As a teacher new to the field, I have gained insight into issues and topics that are both controversial and straightforward. I would like to start out with why I became a teacher. The reason I chose to do well in school was due to the teachers that pushed me and encouraged me to do well. I didn't always enjoy the schoolwork, but each day was a pleasure to go to class and learn from the teacher. I have been told by others that I have helped in college science courses, that they wish they had a teacher that could help them understand concepts as well as I can. This gives me a feeling of accomplishment unlike any other. .
I consider education to be a combination of constructive and cognitive processes. I believe that learning is most valuable when students learn through construction of knowledge through interaction with the learning environment. One aspect of a teacher I do not enjoy as a student, or support as a future educator is over use of rote learning. Although this can be a tool used in learning, too many teachers simply spew facts out to students in a lecture format and expect knowledge to be a function of rote memorization. This makes learning extremely boring for most and impossible for some. When students are allowed to explore, question, and discover, information is more likely to be learned. Students must see how the information relates to their lives to consider the knowledge important. .
The cognitive aspect of my philosophy includes the consideration of multiple intelligences and processes of storing information studied. Often times when students have difficulty recalling information the problem lies in how the information was first understood and stored. Students are often expected to learn in ways that are not parallel with their strongest intelligence. Although I feel it is important to try to develop all forms of intelligence in students, the core of a students learning must be done in a manner that they are able to comprehend and relate concepts with prior knowledge.