Definition of Philosophy – Love and pursuit of wisdom by intellectual means and moral self-discipline, or; any personal belief about how to live or how to deal with a situation. [From Greek philosophi]

These are just a couple of definitions from dictionary.com. I was curious to see the different ones that they had for philosophy on their website. ‘Love and pursuit of wisdom’ is what stuck out to me. This, you could say, is a philosophy of mine: To share my passion for the love and pursuit of wisdom. Not just to simply teach, but to show passion. I want people to see me get excited about learning and that yes, I still am learning and love it! I want to see children get passionate about learning information on something they like, or even more so, something they may have thought they didn’t, but find out that they may be interested in at least some aspect of it.

I actually had something else outlined to start this paper out with, but I see now that they are not actually philosophies, but what make up my philosophy. They are my passions, my beliefs, which over time have formed different philosophies of mine. These passions and beliefs stemming from both nature and nurture; from past experiences, both good and bad which includes past teachers, advisors, parents, and peers. Experiences from each of these have helped to shape my beliefs and what I am passionate about. So here are some of those beliefs and passions of mine.

I don’t know that I see my philosophies changing per se, but broadening, yes. I can see my passions and beliefs changing in the sense that they add to my philosophy, or create another one. I’ve already seen this by listening and watching my classmates talk about their passions and why they want to teach, and I think, "awesome! I want that to be a passion of mine as well!"

I want to show students that learning is fun! I want them to learn to work effectively as a team, but also as an individual, increasing their creativity.

A belief of mine is that I think children are overloaded now days with homework. I believe in homework, but they still need a "childhood." I would like to have a few minutes at the end of each day for them to start their homework, to "get them going."

When it comes to controlling a classroom, I know that raising my voice is not always the answer, and I am still learning and open to better avenues in approaching students to help control a class.

One of my largest passions, which has come about in the past 4 years, is to help raise children’s self-esteem. Both girls and boys. I have been more centered on girls though, as I have been watching a 12-year old niece of mine go through adolescence with hardly any self-esteem at all. I try to help her as much as I can, as she gets more negative than positive reinforcement at home. She’s a great kid, but this is really hurting her, at a time when she really needs positive reinforcement to raise her self-esteem. I’m just so scared of where I see her going, as I have a close friend who was like this. My twin brother is another one who has set this passion in me. We are opposites. I, the outgoing one, and he, the introvert. I was the one who usually stood up for him in school, and to this day I wish he had even an "iota" of the self-esteem I have. He does not realize all that he has going for him and how talented he is. I only wish I had one ‘iota’ of his talent.

If there were something I want my students to leave my classroom with, it would be to never stop learning and keeping passion. I want to tell them that they can be anything, and that when they graduate high school, not to let others talk them out of the profession they want to go into, like I was talked out of going into teaching, and prior to that, of being a veterinarian. It was mainly my guidance counselors who would try and tell me all the cons to any job and say that they overweighed the pros. But there are also parents, teachers, and peers who can do the same. I want them to go for a profession they have passion for, their passion may change in the form of a different type of job, but as long as it is something they want to continually learn about, that is the key.

Send email to:  Amber Schaben

This page was last updated 05/12/2008

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