My Philosophy on Teaching :: Education Teachers Learning Classroom Essays

My Philosophy on Teaching It became clear to me that I wanted to become an Elementary teacher when I was given the opportunity to attend Hinton Elementary School as a student volunteer to read to the first grade class during my junior year of High School. It was on this day that I realized that teaching is what I truly want to do with my life. Given the opportunity to read to the first graders and being able to get to know each of them filled a special place in my heart. After reading a few of my favorite childhood books to the first graders, I gave them the opportunity to read and sound out some of their favorite books to me. I am very grateful that I was given such an opportunity, such an eye opening experience – which helped me to realize that this is what I want to do with my life – Teach. Every teacher has an opinion as to what the best teaching method is. While each method has many advantages and disadvantages, I have chosen direct instruction as my main teaching method. To me, it seems to be more direct and easier to understand for elementary students. Direct teaching is also known as systematic, active, or explicit teaching. In this set, the teacher is a strong leader that develops, structures and teaches by having an academic focus point. With the emphasis on the importance of a structural lesson, the presentation of new information is followed be student practice and teacher feedback. A teacher must have a lot of patience with the younger children. It is often the case that students will fall behind because they have not yet mastered the basic skills of the given subject. With the direct teaching process, the children are able to receive several opportunities to enhance their learning and make them understand subjects more clearly. By refreshi ng their memories, using repetition, giving homework, and asking questions, a teacher can better understand the children and allow them to learn in a proper manner. The younger children can learn, remember and understand instead of just memorizing the information to get through a test and forgetting it after the test is over.