Category: Personal Philosophy

Approaches to teaching comes in many different forms. There are many theorists and more than a few ideologies telling teachers how to teach and what to teach at what times. The purpose of education has been debated for many years, stretching even beyond the forming of the United States of America. Why should we provide an education? Is it to enlighten or to prepare children for the riggers of the ‘real world?’ Education was reserved in the past for the elite or those who were viewed as gifted; should an education be ‘wasted’ on those who do not aspire to greatness, or show now promise in the academic fields?

These questions can be overwhelming, especially to a teacher who is new to the world of teaching and educating the rising generations. A single theory or ideology cannot fit every situation. By examining the key elements of the following 4 ideologies, I will create, present, and explain my own philosophy as it applies to my own career and the students that I love.

Scholar Academic

The primary belief of the Scholar Academic is that as a people, we have acquired a vast amount of knowledge. This knowledge is our responsibility to hand down to the next generation. All the knowledge that has been gathered is organized into academic disciplines, which are in turn organized by content, framework, and conceptual ways of thinking. These things are taught in universities and schools everywhere.

In addition to passing the knowledge on to the rising generation, teachers themselves are expected to be lifelong learners, constantly seeking knowledge and working toward bettering themselves. This mode of thinking sets an example for new learners and instills in them a love of learning and knowledge.

To an academic scholar, intellect, academic disciplines, and knowledge in the world are basically the same thing. An academic discipline is a hierarchy; at the top are those seeking knowledge and truth, followed by the teachers, and finally the learners. The goal of Scholar Academics is to introduce others into the hierarchy and assist them in moving up through the ranks, so to speak, to the highest form of learning: seeking truth.

Social Efficiency

Subscribers to the Social Efficiency ideology believe education’s purpose is to churn out individuals who can function as mature adults in society. These said adults would have productive workplace and home lives, built on the foundations taught.

These ideologists believe that children must learn to perform certain competencies determined by set goals and objectives in order to be considered proficient. Teachers are given standards that must be met, and teach these standards using educational strategies and curriculum that are designed to help students meet goals and gain skills.

An educator’s first job in this ideology is to meet the needs of the society. Their job is to create a product: an educated human being that can meet the demands of real life in our world. Key Roles:

Concept of learning/Change in human behaviors

Creating and ordering learning experiences

Accountability

Learner-Centered

Learner-Centered ideologists believe that learning and education is unique to each individual. Everyone has different needs when it comes to education. One student may excel in math while another struggle. Learner-Centered ideas focus on growth of the individual while keeping in sync with that person’s individual strengths in intellect, social grown, emotions, and even physical abilities.

One of the concepts these ideologists subscribe to is the ability of an individual to direct their own learning. These learners must be motivated know what they are capable of and to seek to improve in those areas. Learning is adjusted based on the individual, rather than have content taught to everyone. Student A may be learning something completely different than Student B.

Growth is the central theme here. Learning is considered the function of the interaction between a person and his or her environment. (Schiro, 2008, p.6) Everyone is capable of growth. It is the educator’s job to provide ‘context, environments, or units of work, which will stimulate growth in people as the construct meaning (and thus learning and knowledge) for themselves. (Schiro, 2008, p.6)

Social Reconstruction

Social Reconstructionists look at education through the lense that society is failing. As a whole, there is a crisis around us, such as those that stem from race, gender, social, and economic inequalities. Their assumption is that education is there to help redirect and rebuild society in a better way.

The first assumption is that our society is unhealthy as it is and on the brink of collapse. Next, it is assumed that something can still be done to save society from its imminent demise. Education, with specific curriculum, is a medium through which a better way can be taught.

