1. Austin Burns
Philosophy of Education
I will be in the fifth generation of education in my family. It is in my DNA to be an educator. I
believe in children. Students of America are the country’s future. It will be my job to open the
minds of students as well as guide them to create their own opinions and beliefs. There is more
than one purpose to schooling. Students should be given opportunities to earn trust rather than
assume the latter. Children need to be constantly guided in the right direction but knowledge is
fed to students from their educators. It is my job to create a positive learning environment where
I will motivate students daily and where students will be motivated when they step into my
classroom. I am there to push students to their upmost abilities as well as guide them to discover
their own answers and beliefs.
I believe every child out there is capable of achieving educational greatness. I do not believe that
there are students who should be left behind because they are incapable of achieving anything in
school. No child should ever be thrown under the bus and left behind. All students deserve the
opportunity to learn and live up to their childhood dreams. Children are always capable. As an
educator, I will be there to guide, encourage, and provide that “I can” attitude in the classroom.
Energy will always be in my classroom to emphasize and reinforce that children believe that I, as
an educator believe in them. Children are America’s future and should be treated like it by each
and every teacher.
I want my students to be able to formulate their own ideas and beliefs. I want my students to
have a divergent way of thinking where they look for many different solutions to a problem. It
will be my job to jumpstart these children’s brains and let them begin to create their own
thoughts. From that point I will be able to guide my students along the way. It is independent
thinking that heightens the abilities of students. The earlier independent thinking is established
in students the more time they have for their thinking skills to further develop. The sky is then
the limit for these students who create the future of America.
There must be more than one purpose for schooling today. If you believe there can only be one
purpose for school then you are closing your mind to different ideas as well as being unwilling to
have an open mind in different areas of education. One purpose of school especially in
elementary school is to introduce the main subject areas to students. It is important for students
to get accustomed to learning in the areas of science, social studies, English, reading, vocabulary,
mathematics and physical education. These subject areas create a well rounded student with a
solid base for expanding their education as they go on. Students learn more than the subjects
they study. School is a place where children find out what they enjoy. In this children learn
about themselves. They learn how to act in social situations. Elementary school is the best place
for children to learn social skills. Social skills can be taught but mostly innate. Students learn to
2. Austin Burns
Philosophy of Education
respect their elders in the classroom as well as to be punctual. Many areas of life are taught in
school without being in the subject area.
All students should be given trust whether the teacher knows about the student or not.
Automatically putting trust in some students and denying trust to other students worsens those
students’ behaviors. Every student deserves to show their teachers that they are “good” kids.
Knowledge is always given to students especially in the main subject areas. As teachers we are
supposed to provide students with the content of different subjects. Teaching students the
content of these subject areas gives students a base of knowledge to start with. I believe at that
point even before, students should be guided along with given knowledge along the way. Within
guiding students, teachers must give students the opportunity to expand their thoughts on the
knowledge that has been given to them.
It is essential for teachers to create a positive and energized learning environment. I believe this
is an area of education that is far overlooked. This environment takes the amount of learning that
can be done in the classroom to another level. Every teacher should have a decorated classroom
from posters to quotes to many different learning tools around. An energized teacher greets
every student at the door with enthusiasm treating every student the same. An energized teacher
loves students for every reason and has positive energy every day not only because the students
enjoy it and need it but because they want to.
Students in today’s education need to be prepared at the highest level to lead America into a
positive future. Children should be taught the knowledge they need to learn while creating their
own beliefs and opinions. Teachers can teach in a divergent manner to guide students to think
for themselves. Students should always be guided in a positive direction and be given trust by
their teachers. Every educator should create and keep a positive and energized learning
environment. This is the philosophy I will go by when I teach.
