Amanda Olsen

LBS 400 Section 04

Instructor: Jheri Crisostomo
California State University, Dominguez Hills
March 6, 2016

Philosophy of Education
The meaning of education has broadened its horizons over the past several years. The
purpose of education is allowing children to be able to acquire as much knowledge that they
possibly can in every subject. As children grow up, they broaden their knowledge of education
and that is what they take with them for the rest of their lives. The purpose for educating
children is because they are our future. Additionally, it is important how we educate our children
because they need the knowledge in order to be successful with their lives. Once they graduate
high school, it is up to them if they continue with their education or not. As children become
adults, the main goal that we want for them is to become successful. In this case, the word
successful is defined in many different ways. One way that success is defined is by children
graduating college with a degree and starting their career. Another way success is defined is by
finding another way to start a career without going to college. As we all know, college is not
meant for everyone and that is okay as long as children find a different way of starting their
career. For instance going into the union, firefighting classes, the service, and many more. My
favorite event in elementary school was Career Day because it was such an eye-opening day.
This was the day were people came to our school to talk about their occupation. There were
many different ranges of occupations and this day showed us that everyone follows their dreams
differently.
For children, it is all about the learning environment that they are in for them to be
successful in their education. When children are under safe and caring learning conditions they
work better in that type of environment than working in a place where they do not feel safe or
cared about. For example, there needs to be a lot of things that could be put up on the walls of
the classroom. Some items that could be placed on the walls are students writing work, projects,

and pictures of the students. Additional features that promote a good learning environment like
having things on the wall, is having things that show people who are successful or quotes from
successful people. My beliefs about how children learn the best is making the classroom where
the children are happy to be in. When I was a child, my favorite thing to see on the first day of
school was how my classroom was decorated. The more colorful and having a lot of posters on
the wall the more excited I was about learning. The more the children want to be in the
classroom, the more they are intrigued to learning.
When it comes to commitment to social justice, I feel as if teachers should put more
emphasis on it. Of course everyone should be treated equally, but the aspect of diversity needs to
be stressed upon in classrooms. In this century, children are not called out because of the color
of their skin like it used to happen years ago. Every student should be treated with equal respect.
Equity and social justice need to move beyond being merely buzzwords and instead become
part of the lived practice in the classroom, said Hackman (p. 1). Children need to understand
that we live in a world that is full of diversity. Not everyone has the same opportunities that
everyone else has. As a teacher, I want my classroom to be known as the safe place where
everyone can talk freely about any concerns that they have. If a child does not have the resources
at home, I want to make sure that I can provide my students any resource that they need. When it
comes to students who have disabilities or learning disabilities, they should not get left out of
anything. If a students learning level is lower than the rest of the class, that child should have
specific work for their abilities. If there is someone who has a disability in the classroom, the
teacher should be notified at the beginning of the year and the teacher can make proper
adjustments. It is the teachers responsibility to make sure that each student is getting the proper
attention that they need. Some strategies to help equality in the classroom are to communicate

with all students to make sure that they are receiving your fullest attention. Some of my teachers
when I was younger would make sure that everyone felt like they were treated equally. One
student would not get more attention that the rest of us. Equality is the key to making sure that
students are given equal access to learning.
My beliefs about what you teach to children in order for them to succeed are very strong
and stressed upon. By this, I mean that children need to be taught the right way in the very
beginning. The very beginning starts in Kindergarten. This is where the strong foundation of a
childs education happens. If they do not get the right building blocks here, I feel like the rest of
their schooling will be a struggle because they will start behind the game. Not all children learn
the same. Some learn at a faster pace and some learn at a slower pace. Children need to be able
to work at a pace that they are comfortable with. For instance, a child who is more accelerated
should not be brought down to work at the same pace with a child who needs more time and
help. The assumption has been that if teachers speak clearly and students are motivated,
learning will occur, says Cuban (p 2). When students are motivated, it is more likely that
learning will occur. Even the students that are learning at a slower pace, will be able to learn
more it the teach speaks clearly and is easy to understand. Making sure that children are getting
educated in the best way is the most important job for a teacher.
There is a difference between teachers who are there to teach and teachers who are there
to make a difference. There are many characteristics that effective teachers share. One
characteristic that an effective teacher shares is the ability to learn and take constructive criticism
from their peers. According to Bransford and Hammond (2005), Understanding how children
develop and learn, as well as what they have learned during their early years and continuing to
learn outside of school, is critical for effective teaching (p. 31). Getting to know each and every

one of your students individually is very important. This allows for everyone to be on the same
page because of the teacher and student connection. Another thing that a teacher should know is
how to compromise for the class. By this, I mean that a teacher needs to plan accordingly. If
their students need more time on an activity as a class, the teacher should be prepared to move
things around to allow more time to finish an activity. There are also some responsibilities that
teachers have to continue to learn and develop professionally. Teachers have to make sure that
they always have many teaching strategies. As years go on, teachers should add new and
improved teaching strategies to their lessons. This allows for the teacher and the students to
never get bored. After observing an 8th grade classroom, the teacher really impressed me by
doing multiple activities for her students on one subject. Educating children is up to us as the
new generation. What we teach them is how our future and society is going to turn out.

References
Bransford, J., Darling-Hammond, L., and LePage, P. (2005). Introduction. In Darling- nd, L.,&
Bransford, J. (Eds.). Preparing teachers for a changing world: What teachers should
learn and be able to do (p. 1 -39). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Cuban, L. 1993. How Teachers Taught: Constancy and Change in American Classrooms, 1890
1990. New York: Teachers College Press.
Hackman, H. , (2005). Equity & excellence in education: Five essential components for social
justice education (p.103-108). Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Amherst
School of Education