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.

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As this reflection shows, I promote individual learning, and agree with Paulo Freires
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 teachers 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.

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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.

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Purpose of Class
The purpose of Mondays 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.