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Philosophy of Education

Jesse Alvarez

College of Southern Nevada

EDU 201: Intro to Elementary Education

Prof. Bridges

December 12, 2022

Philosophy of Education

After the completion of my field observation hours my teacher philosophy has changed. I

was lucky enough to partake the observation with my kindergarten teacher! In just two days of

watching him as he just completed his 25th year of teaching, my entire perspective was flipped

upside down! If not flipped, it powered up my drive to continue my education journey in

becoming an elementary teacher and make a difference at my future school by creating an

environment where students feel accomplished and safe.

My new philosophy: following my first mentor’s is “slow and steady wins the race”.

Being involved in a special education only empowered this philosophy further! It opened my

eyes and I have come to learn that there are countless of students everyday and everywhere who

deal with disabilities. These disabilities ranging from physical abnormalities, to language

impairments and developmental disabilities.

Currently I am enrolled in a special education course this semester, however, my goals

may or may not differ than what some of my peers strive for. One of my end goals is to pursue a

degree in elementary education. I wish to chase this career in teaching, because I want to make a

difference in the world and originate an environment where students and those around me feel

accomplished and safe. An effective educator if you must. I do not wish to be respected; I do not

need it; I do not wish to ride on a high horse. None of that matters to me. What matters to me are

the students. They have their entire lives ahead of them, and nothing would satisfy my needs

more than reaching my hand out to them. If they have issues, I want them to feel safe to come to

me, if they have a problem with a question, without hesitation I will drop everything and make

them my number one priority. This is not a game, whatever alternative you make, whatever word

or phrase you say, a student will hold onto that dearly for possibly the rest of their lives. That
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matters. If you call a student a failure? It makes psychological sense that they too will perceive

themselves as a failure with nothing to give. I never want that on anybody certainly not on a

child.

I envy those who are pursuing to make a change in the special education world. They do

not hold a heavy “burden”. They hold a fascinated responsibility working with young students

and adolescents with disabilities. It is not easy to deal with this unfortunate circumstance(s). The

skills and knowledge you would need is far beyond what the normal person may see. Some

knowledge you may need to have a better understating of special education are official terms and

“labels” some of these students have. For example, knowing the differences between being

handicapped, and having disabilities is crucial. What if you were to mistakenly mislabel a

student due to not knowing the difference? They would feel distraught and inappreciative, which

may then lead to depression. There are a lot of consequences that may or may not occur, which is

why it is important to know the differences. Handicapped is dealing with the struggles of the

day-to-day world around us due to having a disability(s). While disability itself, is dealing with

"limitations" while performing a task. Let us say, you mislabeled a student. It is your job to have

the required skills to understand the situation happening not just to you but the student as well.

You must learn to cope and have a level of comfort to help the student feel shielded since their

guard was destroyed because of the misunderstanding that occurred. Another skill is patience.

Patience. Patience. It is important that an educator have a level of patience that far exceeds than a

plant waiting for mother nature to run its course and have droplets of water rain down on them.

An educator must remember that we as the grown-ups have a different mindset and have learned

new things in life that students may not reach until an age far in the future. It is best not to give

in so soon. A student will struggle, especially in the special education program. What if an
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educator lost his/her patience and snaps at a student? No. That should not ever happen, and I

have seen it happen a couple times. The list is immense when it comes to a skillset and

knowledge an educator may require to gain a better understanding of special education.

Never in my life did I be under the impression I would be asked an extroidiary question.

“What educational philosophy and psychological and/or theoretical orientation dictate your

current beliefs about education in general and special education?” First and foremost, there are a

plethora of philosophies I follow in the day-to-day world. Ranging from the golden rule (treating

others as one wants to be treated) to “There are no such thing as dumb questions”! My number

one pick for an educational philosophy I choose is from the one and only Theodore Roosevelt.

His quote stating: “It is hard to fail but it is worse never to have tried to succeed”. In life, there

are always in every corner and turn you take, going to be obstacles. It is up to you as the

individual to prevail over those obstacles. However, like everything in life, you have a choice.

You can either walk up to this obstacle and just gaze upon it. Or you can face it head on. If you

were to face the obstacle it could be as easy as stepping over a crack, or as tough as winning a

gold medal at the Olympics. For those who are reaching the top, there are always in every step of

the way going to be drawbacks, and failure. The worst thing you can do after failing is “giving

up”. The reason being is if you give up, you will never know what could have been in the future.

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed”. There was a special influencer I

hold close to me that drove me to follow this quote. Believe it or not he was my kindergarten

teacher, Mr. Harrison. As a child who was enrolling into school system for the first time, I had a

sensation of not belonging here. I never felt at ease being away from my mom and my older

brother. I remember explicitly walking through the doors at Rex Bell Elementary School here in

Las Vegas, as my mom and older brother lead me inside the classroom. I see the doors shutting
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together as I see the last shimmer of light from outside close, and the view of my mom and

brother drifting away slowly. As soon as I hear the impact of the door close, I started bawling

into tears. Banging on the door begging for them to come back yelling, “please don’t go, come

back!”. I look back immediately only to see the entire classroom gawk at me. Mr. Harrison

notices this then walks towards me and says, “Please don’t cry, instead let us sing a song for

you? Ready class?” He starts clapping in a fast motion saying the words: “Tito’s coming soon!

Tito’s coming soon!” He then asks the class to go along with him and start singing. Him

addressing me after my brief outburst gave me a level of comfort, one that makes me feel

shielded, and accepted. After the shindig one of the first topics, he had was that this part of our

life was a steppingstone for him. “Because of that, I’m going to tell you something that stayed

with me even now. “That it is okay to fail, even being labeled as one. What really makes a

difference is if you settle on staying down after being knocked down.” To be fair at the time I did

not have a clear understanding of it, but it made sense to me as I grew up. Mr. Harrison is one of

the few people that inspired me to become a teacher. I also, want to conduct children into the

right direction in life, I want to shield them from harm in any shape or form on their long journey

ahead of them. Teachers are a steppingstone; they are what lead our children into the future.

Whether it is politics, labor, medical, dental, without teachers guiding, I’m afraid to think of

what the state of the world would be in. This is scarcely the first step of multitude into making a

difference in the world. In addition, this is the first time where I realize what I aspire to be in my

life. I am, however, anxious just thinking about cooperating with students soon. I have been a

failure before, but I never give up. To me that is an important factor in the education world. If a

student cannot understand a math question or cannot read a passage; it is not grounds for a

teacher to give up and move on. No, it is the teacher’s duty to take the extra mile and lend a
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helping hand to that student. Tell them to add two plus two is like your mommy buying you two

more soccer balls on top of already having two. Tell that student to take their time with the

passage and not to feel nervous, we are all here for you. I will not become a failure in the school

system. I will lead these students to greater heights. This is a promise I made to myself. My

intentions are to keep it.

I may be a student who lacks knowledge in the education system but I grateful to have

mentors around me teach me. I am a student who will fight tooth and nail to stand up for those

who need it most. I am a student who will lend an ear and shoulder to problems. One day I will

change my unofficial name in this essay from “student” to “teacher”. A teacher in the making.