MT
Mery Johanna Téllez Technology Education Specialist

Philosophy

Education Philosophy

My philosophy of education has changed over the years, as I learn from literature, colleges and students every year. I have developed this philosophy as it is today through the 9 years I have been working in this field. In these years I have had the opportunity to work as a teacher for students from grades K-12, parents, teachers, and administrators. Having such a diverse audience has given me perspective and a holistic view of education.

There are three main characteristics I have found in being an educator that make me love the profession, and that I value so much, that I really put an effort into replicating them in my classroom so that my students can experience them too. The first one is the fact that as teachers we are professionally exposed to a challenging environment in which you are encouraged to learn and re learn every day, you are surrounded by amazing professionals that inspire you, and therefore you find yourself wanting to become a better professional every day. The second one is the fact that in despite of being in a highly challenging environment, in the world of education you don't feel that you are part of a competitive, harmful work space but instead a caring one, in which teachers normally open themselves to help their colleges and in which we are for the most part willing to learn from each other, you have the feeling of being part of a community. The third one is the sense of independence that as educators we experience in our classrooms. Compared to other industries, you normally find yourself having the possibility to create your own space for you and your students in your classroom, your individuality and your creativity are respected and most important valued.

I believe that having the opportunity to replicate these three characteristics within my classroom give me and my students the opportunity to create a real learning space in which they are able and encouraged to go the extra mile, understanding each other's differences, and even taking advantage of them, feeling free to express themselves and to create a learning network with their classmates and teacher.

The classroom should be an open space, where both students and teachers feel comfortable participating, collaborating, creating and learning from each other. I believe teachers are responsible for guiding the learning process that happens differently for each individual, and we are there as facilitators and as learners ourselves.

In regards to teaching strategies; I believe students should be given the opportunity to construct their learning through experience, through the design and creation of projects that motivate and facilitate the understanding of complex concepts and the acquisition of specific skills. I believe in the importance of self reflection. I provide opportunities for my students to reflect on their own learning, and for myself, in order to evaluate the classroom experience as frequently as possible.

I believe in modifying lectures, in finding new ways to make them substantial and important for my students and for myself. As for my own practice, I have managed to convert my lectures into practical experiences. While completing exercises together with the class, I cover content pieces crucial to the course. As a technology coach I have supported the flipped classroom philosophy as a strategy to get away from the traditional lecture practice while at the same time extending classroom time and providing students with real interaction with the teacher when most needed.

In regards to technology use, I believe in educators who learn, evolve and have the ability to make great changes and great contributions to the learning environment with the use of technology. I do not believe in technology as a tool only, I believe in technology as a culture, as a science and as part of our society and therefore a necessity in education, but I also believe we are yet to understand that technology itself it is not and will never be the revolution education needs. The only way to really transform and improve our classroom is as it always has been; by improving our teaching practice and pedagogy with the use of whatever tools we have at hand.

I believe education is based on cultural exposure. It is the process of preparing learners for developing and living successfully within a culture. Given that our culture worldwide has shifted due to technology development, I believe that education should prepare us for a life surrounded by it and in which communication, our main cultural tool, has also evolved as education itself.

I think as educators we have an obligation to model proper and smart use of technology to our students. It is only through being good digital citizens, ourselves, that they will learn and be smart digital citizens as well. In order for us to be able to model this, we also need to correctly use technology and to understand what being a digital citizen implies. This is, not only taking care of ourselves and respecting others, but also valuing the opportunities that technology development opens up for our society, being continuous learners, and keeping ourselves informed in a way that allow us to have a systemic view of the reality in order to become critical thinkers who make informed judgments and therefore contribute positively to our society.

Lastly we should be able to model how to use technology as the productivity and creativity tool that it is, bringing this new dynamic element into our classroom environment for our students.

I translate what I believe about education to my job as a leader and as a technology integration coach by seeing the school organization as a classroom, by understanding that I need to facilitate teachers and administrators the possibilities to replicate my beliefs into their own classrooms, and by understanding that we are all learners, from administrators to support staff, and therefore we all need to have opportunities to grow, to develop and ultimately to learn.