My Teaching Philosophy

I would like to express my own vision about the teaching philosophy in this current article. While I introduce my points of view, I want the  reader  to pay attention  to the quotations  given below.  The authors of these brilliant words  are different  from each other  with  their nationalities, religions, epochs, professions  and  not only. They used to be   legendary  people  and  all of  them  had  got  their own   ideas  about  education.

Here they are – my favorite quotations ever:

  ‘Education  is  the most  powerful  weapon  which you can use to change the world’ (Nelson Mandela, Politician, XX-XXI);

  ‘Education is not  preparation for life;  Education is life itself’ (John Dewey , Philosopher, psychologist, educational reformer, XIX – XX);

   ‘Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school’ (Albert Einstein,Theoretical  physicist, XIX – XX);

   ‘Those who educate children well are more to be honored than they who produce them; for these only  gave them life, those the art of living well’;  ‘The Educated differ from the uneducated as  much as    the living differ from the dead’ (Aristotle, Greek philosopher / Scientist, IV B.C.)

   ‘Study without desire spoils the memory, and it retains nothing that it takes in’ (Leonardo da Vinci, Artist, XV-XVI)

I have written  these five quotations  above just because I totally hold  the same  point.

Well, what about my philosophy?  Simply, the main aim  of teaching  should  be oriented  on the pupils’ learning motivation. We should endeavor  to fit learning process with their desires, ideas, interests and so on.  We don’t have  to teach just for ‘teaching’, but  giving them the most appropriate, competent  forms of learning in much more engaging , entertaining  and effective ways.

In my opinion, increasing  the pupils’ motivation  is not as hard as we think it really is.  Every  teacher should encourage  pupils’ individualism, ensuring   that  each  of  them  has got the enough ability to be successful  in the future, if she/he gets  the adequate education.

According  to  the popular  ‘Multiple intelligences  theory’ by  Howard  Gardner, he lists seven intelligences  which work  together – linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal and intrapersonal  and then adds the eighth one – naturalist intelligence, saying there may be a few more.  

It is  also  widely known,  that pupils  differ  from each other  with their  skills and aspirations; Therefore,  it sounds impossible  if  all of  them  show  the same interests  in Maths, Physics, Biology or even History. Anyway, we should  attempt   to develop  as many skills as  it is possible to.  As mentioned above, we don’t  need  to decide what each student has to learn, but  only  they  have to decide on their own what  to learn.

Another  question  is how  to teach and what  are the most efficient  methods during  the teaching process.  Due to my past  experience, I can  say  that  I have always been trying  to  use various methods  in order  to create  much more interesting, pleasant  and  diverting  lessons  than my teachers  used to do  in the past. The book  is not  the one and  only educational  resources  nowadays as I am striving for improvement and as I am always open to changes.  The modern  educational  countries  of the entire world, seek and struggle  to replace  it  with computer  studies.   Project-based learning  becomes  more popular  as well.  We  should  ask ourselves,  what  is  the difference  between  the  pupils  who  learn  new  words  from  the book  and  the pupils  who find  it  easier  to learn  them  from  their  favorite  song  lyrics?  Basically , the  second  one is  better, because  she/he  does  the  same  work  in  her/his  profitable  and  favorable  ways.

We  should  mention  testing  component  - one of the most  widespread  form  of  students’ evaluation , that is not  fair  enough.   It would  be better  if there were  any  other  alternative  forms  of  assessment.  The  last  one  is  focused  on  the  different  needs, abilities  and learning  skills. 

Another  important   thing  is  a  communication factor -  how does the teacher communicate  with  pupils or with  his/her colleagues.  I think,  that  I am not  that kind of  person, who  finds  it difficult  to have  communication  with both  of  them.  I always  make an effort  to solve the problem  in a diplomatic, peaceful  way and keep  the positive  relationship  up, as we know  that  the cooperative  environment  is  closely connected  with pupils’ academic  progress. 

And  at  last, it must  be admitted   that  teaching  needs  more practice, as practice makes perfect.  Honestly,  I am not satisfied  with  my  experience, because of a few years I have spent at school so far . So, if  I work harder  on  myself,  I will be  prouder  of my work,  than I am in a current  situation.