My Philosophy of Education

"LOGIC WILL GET YOU FROM A TO B, IMAGINATION WILL GET YOU EVERYWHERE"
(Albert Einstein)

"Education is all about being excited about something. Seeing passion and enthusiasm helps push an educational message.” (Steve Irwin)

My education philosophy is based on the idea that I want to be an inspiration for my students not just a fountain of information.. I want to be able to talk to them like creative, thinking, thoughtful human beings and not be afraid to learn from them. I want to be a teacher that a student cannot only learn from, but learn with . I believe that the most important skills I can teach my students are the ability to think, to imagine,  and to become lifelong learners. I do not want merely to teach them facts, but to inspire them to be curious, to inspire them to cultivate their own voice and to inspire their own confidence. I do not believe that teaching them to memorize facts for a test makes me an effective teacher. Knowledge is useless without the ability to apply it to the real world and solve real-life problems and investigate real-life mysteries. Facts are useless without the imagination and confidence to apply them in new and creative ways.

When I think about what kind of teacher I wan to be, I find myself, quite often, looking to my heroes for inspiration. Albert Einstein once stated that "education is not the learning of  facts, but the training of the mind to think". Thomas Jefferson once said that "we should not forget that the true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers". Lastly, Mr. Nelson Mandela may have summarized my true philosophy of education when he said, "education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world".

As far as technology and how it relates to my philosophy of education.  Some of the main components of a great teacher are the willingness to try new things, the ability to adapt, and the desire to learn and improve. I am excited to incorporate technology into my classroom. However, unless I am given the appropriate tools and resources in order to make technology a natural part of my daily lessons, then it will always be just an addition, not an integration.

I had to write a philosophy of leadership essay for one of my graduate school classes earlier this semester. As part of that assignment, this is what we had to describe a learning experience that changed our lives. This is what I wrote. It is as true now as it was then and helps to shape my education philosophy to this day:

"It was the first day of Spanish 1, my freshman year. I came into class and my teacher started rambling on and I could not understand a single word. I was terrified. Then she picked up a guitar and started to sing. She sang the most beautiful song. I still could not understand the words, but the music made me realize that the words did not matter, the music is what mattered. The fact that I could enjoy something beautiful that I did not understand mattered. It was the beginning of a wonderful time of discovery for me. After the song, she went on to describe her adventures in the Peace Corps, hitchhiking through Central America with a backpack and a buddy, hosting tours to the Galapagos, and climbing mountains in Peru. She wove all of these stories into a mesmerizing tapestry of adventure and excitement. I did not realize it at the time, but that moment, thirty years ago, sealed my fate. That was when my thirst for adventure was ignited and my need to explore was born. I have never really thought about it until now, how important that moment really was; how significantly it has affected my life. In all honesty, if not for that moment, that teacher, I probably would not be here today; a forty-five year old Spanish teacher/ graduate student having experiences others only dream about."

This is how I want my students to look back and remember me. :)