A cohesive and descriptive philosophy statement is part of the career path that will stay with you and evolve as you grow professionally. As Nicole Hernandez shares in her CD 123 class:

“Your philosophy of education will guide and strongly influence your daily teaching. Your beliefs about how young children learn best will be reflected in the establishment of goals and objectives, the design of your learning environment, the schedule of daily activities, your interaction style, the choice of classroom materials and equipment etc.”

A well-written philosophy will be about 1-1 ½ pages. Consider these areas as you write:

1. What do you see is the role of the teacher in the classroom? Does she direct the children what to do? Does she help them explore their own child-directed play?

1. What is the child’s role in their learning? Do you see the child as competent and able to make choices? What kinds of activities will you include? How important are group activities?

1. How do you feel and what are some beliefs that you have about diversity and inclusion?

1. What is your curricular orientation? Do you support the principles and practices of Montessori? of Reggio Emilia? of High Scope? a developmental model?

1. How will you establish the foundations for discipline in your teaching? In what ways will you provide guidance or work with children whose behavior needs intervention?

1. In what ways will you work with the families of the children in your class?

There are many more factors that can go into a philosophy, but these questions will get you started. When you take the student teaching classes, you will refine your philosophy again.

Because this is a document that will be shared professionally with potential employers and institutions, it’s very important that it be well written with good sentence structure, spelling and grammar, and is neat and professional in appearance.