Pamela Campbell -- Education Portfolio -- [email protected]

                             Philosophy of Education

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     A good education should be attainable by anyone. As a twenty-year employee in an education district, I’ve observed many changes in the teaching and learning styles of both students and staff. Many developments have come along that have helped students improve their learning skills and knowledge. I believe that we live in a time where students of all ages can benefit from the newest advancements as well as standard older teaching practices. My philosophy of education is that there is a way to reach and teach every student.

     Although I have just finished my bachelor's degree program, I have been employed in a school district for twenty-one years. I had learned many skills for teaching students prior to my professional career training. For ten years, I worked with exceptional education students, from physically and mentally impaired to gifted. I was able to contribute to their learning success by helping them find ways to communicate using technology. Modified computers allowed adaptive devices to be used. Students were able to respond with the slightest muscle spasm and select anything from letters to completely programmed sentences to allow them to relay thoughts to their teachers. These students may not have been able to speak vocally, or control flailing arms, but they were given a way to speak out and let them experience education and life to a higher degree.

     I also learned that every student needs to feel he or she is as intelligent and capable as the next. This belief was supported in my Psychological Foundations of Education course. I learned that if students have social interaction, are encouraged and challenged, but not too far beyond their abilities, they have an equal chance of being successful, both academically and developmentally.

      At one time, lecture, drill and practice, worksheets and thermal masters were the norm for teaching. Teachers may now be found standing or sitting at a student’s side and asking questions as students are searching for information on the Internet, using a creative software program, working in small groups or using any other non-traditional methods of learning. Principles and Practices I and II emphasized the need to look at students as individuals with individual needs for learning as well as how to respond and react to a multitude of situations in the classroom and school.

     My history and goal is to work with students using technology. The introduction of computers for impaired students in the 1960s introduced new possibilities for regular education. Drill and practice has been enhanced by screen characters giving immediate visual and audio feedback, for both positive recognition and correcting. Interactive software is available that requires students to be an active member of their learning environment. The Integrating Instructional Technology course provided me with new ideas of how to use the Internet and other technological developments. Using video and digital cameras, email, writing and drawing software, and a number of other resources, students can take field trips without leaving the classroom, communicate with other students all over the world, solve real life problems and are virtually unlimited in their ability to explore and extend their learning beyond the four walls of a classroom.

     My entire education program has emphasized how much technology has influenced education over the last ten years. My ESOL courses provided a number of concepts using technology for helping the non-English speaking students learn and stay on level.

Even with all the advancements and manipulatives that have become available over the years, I have learned that teachers still need content knowledge of subjects. Hands-on teaching, knowledge for lesson plans, testing and evaluating students’ reading, are just some examples of where technology can not replace the teacher’s knowledge base. My curriculum and methods courses have provided me with ideas, training and support to be in a career where I will have an impact on a number of children as we pass through each other’s lives.

     I have had numerous opportunities while working in education to practice the theories and practices taught in my program. I have taught in a computer lab, worked with students creating presentation programs, worked with gifted classes on projects that incorporated all subject areas and a variety of strands, trained teachers in the use of technology, and produced a weekly news program with a fifth grade team.

     I have learned from my courses to set expectations for students and how to determine and enforce rules. But my most influential course was Reading Assessment I. This course taught me that without the knowledge of a student’s reading skills, I cannot successfully use everything else I’ve learned and know.

     I believe that working in education also requires a continuing effort of professional growth outside the classroom. I plan to continue attending conferences that keep me up-to-date on methods that will help me teach and to take advantage of any training available. I am also pursuing the next level of my education so that I can be more effective in the school.

Although my bachelors’ degree is in elementary education, I believe that every individual (adult and child) is a student capable of learning. I hope to be able to provide other staff members support and training in the technology available and coming out, and to help my students achieve the highest levels they can.

     I believe my past experiences and the knowledge I have acquired from my teacher education program have prepared me for the challenges in today’s education and have also provided me the ability to teach those that come my way as I continue to learn with them.