Intro​

 

Hafa adai and welcome to my Eportofolio.  In this E porftfolio I explain my teaching philosophy, demonstrate my profeciency in tehcnology and my ability to integreate technology in the classroom.   I will link assignments that I've done to each of the five Internatoinal Society of Technology in Educaiton standards (ISTE).  

 

My Teaching Philosophy

 

The purpose of education has been debated since its inception, is it to help the country become more economically stable as a whole or to make the individual citizenry economically stable?  Furthermore, the role of an educator has also been debated in conjunction with the idea of how kids learn.  Over the years, there have been a tidal wave of theories that attempt to explain the nature of man and as a result the learning process.  In this paper, I explore my philosophy on the purpose of education, the role of the teacher, how kids learn and how to teach them.  When we operate from the notion of what can we do instead of what we cannot do, we can solve the most daunting of tasks and I feel that if ever there was such a task improving the American education system is it.

 

I believe there are two primary purposes of education. The first is to help kids understand their passion and the second is to help them become independent.  We need to help kids understand that they are unique and have many talents. We should cultivate those specific talents so that they may find a career that they enjoy and brings them fulfillment. This is important because most people are in careers they do not enjoy.  Even worse, they are living off social welfare from the government because they never learned what they were good at.   In addition, the school system must teach responsibility because many people lack it.  Most people have excuses for why they are not living a life that gives them joy.  In order for people to live meaningful lives, they must realize they are the only ones who will change their situation.  In my opinion, every person who accomplished something great had these ideals and I will instill them in my classroom.

 

Furthermore, my role as an educator is to help kids to learn to like themselves and help them become self-reliant.  I realize that many students have low self-esteem and therefore, it is my job to increase it.  I will accomplish this by privately and publicly praising my students’ effort and say hello to the kids in the hallways. In addition, I will make calls to their parents when they have done something right. Also, my role is to help kids to become self-reliant by creating a class website which will have a plethora of resources where they can learn on their own, seek advanced knowledge, and see all the upcoming due dates for assignments. This will help them see that they can look elsewhere for information and not solely rely on me as the teacher.

 

Furthermore, the increase in self-esteem and self-reliance will help them to thrive in the new economy.  This is important because there are many technological advances that are reducing the number of jobs and therefore kids will benefit from increased self-reliance.  Now in order for me to fulfill my role as a teacher I must teach in a way that is compatible with how kids learn.

In the same way that a carpenter needs tools, so too does a kid learn when they are given tools.  I believe that kids learn best when they are taught two primary tools, priority management and how to learn.  A huge number kids believe they are not intelligent because they have not been taught these valuable skills. As a result, majority have failed over and over and have given up because they believe school is too hard. This affects my teaching because I must solve this dilemma by making school easier.  I achieve this by teaching them how to manage their time by recommending the use of planners and teaching them how to use it.  Since most kids are on their phones I will teach them about applications like Toodledo ™ and Pocket Informant ™ that will lessen their stress and help them meet deadlines.

 

Furthermore, I will teach them to study and work in chunks and setting appointments for themselves and these have been proven to be very effective productivity strategies.  In addition, I will teach my lessons in a way that is brain compatible by using mnemonic techniques such as acronyms, journey lists, and the major system.  I will use acronyms and the journey list so that kids can learn and memorize both ordered information and lists.  To help them remember important dates, I will teach them the major system where they convert numbers into images and will help them to retain it for when they need it. These tips are extremely valuable because when kids learn to get better at doing their assignments and learn to study effectively school becomes easier and they become motivated and engaged.  This will open their eyes to the truth that they are geniuses if they only unleashed what is already inside them.

 

In this paper, I explored my philosophy of education.  I talked about the purpose of educating which is help kids understand their passion, and help them become independent.  I talked about the role of an educator which is to help kids like themselves and become self-reliant. And finally, I discussed how kids learn and how that impacts me as a teacher in which I believe that kids learn they have learned priority management and how to learn. In conclusion, I believe that the state of education is moving in the right direction.  We must continue to become innovative and flexible in our approach of education because as the world continues to change and evolve so too must education change with it.