Philosophy Statement :: Education Teaching Teachers Classroom Essays

Philosophy Statement â€Å"Give a child a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him to fish and he eats for a lifetime.† ~Author Unknown Teaching is not a profession but a life choice to change the world one child at a time. In a classroom there are four walls and within those four walls lies the opportunity to build strong foundations for tomorrow. I believe there are three aspects to teaching; touching the mind (mental), the heart (emotional), and the hands (physical). If you take a young child to the lake, a river, or even a stream and teach him to fish he learns techniques mentally, feels loved and wanted emotionally, and learns that he is growing physically. The same can be said for a classroom. Instruct a child’s mind, love a child’s heart, and hold a child’s hand and success is instantly recognizable. The three walk hand in hand toward a child’s overall development. The mind must be stimulated to learn. Children learn what they see, not what they are told. Although my objective is to teach on a high school level, I believe that the same is true with teens. Parents declare, â€Å"Do as I say not as I do,† but children replicate what they are exposed to on a daily basis. If a teacher is not excited about what she is teaching neither will the student be excited about what he/she is learning. Moods are contagious, make the atmosphere outrageous! It is my desire that students see my enthusiasm when teaching my content area and that excitement ignites a fire of passion for learning within the individual student and the classroom as a whole. Young people today have a strong desire to feel wanted. They want to fit in, they want to look cool, they want to be loved and fall in love, they simply want acceptance. It is my job as a mentor to nurture those basic needs of emotional development at the adolescent age. I vow never to ridicule a student for a wrong answer, never chastise a pupil in front of peers, and never embarrass a child for the sake of demonstrating my authority. Students need to have a sense of belonging and purpose within the classroom and the world outside, nurturing their heart and emotions is critical during these years.