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Jo-Anne M. Hernandez

Prof. Pratt

INGL 6996

September 15, 2014

Teaching Inspiration: A Philosophy of Education

I believe “Education is not the filling of a bucket but the lighting of a fire”. This quote,

arguably attributed to W.B. Yeats, embodies my Teaching Philosophy. To me, students are not

containers, in which teachers pour their knowledge because, ultimately, these containers will fill

to the brim. Teachers must be the ones, which ignite students’ passion for learning and

education. When a fire ignites, it keeps consuming all, which surrounds it, so too a student who

is stimulated to learn will maintain a desire for knowledge through life. As a teacher, I wish to be

an example for my students by demonstrating to them my passion for learning. When educators

demonstrate passion for the subjects they are teaching they make the subjects sound much more

interesting and attractive for students.

My role as a teacher will be to ignite the spark in my students, which will keep growing

throughout their lives. Because I know I am teaching individuals, and not just a group of

unnamed faces, my job is to pay special attention to individual learners and attempt to target

their interest and integrate these interest in my class. From my experience as a learner, I have

seen students learn when they feel comfortable with the teacher and are not intimidated by the

figure of the teacher in the classroom. I aspire to promote a sense of trust with my students, to

make them realize I am not there to intimidate them and tell them what they have to learn

otherwise I will fail them, but to guide them in the learning process. “No one can learn for us”

(Larsen-Freeman), “to learn is our own responsibility” (Larsen-Freeman) yet with the help of a

mentor and guide the road to learning is mapped out for us.

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As this reflection shows, I promote individual learning, and agree with Paulo Freire’s

critique of Banking Education. As a teacher, I will not posses all the information there is to know

and try to implant all this knowledge into students; Instead, I will promote active learning

because learning is an act, which occurs throughout life, and teacher’s will not always be there to

tell students what exactly is they must learn.

In order to achieve my goal of motivating students to yearning for an education, I plan to

use a variety of methods and approaches, as the situation calls for, because I believe there is no

single way to acquire learning. After evaluating different methods and approaches, I will

implement the ones applicable to the context and interest of my students, in order to achieve

education as effortlessly as possible. I firmly believe “Meaningful work both enlarges students'

knowledge stores and sparks their desire to wield that knowledge.” (Moore, Caitlin). Using

different methods and approaches will help me discover which are the ones, which transmit

knowledge aspiration in my students efficiently.

There are three methods which contain principles I will implement in my classroom,

these are; “The Silent Way”, “Total Physical Response” and “Communicative Language

Teaching”. “The Silent Way” endorses students becoming responsible of their learning; “Total

Physical Response” promotes a stress free environment and “Communicative Language

Teaching” supports student cooperation and communication in their learning process.

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Background Information

During the first week of class, the professor discussed the syllabus and paired students

using the buddy system. The second and third weeks of class were focused on demonstrating the

importance of academic integrity with a lesson on plagiarism and giving a review of the writing

process and the stages of writing. Students learned different pre-writing techniques and took a

workshop on MLA to learn how to format the essays they would be creating. A workshop on

database research was also given to help students find sources of information. This workshop

would promote students to find information after the discussion of the introduction to the

textbook “They Say/I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing”, “Entering the

Conversation” and chapter one “They Say: Starting with What Others are Saying”. After this,

students read chapter two “Her Point Is: The Art of Summarizing” and found articles on topics

they were interested in to practice using the templates offered in the book to create summaries.

With the preliminary information from the articles about topics they were interested in, students

read chapter four “As he Himself Puts It: The Art of Quoting” and analyzed the importance of

learning what others are saying and how to be conscious of this as they begins to form their own

opinion regarding a subject. Once they knew background information about their topic they read

chapter four “Yes/No/Ok, But: Three Ways to Respond” and considered what was their opinion

on the topics they had chosen and how they could respond to their topics and finding three

reasons for their response. All of this is done in preparation for the creation of the argument

essay, students learn to identify what people are saying about a topic and begin responding to the

topic and finding support for their response.

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Purpose of Class

The purpose of Monday’s class is to introduce students to the counter argument. Students had

previously learned about supporting their opinion using evidence and now they will learn how to

defend their opinion against people who have a different opinion. It is very important that

students understand that in order to prove their point they need to present both sides of the

situation, people who are in favor of their opinion and people who are against their opinion. Both

sides need to be presented fairly and with evidence and by presenting not just those in favor but

those against them students strengthen their argument because they prove how those people

against them are wrong by bringing in the reasons, along with evidence, explaining why they are

right. To help students understand this, the first part of the class will be a small lecture,

discussing chapter six “Skeptics May Object: Planting a Naysayer in Your Text”. This lecture

will help clarify any doubts students might have regarding the importance of the chapter, and

skeptics, in the creation of their argument essay. After this small lecture the professor will divide

the group into their buddy system. When students are paired together, they will become their

buddy’s naysayer and question each of the three reasons offered by his or her buddy to help

strengthen the buddy’s argument. Evidence of this activity will be demonstrated to the professor

and students will practice presenting their naysayers and their opinions with templates from the

book.