I believe that Education in the 21st century is something unlike any learning experience in the past decades. These days, classroom learning is no longer the only tool by which a child is capable of learning material. All classrooms and students are now wired to the internet and are therefore highly capable of learning using Howard Gardener’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Children are now capable of a deeper understanding the 8 Learning styles that I too advocate by concentrating on a child’s language, math skills, spatial representation, musical abilities, body language, and helping the child to analyze and understand the differences between oneself and others around him. Due to the fast paced educational style that has become the norm of today’s educational institutions due to the internet access of students, I advocate that students are now capable of learning at the same pace and in a uniform manner although in the end, I know that students who have the capability to excel will also pull ahead of his classmates. However, because they are now exposed to similar learning materials and techniques even outside of the classroom, these differences in learning skills can be considered to be negligible to a certain extent.
As a guardian, an administrator if you will, of tomorrow’s future leaders, I feel that I must also undertake the responsibility of insuring that the student’s personal well-being is also cared for. Since most students these days come from homes where parents are either busy working 2 jobs, or single parent homes, the moral, social, and emotional development of a child may be stunted. Due to this lack of role model figures in the child’s life, I have come to believe that my role as a teacher has become two-fold. That of an educator and a surrogate parent whenever necessary. As personal philosophy, I wish to insure that all my students will not only learn the rudimentary educational skills but they are also expected to learn about social, moral, and citizenship values from me, their educator. By helping to provide an environment where a child can feel secure and cared for within my classroom, I believe that he will be enticed to experiment with their learning capabilities and develop proper social skills. My utmost responsibility is to insure that I am there to guide them every step of the way without being judgmental. I must be their unseen guardian who allows the student the freedom to learn using his own devices and rights without disrespecting the rights of others.
I will be their primary source of classroom information and the person who has the answers to most of their questions. I say most of their questions because I will encourage them to find answers to some of their questions if I feel that it will help in character building or teach them a lesson in social understanding and tolerance. It is my belief that such types of hands on activities will teach them lessons that they will remember long after they have left my classroom because those are answers gained through individual knowledge research.
As an educator, my dreams for my self as quite simple and reachable. If I reach out to and touch the life of even one of my students, I will have accomplished my goal of sharing my passion for learning and excite them into wanting to learn more and more throughout their lives not only from school, but from life as well. These days, it is important to find a balance between the two. That is the balance that I will always strive to achieve.