standard 6 :Professionalism
My Philosophy of Education
I believe education can save one’s life: This is the only way to change one’s life. Education can help a person who lost his/her way, give a right direction for life’s journey, tell them what is right or wrong, and help them to have the ability to make decisions. As a language teacher, I also can help people to have open-minded thinking and attitudes between different cultures.
There are so many roles for a teacher: sometimes a teacher is like a mother, some say a teacher is a friend, and I think a teacher is more like a gardener. Each classroom is just like a colorful garden: each child or student is an individual species of flower. The teacher is like a gardener, he/she always takes care of each one and helps them grow well.
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To be a competent gardener, the first work is to know all the species very well. To put this role into an educational context, teachers need to know a unique student’s characteristics and learning style, a good teacher can observe the best way to help a particular person to learn. Maybe some students to learn best by themselves, while other learn more from cooperation, it depends!
Second, a good gardener’s work is helping plants to grow up, which does not mean pushing them to grow up. An old Chinese proverb says, never pull up the seedlings to help them grow. As we know, we never control plants growing, so no need to help plants make a decision. We just give them enough nutrition, teach them how to do photosynthesis, to encourage them, to challenge them to grow up in the right time. In the language learning condition, students can decide what is in primary, important subject and ability for themselves, the teacher gives them wanted materials, and helps them to achieve their own goal, to grow in their own way.
Finally, a gardener is always learning. Each period has its own characteristics. Students’ learning styles may be changed by the environmental influence or the trend of the world. So, never stop learning is an important element for professional teachers. To me, I always learn from teaching and students’ reactions to learning. In the past, maybe I used flash cards to assist with teaching, but nowadays, using computer or multimedia is a new trend to assist teaching and learning. Using a digital tools can create an interesting atmosphere students are familiar with, I’ve discovered it works to catch students attention, using helpful tools and suitable methods can help learners learn more, learn good and have fun!
Someone said education is a service industry, I disagree with this wording, I think being a teacher is not only a knowledge communicator but also a life counselor. Education is a long-run journey. I hope I can be a good gardener in someone’s life to see a small seed become a colorful flower.
Second, a good gardener’s work is helping plants to grow up, which does not mean pushing them to grow up. An old Chinese proverb says, never pull up the seedlings to help them grow. As we know, we never control plants growing, so no need to help plants make a decision. We just give them enough nutrition, teach them how to do photosynthesis, to encourage them, to challenge them to grow up in the right time. In the language learning condition, students can decide what is in primary, important subject and ability for themselves, the teacher gives them wanted materials, and helps them to achieve their own goal, to grow in their own way.
Finally, a gardener is always learning. Each period has its own characteristics. Students’ learning styles may be changed by the environmental influence or the trend of the world. So, never stop learning is an important element for professional teachers. To me, I always learn from teaching and students’ reactions to learning. In the past, maybe I used flash cards to assist with teaching, but nowadays, using computer or multimedia is a new trend to assist teaching and learning. Using a digital tools can create an interesting atmosphere students are familiar with, I’ve discovered it works to catch students attention, using helpful tools and suitable methods can help learners learn more, learn good and have fun!
Someone said education is a service industry, I disagree with this wording, I think being a teacher is not only a knowledge communicator but also a life counselor. Education is a long-run journey. I hope I can be a good gardener in someone’s life to see a small seed become a colorful flower.
