and their social world. Play permits preschoolers to try new skills with little risk of criticism and failure. It also creates a small social organization of children who must cooperate to achieve common goals (Berk, 2008)
Following, another very important aspect in education is parent and teacher involvement. Teachers and parents share the responsibility for the education and socialization of children. I believe wholeheartedly, that a child’s academic success is greatly enhanced when teachers and parents, are partners in the process. Throughout the school year, I use a variety of communication methods to build and sustain solid relationships with parents. Whenever, I need information pertaining to a child or a child is experiencing a problem, I contact the parents or guardians because they are my number one resource.
References
Berk, L. E. (2008). Infants And Children (Sixth Edition). Boston: Pearson Education.
Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.) (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8 (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.
is not to fill the minds of students with facts.
It is to teach them to think, if that is possible,
and always to think for themselves.
-Robert Hutchins
I view education as a tool that opens minds and introduces it to the world around us. It allows us to form different perspectives of looking at life. It helps us build opinions and have points of view, on everything we come across on our path. Education is the process of gaining information about the world around us through active participation and immediate experience. Education, is not only about lessons and words in textbooks. It also is about the experiences deriving form the environment and close surroundings such as: society, culture, family, friends, teachers. Both, school and social environment should come together in harmony to help us develop our interests and abilities to full potentials and guide us in to the future.
I was born in the country of Poland. I have attended school there for about 7 years, before moving to United States. I remember my studies being organized in the form of lectures, reading, writing, loads of homework and text memorization. I also recall, frequent oral and written exams. Student-teacher relationship was very professional and cold .There were days, when I walked to school terrified of making a mistake on my poem recital exam. I hardly remember school and educational approach, to be fun or even interesting. Everything was very automatic and mechanical. When I came to this country, I started attending seventh grade in Brooklyn. I was shocked by the vast differences in teaching approaches and children interactions with the teachers. The new school environment was warm and welcoming. Children felt more liberated to express their opinions and points of views. My early educational experiences have strongly influenced the way I teach my students.
As a preschool teacher, I strive for nurturing and safe school environment which is very essential for successful development. I want my students to feel comfortable and safe in expressing their personalities, thoughts and ideas. Most of all, I yearn for my students to develop independent thinking skills and intrinsic motivation for learning. I would like to teach how to think instead of what to think, by allowing to engage in frequent choice and decision making, as well as freedom to derive independently at solutions.
I believe that, teachers of young children have the important role of providing children with an appropriate, well rounded educational curriculum that promotes their physical, cognitive and social-emotional development and learning. When preparing lesson plans, I always consider the use of activities and projects that stimulate children simultaneously in several areas of development. I support the idea of a curriculum based on thematic units, which focuses strongly on children’s interest as well as everyday life information and skills. When choosing thematic units, I think about how to actively engage children in creative and critical thinking and how to help those children understand and learn about the world around them. One of the main developmental goals of young children is to make sense of their world and organize it in to meaningful and manageable categories or schemas (Copple and Bredekamp 2009).
Preschool education should provide many opportunities for fun and engaging social interaction, play and movement activities. I trust that children learn significantly through being active in their environment. Therefore, I strongly support integrating enrichment classes such as yoga, music and special art classes in to the curriculum. As well as providing many opportunities for free play. Erickson regarded play as means through which young children learn about themselves and their social world. Play permits preschoolers to try new skills with little risk of criticism and failure. It also creates a small social organization of children who must cooperate to achieve common goals (Berk, 2008)
Following, another very important aspect in education is parent and teacher involvement. Teachers and parents share the responsibility for the education and socialization of children. I believe wholeheartedly, that a child’s academic success is greatly enhanced when teachers and parents, are partners in the process. Throughout the school year, I use a variety of communication methods to build and sustain solid relationships with parents. Whenever, I need information pertaining to a child or a child is experiencing a problem, I contact the parents or guardians because they are my number one resource.
References
Berk, L. E. (2008). Infants And Children (Sixth Edition). Boston: Pearson Education.
Copple, C., & Bredekamp, S. (Eds.) (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8 (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.