My teaching philosophy is “Every child has the capacity to learn” and this philosophy is in line with V1(Learner-Centered Values) of the V3SK model. Every school term, we welcome students with different character, behaviour, interests, learning styles and learning potential. As a teacher who upholds the said teaching philosophy, I would value my students as they are and believe they have hidden and extensive capacity to learn. I truly feel that believing in your students is important as it helps them to be confident and pushes them to perform to the best of their capabilities. In view of my teaching philosophy, there are two things I hope to achieve in my classroom.

 

Firstly, I hope to create a safe classroom environment where students can ask and answer questions and discuss topics without fear of judgment or ridicule. This is because, each and every student has the capacity to ask and answer questions. Such an environment will lead to bouncing off of new ideas and answers and encourage students to learn from one another, therefore leading to the maximisation of learning.

 

Secondly, I hope to be a reflective teacher. In my teaching career, I will encounter students who take a much longer time to digest information or students who completely do not understand what I am teaching. In such circumstances, I will not push the blame to the students but instead, be a reflective teacher by reflecting on the things I could do to improve my teaching. Perhaps I could use a different way to teach to suit the learning style of certain students, or I could try small group teaching when teaching harder concepts. Being a reflective teacher is in line with V2 (Teacher Identity) and Skills (Reflective skills, Innovation skills) of the V3SK model.

 

There is a famous Chinese idiom that says, “It takes ten years to grow trees, but a hundred years to rear people”. While nurturing and bringing up a person is not easy, I am willing to take up this responsibility of “rearing people” as this is where my passion and interests lie.