“Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” -Albert Einstein
Self-reflection has played a large role with regards to my style of teaching. A question as simple as “what am I passionate about,” that shaped me as an educator in the teaching profession. I am privileged to have the opportunity to help guide students in a direction that can positively impact their futures. My career goal is to live and breathe what I doing and truly love doing it. In the words of Steve Jobs, “the only way to do good work is to love what you do.” My love falls within impacting students in a greater aspect than within the classroom. I truly believe that some teachers may restrict themselves to content and curriculum however, I will not limit myself nor will I use the prescribed learning outcomes as my sole method of teaching my students.
It is within my power as a Business Education teacher to incorporate relevancy within my lessons to allow my students to relate applicable information to the information that is facilitated. I strongly believe that a classroom with a focus in business should be modeled similarly to what my students will encounter when they exit their educational institution of choice whether that be their high school or post secondary institution. I plan to incorporate hands on, tactical projects and case studies that represent realistic business simulations within the classroom. This includes the use and understanding of technology. I will continue to develop my technology skills to be able to better facilitate and create projects and assignments for my students. Technology is such a large part of my students every day lives and I want them to understand the benefits of usage within the world of business. This will allow the students to experience the potential reality of their lives outside of a classroom environment. It is important that my students have an understanding of the business industry by taking part in cases and visit business professionals within their environments.
I will provide an open and safe learning environment for all types of learners by using a wide variety of teaching methods which, will allow all of my students to feel successful within the four walls of my classroom. My lessons will cover and include material that touches upon; the prescribed learning outcomes while catering to the social-emotional development and cognitive maturity within my students. These methods will help the class obtain daily and monthly goals through hands-on, audio and visual activities. This will help all students achieve academic goals.
I strongly feel that Business Education can make a significant impact in a young student’s life and can positively contribute to his or her life at a professional level! It allows children to have a general understanding of how the world functions on the idea that it is a business and most institutions function on an extremely similar structure. My overall philosophy as a teacher is to incorporate engaging lessons that allow the students to learn relevant academic information to increase knowledge within the field of business and the development as young professionals
How has my philosophy changed?
I am genuinely surprised with how my philosophy has evolved over the past year. My thought processes are still fairly similar however, my opinions have sharpened. I am teaching for my students. My success is based solely on the success of my students regarding their academic progression and their development as young adults. I understand that there are curriculums and prescribed learning outcomes that are designed for teachers to follow however, it is crucial that teachers spend time teaching some things that may be off course and relevant. Students spend most of their time at their high school and less time at home. It is important that teachers are not only teaching content but also teaching students specific behaviors. Some of the behaviors I feel are important are the following; discipline, respect, dedication, quality of work, punctuality, self worth, importance, passion, ability to regulate emotion, prioritizing and most of all, perspective.