My Philosophy of Education

Eight years has gone from the time I finished my Bachelors degree. It was a time when BPO industry started to bloom in Cebu and I landed in the industry from year 2005 up to the present. Last year, I questioned myself if working in a call center is what I really want to do for the rest of my life. No, definitely was my answer. I've been giving my service to foreigners for more than 7 years now and I guess, it’s time to give my service to my fellow Filipinos, the greatest of all services that is to give education and training to children - to be a teacher. Teachers play a very important role in the education of the students but how do I go about playing this role when I've been away from the teaching arena for many years now? I’m a strong believer of Education as a stepping stone to a child's future and it is important to make sure every student learns what they need, in order to help them succeed in their adult lives. Teachers certainly have a significant mark on the development of young children and even older children alike, as they are teaching them and helping them develop their knowledge so that they can go on in life and be responsible and productive members of the society. All these being considered, I have decided to take Master’s Program and I’m seriously taking this journey as my first step to fulfill my role as an effective and efficient teacher. A teacher needs to acquire mastery of the subject he teaches since it's a primary criterion for teaching. Aside from mastering the subject matter, it is also important that teachers learn to use a variety of teaching methodologies in order to cater for the range of learning needs and requirements that are present within the classroom.

In the undergraduate studies, we learned many of these. Jean Piaget stresses the importance of children manipulating and interacting with objects. Lev Vygotsky teaches us that socialization is essential, and that teachers scaffold a child’s learning by providing an appropriate amount of support. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and John Dewey's Learning by doing allows a learner to practice and become confident in their ability to perform, allows students to have meaningful, relevant learning experiences that they will then be able to use in the future. These are just some of the theories to where a teacher can base the method/s of teaching he can apply in his own classroom. In my own point of view to question as to what method is best for teaching, why apply only one when I can combine elements of several in my classroom to maximize learning? As a teacher, I must be resourceful and brilliant enough to identify what method/s to use that would fit my lessons and my students. If there’s a need for me to discuss the traditional way or we call it the teacher-centered method, then I wouldn’t hesitate doing it. If at a certain time, students’ learning has to be done in a student-centered approach, I’ll definitely have to do it as well. I should always be flexible and open in embracing the latest innovation of teaching methodologies. The point of telling all these is to stress out my Philosophy in Education that the first two important things a teacher must consider are mastery of the subject matter and the methods to use in teaching. Aside from these two that I gave much emphasis, please refer to this link the rest of the essential qualities a Teacher must have to become effective:https://edizamartinez.box.com/shared/static/yxfmvtzxzk2x10js7cju.docx. If all teachers have all these qualities plus a curriculum well created to guide students to a path of success, a hands on and supported School Principal, a school with classrooms conducive for learning with complete facilities such as library, computer and science laboratories, gymnasium, and etc., then there wouldn’t be any doubt we can produce productive individuals and the more productive and educated individuals there are in the society, the more developed that society becomes.