My philosophy includes the idea of experience. Knowing and understanding a topic comes from actually experiencing it. Without experiences, students can never actually learn. Because I believe in experience, I believe in parts of pragmatism. Pragmatism also includes the idea that problem solving should be taught. If students were not taught problem solving how would they ever be able to function successfully in life? Problems can vary from basic math questions to world problems, but without problem, solving the problems will only become more severe.

Existentialism is part of my own philosophy of education. I believe in existentialism because it deals with personal choices. Decision-making is important because students need to know their choices, and then they can realize the consequences of their decisions. Decision making then relates to experience because the choices made results in experiences so the two ideas relate and overlap. Essentialism also believes in educating the competent person and the curriculum includes the basic education. All students should know the basics such as reading, writing, math, history, English, science, and foreign language. With the basic education students can go far in life and I feel that with the education they can make a difference in others.

The role of the teacher is to have a solid commitment to the social and academic growth of each individual student. I believe that while children are still young, they need someone to build a solid foundation for them. I think their parents and teachers should be involved in developing that basis. Staying connected to the families helps the students understand that education and school are important. The teacher is the link between the students and the community and should maintain that role throughout their professional career. I also believe the teacher should guide the students by incorporating their interests into the lesson. When the children are interested they are more eager to participate and in turn they learn more.

Classroom management is a very important aspect of teaching. I will use classroom management to create an positive work environment for my students to model. Taking time to connect with my students is the first step in classroom management. The classroom will be turned into an arena of child centered learning. The appearance of my classroom will invite students to want to learn and to reflect positively on the value of education by allowing them to feel safe and ready to learn. I believe that without good classroom management techniques the instructional strategies will not be fully functional.

Instructional strategies should focus on engaging the students in an active learning environment. The New Jersey Professional Teaching Standards will be a foundation of my teaching and used frequently in my classroom. In relation to Standard Two, Human Growth and Development, I will take the time to know how my students construct knowledge, acquired skills and used those tools in developing instructional strategies that promoted student learning.

Instructional strategies that I would incorporate into my teaching would be to use activities to reinforce learning is a positive strategy that fosters student involvement and allows them to become an active participant in their learning. Activities create a learning experience that makes subject matter meaningful to students.

In relation to the New Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers Standard One: Subject Matter Knowledge, I would make connections to everyday life by having the student‚s access and share their schemata with their fellow classmates; thus, fostering active learners encouraging learning to be relative to real life experiences. I would allow my students to tell stories relating to the story they were about to read or the topic that was going to be covered this will also enlighten them on aspects that helped to broaden their horizons. I will also incorporate Bloom‚s Taxonomy into my lessons in order to move my students up the ladder bringing them to higher-level thinking.

I will strive to manage my classroom as a constructivist teacher. I feel this method of teaching is the most direct way to have students engage themselves in learning and truly enjoy their schooling experience. The classroom management techniques and the instructional strategies both work together to foster the maximum learning potential of my students. Before any learning can take place, the classroom has to be a place that is going to maximize the learning of your students. It is the building block for an organized well-facilitated learning environment.