Teaching Inspiration: A Philosophy of Education

 

I believe “Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire”. This quote, arguably attributed to W.B. Yeats, embodies my Teaching Philosophy. To me, students are not containers, in which teachers pour their knowledge because, ultimately, these containers will fill to the brim. Teachers must be the ones, which ignite students’ passion for learning and education. When a fire ignites, it keeps consuming all, which surrounds it, so too a student who is stimulated to learn will maintain a desire for knowledge through life. As a teacher, I wish to be an example for my students by demonstrating to them my passion for learning. When educators demonstrate passion for the subjects they are teaching they make the subjects sound much more interesting and attractive for students.

 

My role as a teacher will be to ignite the spark in my students, which will keep growing throughout their lives. Because I know I am teaching individuals, and not just a group of unnamed faces, my job is to pay special attention to individual learners and attempt to target their interest and integrate these interest in my class. From my experience as a learner, I have seen students learn when they feel comfortable with the teacher and are not intimidated by the figure of the teacher in the classroom. I aspire to promote a sense of trust with my students, to make them realize I am not there to intimidate them and tell them what they have to learn otherwise I will fail them, but to guide them in the learning process. “No one can learn for us” (Larsen-Freeman), “to learn is our own responsibility” (Larsen-Freeman) yet with the help of a mentor and guide the road to learning is mapped out for us.

 

As this reflection shows, I promote individual learning, and agree with Paulo Freire’s critique of Banking Education. As a teacher, I will not posses all the information there is to know and try to implant all this knowledge into students; Instead, I will promote active learning because learning is an act, which occurs throughout life, and teacher’s will not always be there to tell students what exactly is they must learn.

 

In order to achieve my goal of motivating students to yearning for an education, I plan to use a variety of methods and approaches, as the situation calls for, because I believe there is no single way to acquire learning. After evaluating different methods and approaches, I will implement the ones applicable to the context and interest of my students, in order to achieve education as effortlessly as possible. I firmly believe “Meaningful work both enlarges students' knowledge stores and sparks their desire to wield that knowledge.” (Moore, Caitlin). Using different methods and approaches will help me discover which are the ones, which transmit knowledge aspiration in my students efficiently.