Revised Personal Philosophy of Teaching

Answer

Revised Personal Philosophy of Teaching

A teaching philosophy is important and personal to every individual in the teaching profession. It is imperative to establish a teaching philosophy that reflects one’s values and beliefs in relation to teaching as a career. The purpose of this paper is to provide a revision of my personal teaching philosophy. The paper will include a reflection of various teaching practices and principles, a revised teaching philosophy and an evaluation discussion. It is imperative to revise my personal philosophy of teaching in order to incorporate my newly acquired knowledge and beliefs during this course. Throughout the course, I have gained new understanding and insight on various elements of teaching, which have impacted my general viewpoint on the profession.

Reflection

One of the most important lessons that I learnt during this course is that effective teaching involves encouraging active learning. This principle resonated with me as it facilitates engagement within the classroom. I have always been supportive of efficient engagement within the classroom. According to this principle, students learn best when they are actively involved in their own learning process as opposed to being passive participants (Abdullah, Bakar & Mahbob, 2012). The second lesson that impacted me was that it is important for a teacher to constantly give feedback to students in order to encourage effective learning (Tai, Lin & Yang, 2015). Through this, students are able to understand precisely how they are faring and to revise their learning methods in case there is a need.

The one thing that I learned about teaching that I was previously unaware of is that it is imperative for a teacher to insist on high expectations. This means that when a teacher expects more from the students and enunciates this to them, then they are more likely to perform well as a result. Low expectations breed poor performance (Tai, Lin & Yang, 2015). Ultimately, what stood out as important to me over the past 8 weeks is that teaching is not as simple a profession as I initially thought. There is a certain strategy involved in effective teaching that all teachers must be aware of in their practice. Above all, I believe that the most crucial lesson is communication. Communication between the teachers and students as well as the students amongst themselves is crucial to effective teaching and learning (Tesfaye & Berhanu, 2015). Teachers must give students a chance to dictate their own learning to a considerable degree. Through this, their interest in learning may be peaked enough to attain good results ultimately. According to my own understanding during the course, the most effective way of enhancing student interest in their own learning is through communication.

Revised Teaching Philosophy

Based on the knowledge and understanding that I gained throughout the course, I believe more firmly in my initial teaching philosophy. The information that I acquired over the past 8 weeks was an affirmation that my teaching philosophy touches on many of the important areas that are associated with effective teaching. However, as a result of the course I have reconsidered my position in terms of expanding my personal teaching philosophy.  

My initial teaching philosophy was to establish beneficial and positive relationships that are rooted in mutual trust and respect with each of my students. My rationale was that my establishing mutually beneficial and trusting relationships with my students, I would be able to relate with them better. I believe that this aligns with the lesson of communication between a teacher and student being important for effective teaching and learning.

Regardless, I have considered revising my philosophy by expanding it to include just as much communication from the teacher as from the student. Initially, my philosophy was mainly focused on acquiring information from the students as opposed to sharing my own information with the students. However, due to the principle that emphasizes the importance of providing feedback to students, I believe that it is just as important for me to communicate with them as it is for them to communicate with me. As much as I need to understand my students, it is imperative that I give them feedback based on their performance among other factors that may affect their learning.

The focus of my revised teaching philosophy is to enhance communication between myself and my students. I want to have the capacity to have free communication flow within my classroom. Personally, I have always believed that much can be accomplished when people are able to communicate with one another. My initial philosophy focused mainly on collecting information from my students and forming perceptions about them that may enable me to teach them better through personalized learning. However, the revised philosophy allows me to actually share this collected information and perceptions with the respective students to enhance transparency and an arrival at mutual conclusions concerning the required resolutions.

The reason why I hold my values and beliefs regarding effective communication and transparency between a teacher and a student is that I have personal experience based on my own experience with my former teacher. She made a point of giving me constant feedback regarding my performance as well as helping me to understand myself better as a student by sharing her perceptions of me. As a result, we were able to create a personalized teaching plan that was just right for me as an individual. My values and beliefs regarding this have not changed.

My teaching goal is to encourage my students to express themselves more freely within the classroom. While this perspective has not changed, it has expanded such that I would encourage my students to challenge one another just as much as I challenge them. Initially, my strategy was to encourage my students to be more active in their learning while I become more of a passive participant. I no longer believe that this is optimal. I now believe that both my students and I should be active in the classroom whereby we all challenge one another’s positions, for instance.

Evaluation Discussion

My initial teaching philosophy was to establish a mutually beneficial and trusting relationship with my students. My revised teaching philosophy is to establish a mutually beneficial and trusting relationship with my students that is primarily founded in effective communication and considerable transparency. The change between my initial teaching philosophy and my revised teaching philosophy is minor. I still believe in and stand firm by my initial teaching philosophy. However, I have expanded it to enhance my role in the process. While my teaching philosophy was initially one-sided, the revised philosophy is emphasizes on the mutual aspect of the relationship.

There are minor changes to my teaching goals and strategies. My initial teaching goal was to encourage students to be more active and expressive in class while I became more passive and watchful. However, I have changed this perspective because I no longer believe that my passivity in the classroom will be wholly beneficial to the students. The students need to be challenged and prompted to express themselves, which means that my role as a teacher should be just as active as their role as students. Notably, this reflects my new teaching strategy.

As a teacher and an individual, I do not place much importance in different learning experiences. I believe that each student is different and hence, has different needs. Consequently, my approach as a teacher would still be to interact with students individually in order to perceive and understand them as individuals rather than collectively. However, I believe that consistency is important in the teaching and learning process.

Conclusively, teaching is highly important to me as it is more than just a career; it is a vocation. I believe in the positive and lasting impact of good teaching and hence, I often try to relate with all of my students both collectively and individually. My revised teaching philosophy is to enhance communication between my students and myself in a manner that is fluid and transparent. The reason for my revision is that I came upon the realization over the past 8 weeks that students may not be wholly communicative or forthcoming in a one-sided relationship where their role is ostensibly to give information and receive none in return. The course has played a fundamental part in enunciating the role of feedback and communication in the teaching process.