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Personal Teaching Philosophy

Leigh Yarbrough

Regent University
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My personal teaching philosophy is that all children deserve the best education possible.

They deserve teachers that are passionate about teaching, ones who keep children at the center of

education practice and make learning fun, engaging, and practical to real life. Students should

feel important, empowered, and have a voice. This combined with a relationship with teachers

allows for fewer discipline issues. Parents should receive phone calls praising their children,

changing the stigma of cringing fear when parents see the school’s number pop up on their

phones. I want to promote more family communication and advance relationships at school and

at home.

I have seen in my student teaching that when teachers are passionate about teaching,

students are excited about the material that they are learning. The main phrase teachers need to

think about when making decisions and planning instruction is am I meeting the needs of the

students or myself. As teachers are completing the many other tasks required of them they can

feel overwhelmed in the teaching process and can forget the needs that need to be met are the

students. I have seen in my second placement of a first-grade class that any standard that is

being taught with enthusiasm is going to be engaging for the students.

Teachers should develop relationships and create a safe and inviting learning environment

where children are able to take risks. I feel that the relationship with students is the most

important factor in building a foundation for a safe learning atmosphere. I have seen in my first

placement that this can be as simple as greeting each student at the door each day with a smile

and kind words of a welcome. Getting to know student’s likes and hobbies outside of the

classroom make them feel valued and important.

I believe that allowing students to have many choices that accommodate the realm of

learning styles is important. I learned in my first placement that when students make personal
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goals that fit their personal learning style that fit within the classroom goals. The environment in

a classroom should give students the chance to show a growth mindset. I believe the best way

students learn is to persevere through difficult problems and learning to keep trying when they

want to give up on challenging problems. Giving students choices throughout the day on the

implementation of learning new skills gives students the opportunities to take charge of their

own learning.

The role of education in today’s society and children’s ability to learn is that educators

must design engaging learning environments that provide innovative learning opportunities for

all students. Personalized learning gives the student more responsibility for their learning

through goal setting; project-based activities, progress monitoring and reflection, and a student

can take hold of their learning and guide their own success to mastery. Offering students a

variety of strategies to learn and master skills is essential and this can also allow for students to

be excited about their learning. Whenever students are engaged and have ownership in their

learning their behavior is not as much of an issue. Giving students choices empowers them to be

self-driven learners who are engaged and interested in their outcomes.

I believe that having a strong relationship with your students creates an environment

without as many behavior issues. Classroom management should be based on positive feedback

and high expectations. I have seen in both of my placements that allowing students to be aware

of your expectations and aware they will be held accountable is important. I feel that there must

be a balance in positive feedback and recognizing behavior that is not meeting your expectations

is necessary. If a situation is becoming distracting to other students or harmful then we can not

just attempt to focus on the positive, we must as educators be aware of the battles that are needed

to be fought.
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I have seen in my first placement that ongoing communication with families is essential to

building school expectations. Teachers need to reach out to praise students and this will help to

change the stigma that parents can have when their phone rings and they see that it is their

student’s school calling. When possible we must have parents on board that continue the

conversation at home of what is expected in the classroom and have the student aware that their

parent agrees and supports the teacher. By creating a parent communication folder that has a

daily or weekly behavior report I believe helps to make this an easy and quick way for both the

teacher and the parent to stay in contact. I also believe that creating a relationship with parents

need to be based on positive components as much as possible and not solely when issues arise.

My goals for trying to become the most effective teacher as possible are, to begin with, a

strong relationship that will be building during the first weeks of school. I want to provide

meaningful lessons that are differentiated, fun, and engaging. Once I have a relationship and

engaging lesson this will help to create an environment that does not have as many discipline

issues. I will take the time to praise students within the classroom as well as to their parents to

help establish a strong relationship with parents.

During my student teaching, I have learned that relationships and rapport is a key

component to have an effective learning environment that is the foundation for a meaningful

classroom. Students must have a relationship with their teacher as well as their peers. This

relationship also allows the teacher to have a deeper understanding of a student and can make

decisions that are the best for that student throughout the day and allow students to invest in their

own learning.

One of the ways of creating a student-centered environment should be to make learning

joyful, challenging and engaging. Anytime someone is enjoying what he or she is doing they are
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learning without even being aware. Once this is established then we can add in the importance

of what the student is learning and allow them to work at their own pace but with a concrete plan

of what is expected and when. I also thought of the verse, Psalm 32:8 states, I will instruct you

and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you. This

helps to understand that when there are times decisions need to be made God is there to teach

you. The bible speaks for the moral and spiritual instruction of children and places a high value

on knowledge and describes the moral and spiritual fruit by defining the ultimate purpose. As

children grow their inherited powers and tendencies surface and begin to interact with the world

around them. As soon as a child is born there are forces at work influencing their development

although we know that human growth does not end with physical maturity

Luke 6:40 says the student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will

be like their teacher. We all have that one teacher that is remembered so vividly and helped to

shape the person we are today. This verse reminds us that all of the information that we teach

our students will allow them to become more like their teacher and grow in their academics and

life skills. This is the basic premise of the large goal that all teachers should have for their

students.