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Teaching Philosophy

You'll write your Teaching Philosophy in EDUC 381. If you want to get started early, here are some prompts...

Preparing to Write a Personal Philosophy of Education

Use the following questions to help you think about your beliefs regarding education. Spend some time thinking about each one in some depth. It is not necessary to respond to each of these questions in your written philosophy. You may also, of course, decide to comment on additional issues as well. There is no magic formula. Just try to put your honest thoughts on paper -- somewhere around 300-400 words.

You should strive for a serious but not pompous tone, conveying your thoughts with clarity as well as with perfect spelling, punctuation, and grammar. It may help to consider a school administrator as your audience. Try to write a paper that will let that person know where you stand in regard to important educational theories and practices.

In your opinion, what are the broad goals of education? How can they best be met?
What are your hopes for each of your (future) students? What do you want them to achieve, accomplish, learn, feel, etc.?
What kind of knowledge and skills do you believe is most important for students, and how should they gain that knowledge and those skills? What will be your role in that process?
What do you believe about the learning process? In what ways does it take place? How will your beliefs influence your teaching?
Will you consciously promote certain values in your classroom? If so, which values will you choose? Why or why not?
What kind of environment do you hope to create in your classroom? How does this relate to your basic beliefs about students and learning?
What kind of feedback will you offer your students as they work? How will you use praise, rewards, punishment, etc.? What kind of assessment will you use to be sure that students have met objectives?

It may be helpful to consider such theories, terms, and models as: Behaviorism; Information processing; Social learning; Metacognition; Constructivism; Problem solving; Thinking skills; Discovery learning; Direct instruction; Motivation; Self-concept; Advanced organizers; Cooperative learning; Individualization; Learning styles.