Philosophy of Education I think I have always wanted to be an educator. I grew up around early childhood education with my mother being a preschool teacher herself, but it took a bit longer for me to find my passion. My mother always told me I would be a great teacher, but I did not want to settle for it and wanted to explore my options. I am sure glad I came around. I truly love what I do. Being a teacher, to me, is being an influence in a child’s life. Regardless if they will remember me years down the line, I take pride in knowing I have helped that child at the very start of their educational career. Although, I have been teaching for three years, I am not quite sure I have established my own philosophy of education.
I typically read through those when they come in to keep myself up to date. From different readings, though, I might further extend my research of different topics on the internet. I also will look into new things that I encounter with the new children that come into my classroom. And along with that, I look to those families for new information that they might know as well.
Empathy is a critical quality for everyone to have. It helps you feel connected with others and understand their feelings and behaviors. Empathy is needed as an early childhood educators. Educators should have the ability to understand children’s behaviors and from that could predict future behaviors. Empathy also helps understand those who are different than oneself. Empathy is hard to “teach.” I put that in quotes because I feel it is something that should not have to be taught, but it this day and age it is. Through demonstration and encouragement of diversities, I feel that children can learn to respect one another and gain empathy for each other. In my classroom, respect is a key part. I make sure that every conflict is taken care of in an appropriate manner. We are always discussing diversity and anti-bias topics, whether they are an issue in our classroom or not. At my center we encourage all different cultures, languages, lifestyles, etc. Not only do we dedicate an entire month of curriculum to all cultures, but we incorporate the cultures all year long. We encourage families to teach us new things about their different cultures and the children. We also have an open-door policy in that families can come to us teachers and/or our directors with anything they need. We are a very accommodating center and pride ourselves in making our families feel like they are a part of our own family. It is crucial to remain unbiased when working with the children in your classroom/center. Although we have an open-door policy at my center right now, not all families will come and tell us what is going on. When it comes to the children, you never know what is truly going on in their little minds. It is not our job as educators to judge or pry into a child’s life but to just love them as they are and help them to succeed. I am committed to trying to give each of my students everything they need to succeed in not only my classroom, but