Janeth Cuevas

09/20/2016

Philosophy of Education

The path that has led me to aspire to be an educator has been paved by the words and
actions of the influential teachers in my life. Much like they have inspired me, I have made it a
personal goal to ignite a love and passion for learning, reading, literature, and writing into the
minds of the students I come across. Throughout my years as a student, Ive come to find that
some of the most effective teachers are not the ones that simply show up and recite material, but
rather the ones that use interactive methods of teaching, innovate those methods as the times
change, and make an effort to understand and learn about each pupil. As a future educator, I will
strive to connect with my students and encourage open communication and trust in the
classroom. Understanding that my class will only be a small fraction of each students life and
that they have a whole world outside of my classroom is an extremely important factor in
understanding the behavior and thought process of each student. While I will encourage
education and learning to be a priority in my students lives, I will also consider the many other
things occurring in their lives and therefore will promote an environment where expression and
creativity are most welcome.

As a future English teacher, I understand that literature and writing are not of utmost
importance for the majority of students. To combat this, I will implement teaching methods to
make the material being taught relevant to their lives. I strongly believe that if material is
presented to a student in a way that can be applied to their life or is in some way relatable for
them, learning will be much more interesting and will provide long term understanding. I will
apply pieces of literature to everyday life in a way that will be appealing to students working
with students to break down pieces with difficult language into more understandable and
condensed terms, or creating story boards to create mental images of what a piece is conveying. I
will implement discussion groups to break down concepts and have students collaborate with
each other to gain a better understanding of the challenge at hand. I will incorporate collaborative
methods which will require students to help each other learn, such as leading a short discussion
on a certain topic and requiring students to meet a goal, have a discussion or debate, or solve a
challenge by the end of the class period. I will be very focused on creating assignments that will
include a lot of student interaction and group work. I will have many group projects to have
students receive positive interaction and reinforcement in the learning environment, and
implement these teaching methods to meet one of my ultimate goals in the classroom: to bring
students together and make new friendships through a newfound love for reading, writing, and
learning in general.

I will always motivate my students in everything that they set their minds to do, and
encourage them to take risks and wander outside of their comfort zones. I will be focused on
helping my students grow and make a conscious effort to help them fall in love with learning in
efforts to increase graduation rates. I will dedicate all the time thats necessary to students that
are in need of additional help whether that is related to school, family, or personal lifeI will
always help my students to the fullest extent of my abilities.