Culture plays a large role in how Social Reconstructionists teach. They consider human experience to be shaped most powerfully by cultural factors and assume that meaning in people’s lives is determined by their social experiences. (Schiro, 2008, p.6)

Basically, society is viewed as a whole, with no single individuals or experiences. Since society is experiencing a crisis, individuals are, too. The aim of reconstructionists is to rectify this by eliminating from their culture aspects that they consider undesirable, substituting in their place social values they consider desirable. (Schiro, 2008, p. 6)

Personal Philosophy

It is difficult to comprehend that some ascribe only to one ideology. From my time in the classroom, I see clear pieces from each ideology in my own personal teaching style. I can see that meshing each of these styles together shapes my own personal philosophy as an educator.

My ultimate goal of education has always been to instill a love of learning in my students and ignite a passion in them to always seek after knowledge. I teach them the power of “YET.” It is never “I don’t know it” but always “I don’t know it YET.” The Scholar Academic ideology speaks strongly to me because of this outlook I have had in my own life. I fervently believe that the knowledge our society has should be sought after and acquired if at all possible. I myself have moved from being a student to a teacher, and even have reached the highest tier of the hierarchy at times, being a seeker of truth and knowledge myself.

While my goal of education subscribes to the Scholar Academic ideology, I believe my views on the roles of teachers and students falls more in line with the Learner-Centered ideology. I believe that each student has individual needs that need to be met. Students are unique and there is no ‘magic bullet’ in the classroom, as one of my favorite professors used to say. There is not a single way to teach that is going to be effective for every student in my class. Learner-Centered education is not easy in a public school environment. Here, the teacher acts as a facilitator or a guide. They lead the students through questioning and creating circumstances to enhance learning. With the primary goal being growth, an educator can measure the movement from the start to finish, rather than basing knowledge on the results of a paper and pencil test.

The downfall of this method has been evident in students who transfer into my class from a charter school. While students are unique and have different needs in the classroom, charter schools tend to take this a bit too far. Many lack in structure and as a result, students fall behind. This leads me into my third ideology that I can see in my own teaching: The Social Efficiency Ideology.

This ideology feels most like the public school system I teach in. We have a set of standards and objectives that we are required to teach. Students are in a structured and fast-paced environment. All the standards are designed to prepare them to move to the next grade, and when they are done with school, to become productive members of society.

I love the structure. Children need that. If you tell a student “go do this and then when you’ve mastered that, I’ll let you move on,” they will not do it on their own. Students like to know what is expected of them. They crave predictability. The standards and objectives that teachers in public schools teach from provide that. One thing they don’t do is dictate how a teacher teaches. There is still room for a teacher to ply their craft, while providing the structure and learning goals for the students to achieve.

My personal philosophy is this: Teachers should have a set of objectives from which they direct the education of students. By using these objectives, teachers should present curriculum and content in such a way that engages students and instills in them a desire to learn through their entire life. Learning should be, whenever possible, teacher-guided and student-led. Assessments should be as close to real-world assessments as they can be. It is not always possible to avoid a paper and pencil test, but wherever you can, you should.

This philosophy is appropriate for my instructional setting in many ways. It coincides with the requirements every public school teacher faces to teach from the core standards and objectives while catering to the needs of the individual student rather than that of society as a whole. It encourages students to develop a love of reading that will carry them through their entire life and teach them about the world they live in.

Strategies

Strategy 1

One strategy that I have utilized focuses on real-world application and assessment. In the 2nd grade core, we are required to teach about the parts of the letter. (Social Efficiency) A few years ago, I had an idea on how to bring real-world experience into my classroom as relates to teaching about the letter. For about a month, I collected junk mail from my mail box. I had credit card applications, random ads, and many other things. After we had learned about the parts of a letter (heading, greeting, body, closing, signature), I gave every student their very own letter to open. They were paired up (low student with someone a little higher) and they opened their letters together. Their job was to look for each part of the letter in their own piece of mail, and to label it.

