My philosophy of education

My own philosophy of education relies on being eclectic.  My philosophy of education takes elements of TRPS (Teaching Proficiency through reading and story telling) Dr. Gardners Theory of Multiple Intelligences. I love combining different teaching methods. Specifically, I love combing the Grammar Translation Method, that is based on having students translate texts based on grammar rules, The Direct Method, that guides foreign language teaching based on language immersion, but using instruction on the native language of the learner.

                  On the other hand, beyond academic and language theory, I believe that my philosophy of education relies on individual learning. Each individual learns differently, and as I teacher I have to be a facilitator that looks for alternative ways in which a student can succeed. Furthermore, I strongly believe that a teacher needs to make personal connections with every student in order to help them to succeed not only in the classroom but also in their personal life.

           I will provide a few examples of how I incorporate different philosophies in my classes. Looking at my learning gains, in a lesson, I shared a short story in Spanish and modeled with actions using Ser and Ir in the preterite form. I used laminated pictures of kitchen, dorm, garden, etc. It was impressive to see how students were extremely engaged when I told and modeled the story. By using laminated pictures along with a story, the lesson followed principles of spatial intelligence and linguistic intelligence. Dr. Gardner suggests incorporating eight different uses of intelligence in each lesson. I saw a student that has been diagnosed with ADHD, another student that has been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder, and some students that struggle with note-taking and several TAG students extremely engaged in this activity. Probably the success of the lesson takes place because it stimulated both spatial (picture) intelligence and linguistic intelligence.

           Furthermore, telling a story follows principles of TPRS, (Teaching Proficiency through reading and story telling). Rowan in Realidades TPR Stories for Realidades explains that Ray, the creator of TPRS, believes that the use of repetition, reading, gestures, and storytelling in foreign language classes has been highly successful because it helps students acquire involuntary mental rehearsal. For instance, a group of 6th graders reached a level of Spanish knowledge and fluency considered higher than college level, after only 30 hours of study with TPRS based instruction. (Rowan, 2010)