Hernandez 1

Jo-Anne M. Hernandez

Prof. Sandra Rios

INGL 6996

October 19, 2015

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.

Hernandez 2

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.

Hernandez 3

Background Information

After giving reflective essays to warm up students into the writing process during the

month of August, in September, they were given lessons on how to write informative essays and

all the information necessary to create essays with proper use of MLA and which are well

supported with evidence. By giving them all the information necessary to write effective essays

the rest of the lessons on the different essay types flow smother and more effectively. Now that

students are familiar with MLA, proper citation methods and had learned how to research using

the database, they are moving on to argument essays where they can again practice the use of

MLA, proper citations and evidence use, to do so with more ease. On the week prior to the class

observation date, Wednesday to be more specific, they had a quiz on chapter 10 “Writing to

Persuade”, from the book How to Write Anything. After the quiz, the discussion of the chapter

took place. On the next class, Friday to be exact, they received in their course files a pdf with a

list of possible topics for argumentative writing. They also received instructions for the in class

debate, to put in practice debate skills in the classroom. Friday was the day were students choose

the questions they would be debating about on Monday. They would bring information to

support their opinion regarding the chosen questions on Monday as well, to help them have

evidence during their debating. The directions for the debate were discussed clearly and

afterwards the questions were chosen democratically between students.

Hernandez 4

Purpose of Class

The purpose of Monday’s class is to help students learn how to properly support their

opinion with evidence. The questions that will be debated upon were chosen democratically

between students and the position was chosen by alphabetical order, half of the class in favor of

the questions assigned and the other half against it. In the class directions, it clearly specifies that

students must have credible sources to back up their opinions when these are presented during

the debate. It is important that through this debate students observe how other students expose

their point as well as learn to expose those points, which they support. They must learn to do so

in an orderly manner and through the use of this in class debate it is hoped that they will be able

to see this in action and how effective, well documented arguments overcome arguments without

logical reasoning and proper documentation. The point of having chosen without democracy half

of the class in favor and the other against instead of having those students who support or are

against the chosen questions is to have them learn to support an opinion that they might not agree

with and find sources for this opinion. This helps them learn different perspectives instead of just

supporting something they agree with, which tends to be easier. This will also prepare them for

when they find sources for their own essays, where they will be able to support their own

opinions, instead of having this opinion given to support by the instructor.