As I walked around the room, it was easy to see who understood the lesson from the previous day and who did not. Some letters were missing a part, and even though students had been informed that might be the case, some were still confused, because, “you said that every letter needed to have these 5 parts, teacher!” I would respond with a question designed to get them thinking, such as, “Why do you think that there is no closing on this letter?” (Learner-Centered)

I am currently gathering junk mail again, since the time for teaching letter writing is coming again. This is one lesson that accurately shows my philosophy on assessing student understanding and the need for providing real-world experiences. Using this method has increased student understanding of this particular core standard. Since I began using this lesson, I have noticed an increase in abilities when labeling and writing letters.

Strategy 2

The second strategy I have used is a mix of all 4 of the ideologies, but strongly rests in Scholar Academic and Social Reconstruction ideologies. While Social Reconstruction isn’t a heavy focus in my personal philosophy, it does have its role in my classroom.

I have several students of various races and nationalities in my room this year. Our school has a large Latino population, along with Native American and African American ancestry. As a result, you can bet there have been problems with racism and bullying.

The 2nd grade core standards require teachers to teach about informational writing. What it doesn’t say is how to teach that. (Teacher craft) For the past 4 years, I have been writing very specific curriculum designed to hit the core while instilling some important life skills into my students.

This unit is taught over the course of 7 weeks. Each week focuses on a different historical figure. Students are encouraged to ask questions and we have some pretty amazing discussions about history and past social norms. Half of the people we talk about are people of color. Race is brought into the spotlight. We talk about how important it is to understand why things happened so that they don’t happen again. We discuss why it’s so important to be kind to everyone, no matter what.

There is far too much content in this unit to include here, but the things that are taught are powerful and fully go along with my own philosophy on education. Social Reconstruction ideology is featured heavily as we work to build desirable social values, especially where race is concerned. Students are encouraged to seek answers to their questions on their own through research (Scholar Academic) and as they write their final report (Social Efficiency) they get to choose the historical figure they want to write about. (Learner-Centered.)

This unit has evolved over the last few years and will continue to evolve with each group of students I have. My students walk away with the skills they need to continue with informational writing in the upper grades, and hopefully also with social skills that encourage them to be kind.

Conclusion

I believe to be a truly effective educator, a teacher must utilize aspects of all 4 ideologies. Creating a teaching philosophy is not the work of one year, or even ten years as an educator. Shaping a philosophy takes time. Ultimately, as educators, we love our students. That love helps us to find ways to reach each one, teaching them based on their needs. Forming our own philosophy the foundation that continues to spread as we grow and learn with our students.

Aspire to Inspire

Me as A Dream Teacher

Introduction

A dream teacher is someone who is successful in their profession. This raises the question in which ways can a teacher be successful? Is the most important part of being a successful teacher ensuring students are happy? Some believe this statement is untrue, as it is not the role of the teacher to ensure the happiness of their students. Instead, the role of a successful teacher is to create a positive and encouraging environment in which students can develop all aspects of their lives and be themselves. Happiness should not be the focus of being a successful teacher.

This can be examined through Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, which explores the impact role models have in children’s lives. Secondly, it is important to be aware of cultural misunderstanding and to be able to make the student feel understood. Lastly, being successful includes taking care of the well-being of a student as a whole according to the perspective of Holistic Education which is also part of my personal philosophy. In all these different aspects, it is not about the happiness of the students, but it is about creating a positive and safe environment for them in the classroom to be themselves.

2. Me as a Child

2.1. Social Learning Theory

Most people have that one person in their life that has encouraged and inspired them. This might be, for example, a parent, a sports coach or a church member but often people mention a teacher. One explanation for this is that teachers, in most cases, spend more time with the students than parents do (Cremin & Burnett, 2018). It might also be a quality that they exhibit, an action that the student can relate to or just the environment they provide for the students.

The Social Learning Theory, from psychologist Albert Bandura, states that children learn through observing those around them and learning from the behaviour and consequences. If children decide to imitate their role model’s behaviour it can have an enormous impact on their development, whether positively or negatively (Keenan, Evans, & Crowley, 2016).

