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Bella Cruz Hernandez

Artifact #2: Educational Philosophy
Education 201-2002
Professor: Connie Christensen
11/14/2017

Educational Philosophy
My choice to become a teacher was not made when I got out of high school. I

started college in 2015 to become a nurse because I have always had a passion to help others; but

something inside of me was telling me to find out if nursing was going to be the right career for

me. I decided to volunteer at a hospital to help see how a day goes to a nurse and found out that I

was not strong enough to see sick people around me. I work for a preventive dental program that

goes to different CCSD schools to educate students on how they need to take care of their teeth.

By going to their classroom I got an interest in becoming a teacher.

While growing up in school, there were many teachers who had an impact on my life.

When I came to the United States I did not know English at all, but my fifth-grade teacher, Mr.

Pastroky, impacted my life by helping me to get better with learning English. Mr. Patrosky was a

very dedicated, caring, and patient teacher with me and his students. He never left a student

behind and he always encouraged his students to do their best. If there were any students who

seemed to fall short, he would work with that student until they improved to where they should

be. I had other teachers after him that also influenced my life but not very involved with the

students. Before moving to sixth grade, Mr. Patrosky was very proud of me from how much I

learned and progressed in his class, and he gave me advice to never stop learning and teaching to

others what I had learned. I can honestly say that Mr. Patrosky is one reason why I decided to
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become a teacher; and I will try to teach my students with kindness, patience, and caring like my

teacher did for me.

My personal knowledge initially comes due to the positive experience I had with my

fifth grade teacher. This personal experience help me understand the dynamic of transmitting

information from teacher to students. Other experiences are to be a good counselor to my

students, a good leader to guide them and be a good coach. This helps me to interact with

students to motivate and inspire them. For me, coming to a new country without knowing the

language was a difficult battle I fought with, so I can understand better students who come to the

United States without knowing the language.

Skills that will serve me when I become a teacher are to have good communication

skills with students, parents, and staff. Organization is an important skill for teacher, because it

creates a more effective learning environment. Commitment is definitely the most important

because that is where you start to be organized and take serious your career. Students need to see

that their teacher is present and dedicated to teach them. The field Observation was a great

opportunity to me because I learned how the teachers handle the classroom. I had two teachers,

one for reading, writing and the other teacher for math and science. They teach different subjects,

but they both are very dedicated and committed to their students. Other thing I learned from my

observation was that every student is different; one could have more motivation to learn and the

other not so much, but both teachers had the patience to help those who did not understand.

Education philosophy is a set of beliefs of education, and a set of principles to guide

professional action. Based on the philosophic inventory I took from the book Becoming a

Teacher showing that my philosophical orientation to teaching is Progressivism. I believe that

the aim of education should be based on the need and interest of students. I also believe that
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ideas should be made by experimentation and students have to learn how to learn and become

active problem-solvers. My psychological orientation is to manage behavior problems, motivate

students, assist struggling learners, and handle stress.

From the 17th to 20th centuries schools were segregated by race. A historical event that set

the stage on how I will think about children and schools was when the first official group for

school segregation dates back to a decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Court in 1850 (Robert

v. City of Boston, 1850). At that time schools were not equal and students did not have equal

education opportunity. In 1770 Anthony Benezet believed that African Americans were

generously sensible, humane, and sociable, and that their capacity was good and capable as

white people. I believed that every child should have the same equal opportunities in education,

and that no matter your culture, race, or ethnicity everyone should be treated with respect.

The instructional strategies that I will implement in my class are to direct instruction

which means that the teacher stands in front of a classroom and presents the information.

Modeling is another effective way, by thinking out loud, which will help you to demonstrate to

the student, make the student aware of the thinking involved, and focus the students on applying

the thinking. Lastly, I will use the information processing because it is how people use their long

and short-term memory to access information and solve problems. Student learning is very

important for me because I want to be a teacher who can understand each of my students way of

learning. When I become a teacher the first thing I will do is to figure out where each of my

student are, and make learning goals. I know that nowadays we have many children in school

with different diversities; mine was the language barrier in fifth grade. As a teacher I will try to

understand each of my students. I will create assessment strategies on how my students prefer to

be taught.
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The characteristics and skills I need to possess to continue in this career are to be

respectful to everyone in general, to be warm, patient, accessible, enthusiastic, and caring. Skills

that I need to become a teacher are to have great communication skills, which every day I try to

work hard to get better in my communication skills. I need to be confident in myself, to make my

students confident of what they are learning. Be organized with my time and with my work

because my students will depend on me to have their lessons ready to learn. Part of being a

teacher is being able to work together as part of a team or a group, because it provides students

with a better chance to learn and have fun. Technology nowadays is another great skill to have as

a teacher, we use the projector than the board.

The specific steps of education I need to take are first complete the state's requirements

for Nevada teacher certification. It includes having a bachelor's degree from a regionally

accredited institution and the completion of a teacher preparation program of 120 credits.

Currently, all states require an average of six to eight semester credits of supervised student

teaching. During the process of completing your classes you need to complete hours of

observation and volunteering services hours. I also need to take the Praxis series; the first one

covers the basic skills in reading, writing, mathematics that all teachers need to know. Second

Praxis measures teacher education students knowledge of the subjects they will teach, and this

second Praxis is taken after completion of an undergraduate program. The last Praxis is a

performance-based assessment system, not a test, and it has four domains: planning and

preparation, the classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities.

Overall, I know I still have a long journey to complete my educational career. I know

that if I work hard and am dedicated I will achieve my goal to become an elementary educational
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teacher. I want to be a great teacher to be an example for our future generation, help them grow

in whatever they need more help with, and teach them good values for their lives.