Hollie's Top 10 beliefs and educational philosophy
- “ I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. My personal approach creates the climate. My daily mood makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or and instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or resolved and a child humanized or dehumanized.” ~Hiam Ginott
- All children deserve nourishment of both body and soul. (This includes Maslow’s basic needs, including safety)
- Every child has a path on which he/she is meant to travel. The child is the only one who holds the key to discovering this path. If I try to influence the course of the child’s life, I may alter their direction and therefore prevent them from reaching their full potential. Accordingly, the only safe bet is to follow the lead of the child.
- Children’s feelings are important, should be acknowledged, and respected, even when they are negative. As my best friend always says, “ If you feel it, then it is legit.”
- Every child in the classroom deserves kindness and acceptance from other children. I need to model kindness and respect and encourage my students in developing a sense of camaraderie.
- There is a direct correlation between how children feel and how they behave. Children, who feel right, act right.
- Democratic principles should be extended to children and used in classroom problem solving.
- I also believe we need to show children how to entirely accept themselves including limitations. Many people may disagree with this statement. We live in a society that teaches you can reach any goal you set for yourself. Most would say, “You would never get anywhere with that negative attitude. If you perceive yourself as being limited then you will be.” My reply to such statements is this, “ If you live in the dark and refuse to admit that you cannot see without light, you would never strive to find light, thus you would never see.” Denying limitations only leads to a progression of limitations. Acceptance and motivation to follow the path that best suits the individual, is the only way to overcome limiting forces. It is not negative to acknowledge this when our strengths and limitations are what make us beautiful and unique.
- One should never underestimate the power of an eight-hour day. Each student spends more time in the classroom environment then any other place, so my influence and environment has great potential to overcome debilitating forces.
- Each child’s progress should be measured according to their own performance and growth and not that of another.
I believe that learning comes from within, and thus so, needs to be motivated intrinsically. Any knowledge based on other means is deficient. It will not endure; rather it will cease. When the external motivating force is absent, then also is the search for truth. When learning takes place in this manner the process is severed. One ceases to be a seeker of knowledge, and just learns to gain rewards or avoid sanctions. Acquisition of knowledge is cumulative and therefore, must be intrinsically motivated for the cumulative process of its efforts to reach fruition. Searching for knowledge by any other means, leads to false truths or blind acceptance of others ideas.
Our goal as educators is to create learning environments that nurture each child’s motivation to learn. Children, who are not encouraged to explore and learn from their environment, will lose their intrinsic motivation. As a teacher of young children, I must embrace all children and provide an environment that will develop each child’s potential, without threatening their learning independence. The best teacher a child will ever encounter is the person who stares back at them when they look in the mirror. Therefore, my goal is not to teach, but rather provide opportunities for students to learn how to perfect their own learning.
I also believe we need to show children how to wholeheartedly accept themselves, including limitations. Many people may disagree with this statement. We live in a society that teaches you can reach any goal you set for yourself. Most would say, “You would never get anywhere with that negative attitude. If you perceive yourself as being limited then you will be.” My reply to such statements is this, “ If you live in the dark and refuse to admit that you cannot see without light, you would never strive to find light, thus you would never see.” Denying limitations only leads to a progression of limitations. Acceptance, and motivation to follow the path that best suits the individual, is the only way to overcome limiting forces. It is not negative to acknowledge this when our strengths and limitations are what make us beautiful and unique.
Knowledge is a discovery process. I do not believe in the creation of truth. Instead, knowledge and truth exists independently of cognition. Our universe is in a state of becoming, as are we. If we refuse to acknowledge the existence of truth or knowledge, it does not cease to be. Instead, it is there and has been all the while, waiting for a creative, rational and independent thinker to make the discovery. We all have unlimited potential for growth, if we continue to seek answers to the questions of our hearts and minds.
Discovering the answers to such questions is not simple and requires continual growth both mentally and spiritually. As we learn more, we begin to gain a higher level of awareness and a deeper understanding on many levels. Education plays a significant role in assisting the individual in gaining the higher-level thought processes needed to move beyond blind acceptance. Knowledge acts as a springboard for developing creativity, individual discovery, critical thinking and problem solving.
It is also important to understand that we achieve understanding at various levels and in individual time sequences. The job of an educator is to assist the individual in this process by introducing new information when sensitivity is at its peak, capitalizing on individual readiness and interest.
All young children have an innate curiosity and need to explore the world. From Erikson to Montessori, Piaget to Vygotsky, this fact is central to all philosophies on how children best develop. Beginning with this general observation, many have tried to create schools of thought on how children grow and learn. Some are cognitive in nature, while others take a social approach. Despite their differing perspectives, they all have something to offer, an insight to give the listener who is ready to listen with an eclectic ear.
One notion endorsed by most theorists is the fact that children are not born knowing red or green, sweet or sour, rough and smooth, or any of the other myriad of physical sensations. The natural world is the child’s first curriculum, and the child must freely interact with this world to gain understanding. Compatible with Aristotelian philosophy, Maria Montessori believed, “There is nothing in the intellect, that was not first in the senses.” (Standing, E. M. (1957) Maria Montessori: Her Life and Work. New York: Hollis and Carter Unlimited.) Unquestionably, to the adult onlooker this free sensory exploration would be consistent with our current definition of play.
Play is the spontaneous activity of the child. It is intrinsically motivated, open-ended, existing in and of itself will no external goal or purpose. The process takes center stage, as the child explores, showing little interest in the product. When children play, they are guided only by the innate natural instinct to explore the world. This is the “work” of the child, all that is required is the time and freedom to develop as nature intended.
In a society that places so much emphasis on productivity, our children’s’ freedom to play is seriously threatened. With the push for early academics, our children are losing the valuable time needed to explore the world in the way nature designed. Losing sight of the benefits of play for our children will have serious repercussions for our future. One thing we should understand by now is that nature’s plan is always superior to our own. Man’s innate desire to “perfect” nature has caused serious consequences for our society in the past. The question we must ask ourselves now is… “Is this risk worth considering when the outcome may alter the potential of our children?”
In closing, perhaps the most important belief that I hold is a profoundly, deep respect for the child. In giving birth to my children, it became apparent to me that I had been entrusted to guide three spirits, as they reveal to the world, what paths are intended for their lives. It is not my role, as a parent, to shape or interfere with their paths in any way. It is the same for the teacher. You have to believe and put you faith in a source far greater then yourself, you have to yield to the child. Observe and wait, the child will manifest itself to you and these manifestations will be far greater then anything you could have hoped to have given.