Philosophy of Education

I believe that the purpose of education is to use the knowledge a student gains to further explore their own ideas. My role as an educator is to encourage exploration of experimental ideas and teach students to utilize that knowledge to do so. I understand that students learn in many ways; visual, auditory, and hands on. I will use various teaching styles to implement lessons that incorporate all three areas so the students can be fully engaged within the lesson, and retain the knowledge competently.

Taking a page from Soren Kierkegaard, the father of existentialism, I want to focus my teaching philosophy on the student as an individual, free to explore their own ideas and creativity within the learning process. Constructing a learning environment such as this will reinforce students in a positive way that encourages the students to actively engage in their own ideas and education.

To foster this effective learning environment, I as the teacher, will remain passionate about my own ideas and studies in order to effectively engage my students thoroughly. Looking to the philosophy of Idealism, students can play an active role in learning by participating in their own evaluation. As a teacher of the Fine Arts, assessing my students will be facilitated through peer discussions and critiques of their own work. Creating, discussing, and critiquing artwork is no simple task, students will have to explore new ideas and express the reasoning behind them. I believe that this technique of peer assessment will foster critical thinking and problem solving skills that the students can carry over outside of my classroom.

         My goal as a teacher is to not “mold” a student’s thoughts, but rather facilitate learning and encourage a creative thought process that the students can apply to future educational endeavors.