Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Educational Philosophy
Christa Moskal
Receiving an education should not be a tedious task of filling one’s mind with unrelated
facts and abstract concepts only to have them disposed of into a dusty closet within the mind
when no longer needed. Rather an education should be a gateway to one’s most deeply held
interests and passions. Ideally, educators should strive to build up a sturdy foundation of
knowledge and understanding within their students. This is not to say that students can be
reduced to little more than glorified informational receptacles; rather this goal should serve to
remind educators that without these vital skills, even the most invested student may needlessly
struggle without the structure and stability that multi-layered and intentional educational support
provides.
The school setting gives children an environment in which to learn and discover the
world around them and themselves as well; it should never be a herding chamber or a means
with which to create mass compliancy to authority. An education should prepare children for a
lifetime of learning, questioning, and communicating with the world around them. Standards
should serve as a benchmark and a guide to learning; they should not act as a restrictive dam and
slow or prematurely halt the process. Educators must use these standards as a collective
advantage and allow them to be what they are meant to be, a measurement of growth in ability,
The methodology of an educator often informs the overall learning outcome moreso than
many other factors; as such, it is paramount that educators make a considerable effort not only
planning what they will teach but how they will do so. What one permits, one ultimately
promotes, and so educator led behavioral modeling is crucial to the classroom culture. Similarly,
EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY 3
students will have much more difficulty leaning to think critically if they are not given examples
students, as multi-formatted assessments can measure not only the ability to recall information,
but also whether the student can apply their knowledge in a more abstract compacity. An
emphasis on project-based grading can help avoid the “memorize and dump” mentality that
repetitive test taking can create. Additionally, for students who are prone to test anxiety, tests
may not accurately demonstrate their understanding of a topic or unit of study. Conversely,
students who can easily memorize material may not achieve any deeper understanding of the
course work than what is needed to score well on a test; focusing more on projects that force
students to think critically about the coursework can help them better retain the material. When
applicable, non-graded, formative assessments should be built into daily lesson plans to ensure
takes deliberate planning and discussion from students and educators alike. Inclusivity starts
somewhat paradoxically within everyone making a conscious choice to value each other’s
differences over safer similarities. This type of environment is not achieved overnight, but
modeling and guiding this type of acceptance of diversity is vital for not only students from
different cultural backgrounds, but for all students. Building students’ individual needs into an
inclusive lesson plan is paramount to the overall success of the classroom; by taking their needs
into consideration, the classroom environment and the lessons can be fully taken advantage of by
Children living within the United States are fortunate to receive a free public education;
however, without diligent and passionate educators, this privilege can be reduced to an empty
promise. Teaching elementary school students how to adapt to new challenges requires educators
to be flexible while still maintaining a sense of structure. Teaching should never be confused for
the process of instructing young mind to think as their instructor does, but rather that teaching in
its purest form is an opportunity to give students the tools with which to shape and discover the