Sep

22

My philosophy of education

Filed Under The Way I See It 

My philosophy of education? It is and always has been student centric. Of course the world has changed much since I started teaching, and my teaching philosophy has reflected this. It is definitely grounded in the 21st century. I’ve made it a point to be a life long learner and be on the cutting edge of new developments in education so that I can be the best teacher possible for my students and their parents. Being the best teacher possible also means collaborating with my colleagues and sharing what I have learned and learning from them.

What should the 21st century classroom be like? The 21st century classroom must still be a safe place where students can develop to their full potential. Curriculum must still be inclusive, interdisciplinary, contextual and based on real world examples. Assessment in the 21st century classroom should not focus on the outcome but on the learning process itself, and entail higher order thinking, rich world tasks, collaboration, peer assessment, timely and appropriate feedback. The classroom environment in the 21st century must still facilitate and encourage project based learning, collaboration, discussion, reflection and feedback , and of course teachers must still teach, assess and evaluate students keeping different learning styles and multiple intelligences in mind.

What has changed in the 21st century classroom? What has changed is the availability of new tools and technologies such as more powerful computers, a plethora of new computer applications, the Internet, LCD projectors,white boards, document cameras, wiki’s, class blogs, just to mention a few, that facilitate the development of crucial higher order thinking skills and the technological media and information fluency students will need to be able to meet the demands of the future, whatever they are.

It’s exciting to be a teacher in the 21st century. We really don’t know for sure what the future will bring. The world is changing so rapidly, and yet we are charged with preparing our students for this unknown future. This is precisely why teachers need to be life long learners. Change is constant; learning must be constant. This is why I’m a life long learner. This why I started my personal blog www.teachersatrisk.com over two years ago so that I could collaborate with other teachers not only at my school level or at the Board level but with teachers all over the world via the new technology to share what I’ve learned and learn from what others share.

I guess what I finally want to say is that after teaching for 25 years I still love teaching. I love working with the students, and I love working with other teachers. Teaching in the 21st century is not an easy task by any means, but it’s one of the best jobs for someone like me who loves learning, loves teaching, loves sharing, needs to be creative and likes to be on the cutting edge of things.

What’s your philosophy of education?

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Comments

2 Responses to “My philosophy of education”

  1. Lee on September 23rd, 2008 9:58 pm

    I LOVE that you love what you do and that you have a philosophy! I’ve made Teachers at Risk a link on our blog. Good stuff.

    Keep up the good work.

    My philosophy of education is that teachers should teach students how to teach themselves and discover things for themselves. I believe good teachers should make a tremendous difference in the lives of their students. They should be influential teachers.

  2. Elona Hartjes on September 24th, 2008 5:58 am

    Lee,
    Thanks for sharing your philosophy and thanks for putting a link on your blog.

    I think it’s very important for kids to learn how to teach themselves because they are going to have to be life long learners.

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