Educational Philosophy Teaching is an important part of my life because it has offered me tremendous opportunities to collaborate with students, to learn about their individual diverse backgrounds and multicultural identities, and to use this knowledge to foster a learning environment where students are highly engaged. As a teacher who worked in Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS) for several years, I realized my role as teacher as one who facilitated learning within a safe classroom – a space that acknowledged and honored multiple voices and experiences. In my teaching experience in IPS, I was faced with various discords which could have been obstacles to my teaching: large class size, limited resources, students who were stereotyped and marginalized by society, and by the school system in which they were members, because of their socioeconomic status and ethnicity, among other issues. I also encountered an ever-changing curriculum that did not take learners’ backgrounds and home knowledge into consideration. Because of these challenges, I established my stance to advocate for students’ voices. Honoring students’ home knowledge, their background experiences and their own ‘ways of knowing’ has been an integral part of my educational philosophy. To present my philosophy more in-depthly, I draw on Paulo Freire’s notions of dialogue: Dialogue is critical. Communication between student and teacher, with both working as teachers and learners is a must. Communication between the world and the human is critical. Existence in the world is transformational. Humans live in the world, are a part of the world and live to create and make transformation.
My love of teaching and my passion for providing high quality, authentic learning experiences for all students prompts me to continually reflect on my own privileged status as teacher. How do the ways I teach, and the activities I promote in the classroom, meet students’ literacy needs? How do they honor students’ individual knowledge? Reference Freire, P. (1996). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Penguin Books. |