Educational Philosophy

You should show encouragement whenever you can. People try harder when they know that someone cares about them.— Stephanie Perkins

This quote is one that I saw back when I was in ECS 100, and although technically it isn’t about education specifically, it has always stuck with me. I’ve had it in my portfolio since then and I immediately thought of it for this assignment.

Part of my personal educational philosophy has always been to show students you care. This is important, especially in today’s schools, because of the diversity of students’ backgrounds and home lives. For some students, the classroom is the only safe space they have, and we might not know that. Being that person who encourages them can change how they see themselves and make them want to put in more effort. Thinking back to the Treaty Ed Conference this past weekend, I recall a story that an Elder shared. He told us about a student of his that was always abrasive and rude to his peers and teachers. This child was only 10, but so full of hatred for the world. One day, he got into a physical fight with another student and so Elder Howard took him home to talk to his parents. His father was drinking a beer, throwing out curse words here and there, and when asked where the student’s mother was, he told Elder Howard that she had “run off” to Northern Saskatchewan with a bike gang years ago. This completely changed how Elder Howard saw the student. Understanding where this child’s anger and frustration came from explained everything. From then on, he showed extra care to the student and made sure to give him lots of positivity and encouragement. Elder Howard had also started a hot lunch and after-school program for students in Toronto, and he told us that years later, when he went to visit there, he was happy to see that same student had been employed there in a leadership role.

Elder Howard’s story relates to this quote quite a bit, showing us that sometimes a teacher and a classroom can make all the difference for a student. Education is about academics and skill-building for sure, but a large part of education has to do with building connections as well. That has and always will be important to me.

I’m going to end this post with the following video. This is a teacher that went viral on facebook a while back for his encouraging videos and his connections with his “special ed” students and the video really impacted and inspired me as an inclusive ed minor.

Video