Jennifer Barreto
Philosophy of Education
EDG 7938
I believe that education is a whole learner process. Each student comes from a different
background and with his or her own diverse skill sets or set of beliefs. That could mean
culturally, spiritually, socioeconomically or even the outlook a family has about education. This
was evident to me at a young age because my father was in the military and much of my
education was spent abroad. This experience of living all over the world showed me how
valuable appreciating other cultures were. I got to see and be part of authentic powerful cultural
experiences and through those interactions I saw the importance of respecting other cultures.
This has seeped into my teachings and philosophy in education. I wanted to not only teach about
diversity or have the students learn about them but also incorporate them in the classroom. It
affected my whole outlook when I began to teach a lesson. In the planning of the layout or
approach of every lesson, I wanted to make sure if I could incorporate discourse of another
language or culture connection, I would. This could be including different cultures clothes, food,
customs, behavior, values, ways of thinking and perspectives. This influenced the classroom
library I had, making sure not just one story was told. This led me to valuing the importance of
being globally educated and aware. I was able to meet people from all parts of the world and
learn what they valued and how they learn. This has continued to affect my perspective as a
teacher and as a student in valuing the importance of other cultures and adapting to new
situations.
As a child, I learned to speak Spanish first and I did not learn English until I went to
school. Rarely did teachers embrace my culture in the classrooms, mostly they did not even
acknowledge it. My 2nd grade teacher even saw my bilingualism as a hindrance, saying that I had
a learning disability because my English was not what she expected it should be. I could have let
that define me but my strong family and other educators that came along the way simply showed
me that I was capable and had my own strengths. In education, the audience for whom one is
performing to (students) is the back bone of how you should approach teaching to them.
Background knowledge is vital for students because knowing where they come from allows that
to be part of the process. For example, you would understand if the student is shy to read because
they are just learning English or maybe a student gets uncomfortable when discussing a certain
topic because of religious beliefs. There is no one right way or cookie cutter rubric with a magic
wand that will make it great. When students understand that they are part of a bigger community,
that they matter and are valued, then their actions can impact an evolving world.
In order to incorporate relevancy, some of the foundational groundwork that should be
had by teachers should be 1. Knowledgeable of the content and how does it relate to students, 2.
Have classroom management and structure, and 3. Be prepared for what may come or flexibility,
seeing learning moments that may not have been planned for. A huge part of being prepared is
not only content but getting to know your students, to see their goals and making learning
relevant to them. This goes back to understanding the whole child. With a well prepared lesson, a
teacher could teach students content along with helping them invest in themselves; which can
include: 1.What their own personal learning style is, 2.How to express themselves or 3. Creating
ownership in his or her work. Vygotsky stated that the zone of proximal development is crucial
to helping the learner get to a place where they can do the assigned task on their own. The
teacher is the facilitator that through guidance is able to get them to that place. This makes the
student accountable for his or her own learning, the student will be investing in themselves.
Piaget stated, The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to
create the possibilities for a child to invent, discover, to create men who are capable of doing
new things. In my opinion, by adapting Piagets above stated educational goal, a student can be
a life-long learner and leave the world in a better condition than they found it. An educator is not
the only person in a classroom that brings knowledge. The teacher student relationships are
equally important in the domain of education and one is not more valuable than the other.
