How does someone create an Educational Philosophy?

              When sitting down to think about how someone goes about create an educational philosophy, I kept going back to the idea that it is ever changing.  The more you learn and actual teach, the more your beliefs behind education change, for the better.  Once I took the Educational Philosophies Self-Assessment and went back to score it....my answers were already changing.  Mostly, because so many things in teaching are not black and white.  Teachers live in the grey.  Every part of a situation comes into play when dealing with students; every piece of the student's background comes into play when teaching that student and responding to that student.  While my self-assessment lead me to be on the side of progressivism and reconstructionism/critical theory, the following is my philosophy of education...as it stand today....however I hope as I learn and teach it will develop further.....  

          My overall philosophy of education is to inspire all students to become lifelong learners.  To do this, students need to have an understanding of how they are going to use what they are learning in their lives and in the future.  If students have an understanding of how and why they are going to math, language arts and other subjects in their future they will be more interest, motivated and empowered to truly learn and know these various subject matters.

            In addition, students need to discover their own learning styles.  If he/she know how they learn best and work most efficiently then he/she will be more likely to enjoy their educational journey.  This will help students to become engaged within their own learning.   Students should know that they have a say in their learning process.  That they own it and that their teachers are guiding them from start to finish.  That how they learn and grow is important to their educators.   One of the most important aspects to teaching is for students to know that they, the student, are the most important thing in the eyes of their teachers. 

            Finally, students should be held to their own personal excellent.  Every grade a student begins; he/she should have the chance to grow from wherever he/she stands academically to the highest academic step the they personally can achieve.  He/She should have the opportunity to be challenged and explore a wide range of the education.    

Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.
                                                                                                                -- Josef Albers