Carson-Newman University

Education Philosophy
Beliefs and aspirations

Dajah Eubanks
5/5/2018
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Educational Philosophy Paper

Dajah Eubanks

EDUC 204-A

Dr. Emma Cody-Mitchell

Carson-Newman University

April 12, 2018

My own definition of education is a system of enlightening someone or a group of people

with knowledge. I believe that education and schooling coincide with one another in the sense

that schooling, to me, is showing someone how to do something. Education is giving someone

valuable information and allowing them to reciprocate it in a way that makes sense to them.

Mark K Smith (2015) provided a similar definition of education when he said, “Education, as we

understand it here, is a process of inviting truth and possibility, of encouraging and giving time

to discover,” (Smith). Yet, both schooling and education have connotations of words that

describe people learning.

In our society, the government provides U.S. student with a free public school education.

That way, education and schooling become vital to prepare students with readiness skills that can

be used in post-secondary education, military jobs, and even real-world jobs and situations. The

Center for Education Policy (1996) said free education emerged to “… to prepare people to

become responsible citizens; to improve social conditions; to promote cultural unity; to help

people become economically-sufficient, and to enhance individual happiness and enrich

individual lives,” (Center for Education Policy).

Culture and society impact teaching and learning because they both play a role in

establishing the grounds by which modules are acceptable. Also, they influence the ways that

educators give out information, as well as the ways students take it in. In Pat Burke Guild and

Stephen Garger’s Marching to Different Drummers, they talked about culture and education and

the correlation between the two. While not always associated with one another, the two are very

closely related in a sense that a person’s cultural beliefs align with the way they learn and,

altogether, retrieve information. If a person is experiencing education barriers, it hinders their

learning and the same applies to students who are actively learning at home. Pat Burke Guild and

Stephen Garger said, “The relationship of the values of the culture in which a child is currently

living, or from which a child has roots, and the learning expectations and experiences in the

classroom is directly related to the child’s school success academically, socially, and

emotionally,” (Burke and Guild).

Students learn by many different standards. For many students, taking notes and listening

to lectures are ways they can obtain information. For other students, hand-on activities are

prominent in engaging the students and ensuring they’re learning. While there are many different

learning styles, they have been categorized to fit into four different areas, also known as VARK:

visual learners, reading/writing learners, auditory learners, and kinesthetic learners.

Traditionally, the role of teachers in the classroom has been to simply teach. In this,

teachers were expected to have compiled notes and visual presentations prior to the lesson as

ways to help them better give out information to students. In order to teach someone something,

it helps if the teacher has some background knowledge in the area they’re teaching. Teachers

previously had the power to expand or condense aspects of the lesson to fit the level of

knowledge for the student it’s being taught to. However, with the expanding of mass uses of
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technology, more and more teachers are becoming less of the classroom dictators and more of

the classroom facilitators. With the help of educational technology, students are able to learn

about many different subjects via internet. That way, they are not limited to what information

they can obtain. And, teachers can just supervise the classroom to make sure everything runs

smoothly and to further elaborate on topics if needed, while making sure students are staying on

task.

The need for more facilitating teachers is becoming greater because more and more

digital natives are entering the classrooms. So, technology not only becomes a basis for advanced

learning but also a tool that students can utilize, one that are most familiar with. Though chalk

boards and dry erase boards can be useful, students are more fully engaged in a classroom that

provides them with everyday technological innovations that they can relate to.

My inspiration for teaching follows generations of educators, but the need to make an

impact in at least one teenager’s life. I want to both be an inspiration to underprivileged students

and teach them aspects of English that neither of my teachers ever taught me. I aspire to be a

teacher who is stern when it comes to education, but flexible when it comes to introducing new

ideas into the classroom to honor different backgrounds and belief systems.

I believe that the drive to be an asset to someone else’s life will be enough

encouragement to aid me and dream to become an educator. I believe this to be true because in

my previous experiences, many times when you have a passion for something, you tend to go the

extra mile to ensure that you have exceeded, if not, met expectations set forth by colleagues and

students. Also, when you push a student to their full potential, they begin to realize that for their
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teachers, it’s more than just a job. So, have the motivation to work harder, knowing that there are

people cheering them along.

I plan to be professional while teaching, but also speaking a jargon that is most relatable

to students. Not only that, but I plan to become fluent in languages other than my own so that

students from non-English speaking countries can relate to the module and participate in class

discussions. As far as technology, I plan to use many different technologies to honor students

with different styles of learning. For example, I want to open up my classroom for student to

have the opportunity to bring laptops, paper and pencil, headphones, and other innovative tools

used to measure and enhance learning.

Some strengths I have now that could be beneficial within the classroom are good

communication skills. I am able to speak to people in a way that is appealing to them, while

having the ability to maintain a meaningful conversation. Also, I am a good listener, which

strengthens my ability to be both sympathetic and empathetic when it comes to comprehending

others’ problems.

Though I am not a shy person, I get nervous when it comes to public speaking. I tend to

get caught up on my words and lose my train of thought speaking to a room full of strangers. To

my disadvantage, being able to public speak is a skill required to teach. So, that’s a skill I would

have to work more with to become more comfortable and efficient.

References

A. (1996, December). Finding Common Ground in an Era of Fragile Support. Retrieved May 5,
2018, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/newsletters/policy-priorities/dec96/num07/toc.aspx

Garger, S., & Guild, P. B. (n.d.). Chapter 3. Culture and Style. Retrieved May 5, 2018, from
http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/198186/chapters/Culture-and-Style.aspx

Smith, M. K. (2015, November 11). What is education? A definition and discussion. Retrieved
May 5, 2018, from http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-education-a-definition-and-discussion/
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