Aisling M. Andrikopoulos

October 14, 2004

Philosophy of Teaching

            “Why do you want to become a teacher?”  The answer to this question for me is very simple.  It is wanted I have always wanted to do.  The thought of imparting the merits of great literature to a group of twenty or more students actually excites me.  There is nothing that I enjoy more than a good read and I plan to communicate this love of reading to my students.

            As I am a pre-service teacher at Stonybrook University, my teaching philosophy is in its beginning stage.  I imagine that as I enter the “real world” of the classroom, the curriculum, and the wishes of the parents, my teaching philosophy will be modified over time.  But the one aspect that I plan to never overlook is that of the students.  The words that dominate my teaching philosophy now are “engage”, “respect”, “communicate”, and “enjoyment”.  As you will see, these words are interconnected and will be essential to the students’ success in my classroom.

            I plan to engage my students by using innovative lesson plans, aspects of performance, and more use of technology.  I will demonstrate correlations of the written word by pairing novels with short stories, short stories with poems, or poems with music.  The students will be engaged when they can identify with the material; when they can make associations with the material and their daily lives, their music, and their pop culture.  I plan to use performance in my classroom.  After all, plays written by those such as Shakespeare were meant to be performed, not read.  When a student performs a monologue or a scene from a play, I believe this helps the student to understand the material more so than if they were just reading it.  Also, using cutting-edge technology such as WebQuests as teaching materials will engage the students.  As computer technology becomes more prevalent in our daily lives, it would be practical to use it in the classroom whenever possible.

            I plan to have respect for my students and I expect them to have respect for me and for each other while in my classroom.  Respect means that I will be firm but fair with my students.  I have reasonably high expectations of my students and I will be willing to listen to their opinions and critiques of the material.  I expect my students to feel relaxed enough that their opinions can be voiced in engaging class discussions.

            Communication will also be an important part of my teaching.  I do not want to just stand in front of the room and “talk at” my students.  I want them to feel free to speak and speak often about the material.  This does not indicate a classroom of chaos; rather, it would be a place where everyone’s voice can be heard one at a time.  I also hope to be open enough with my students so when a student is having trouble with a lesson, they would feel comfortable enough to speak to me about it rather than feeling helpless.

            The most important aspect, in my opinion, will be the enjoyment factor.  I believe most students will enjoy performing in the classroom.  They will enjoy using technology in their schoolwork.  I want my students to be pleasantly surprised at how much they have learned after a year in my class.  I hope that my English class will be the favorite part of their day.

            I have high expectations of myself as a teacher of future productive members of society.  I hope that when a student of mine describes my class to his or her friends and family, that phrases such as “I really like how she listens to us,” or “Her class is really fun,” will be used.  I’ll even settle for “cool” or “groovy”.  What is my plan for the future?  To be the best English teacher my students ever had.  What is my dream for the future?  I have a dream that one day I will turn on the television and see one of my former students in an interview, talking about people who had a positive effect on his or her life.  I hope that student will start out by saying, “I had an English teacher back in high school and her name was Ms. Andrikopoulos…..”