On the other hand, “children do not imitate everyone around them; they are more selective, being drawn towards models who are warm and powerful and possess desirable objects and characteristics” (Keenan, Evans, & Crowley, 2016). Children could be looking to their student-teachers and teachers as someone they trust, look up to and want to imitate. Consequently, teachers should be setting good examples through their verbal and non-verbal language while teaching. If they are teaching about global citizenship and democracy, they should be demonstrating the qualities of a global citizen, like cultural understanding, and should demonstrate democracy in the classroom as well through involving students in the decision making, to a certain degree.

Personally, many teachers have made an impact on my life while I was a student. Looking back on the last four years of high school, Miss Medeiros and Misses Berry stand out for me. These teachers demonstrated admirable qualities like kindness, passion and understanding. They had those qualities as a person while also delivering the course content in an interesting manner as a teacher. They listened to students’ feedback and furthermore always provided extra support for those who wanted it. They helped me develop into a global citizen as both have had global experiences as a person and teacher which helped me embrace the challenge yet joy of being a Third Culture Kid, a child who has been brought up in two cultures and is a combination of the two. Their teaching and knowledge of Third Culture Kids makes me want to provide the same guidance to Third Culture Kids at International Schools.

As a student and future teacher, I want to be able to portray the same qualities they had to the students I will teach. I want to be able to provide an environment for the students that encourages them to discover who they are and embrace that.

At the same time, it is important to be mentored at all stages of life, including when one is a student-teacher. Doing a teaching practice gives the opportunity to be coached by teachers who have a broad understanding about the international community and are able to demonstrate qualities of a global citizen. It is an opportunity for student-teachers to discover techniques of teaching that are useful and impractical in their own classrooms. As a student-teacher it is important to realize that one is at the beginning of their knowledge of the classroom of an international school and being a teacher at one. This should be an inspiration for student-teachers to allow themselves to be mentored by those who have more experience while also sharing their own experiences with the students in the classroom.

For these reasons, the statement that the most important part of being a successful teacher is ensuring students are happy is not entirely accurate as it is more important as a teacher to be a good role model for the student, someone who exhibits qualities of being a global citizen. In order to be this role model, teachers need to have a basic understanding of the students in their classroom.

3. Me as a Student-Teacher

3.1. Cultural Misunderstanding

Knowing a student requires understanding of who they are, their personality and background. Students at international schools can be from all over the world, some have experienced the culture of many different nations before turning the age of ten. This happens frequently nowadays due to globalization. Big multinational companies have headquarters all over the world and require their employees to frequently move from one nation to another. This causes the children of these parents to move frequently as well and attend different international schools to have some stability in their constantly changing world. This means that teachers at international schools are working with students who have different cultural understanding in regard to values and norms (de Mooij, 2019). These students have unconsciously started the process of “hybridization – the process of mixing different cultural elements and styles” (Steger, 2017, p. 8). They combine different aspects of the cultures they have experienced and are living in a world that combines them together, they are also known as Third Culture Kids. They have the ability to shift their cultural lens to communicate and integrate into the culture they are now living in although it takes time to adapt to it (Morales, 2017). For teachers it is important to try and understand where these students came from and what their morals and values are to avoid cultural misunderstanding which can happen when the teacher is not aware of the culture differences, like what happened when I attended a school in a new country.

I attended a local public school when I first moved from the Netherlands to Canada and I felt misunderstood since most staff and students had very little knowledge of Dutch norms. In that school year, as a ten-year-old who barely spoke a word of English, a teacher thought that the Hagelslag (Dutch for Chocolate Sprinkles) I had on my sandwich contained peanuts which were forbidden at the school due to allergies. The teacher threw out my sandwich and made me clean my hands and desk. I had no way of communicating to her that the sandwich did not contain peanuts and I was left very confused, misunderstood, hurt and hungry as I did know at the time that she was just following school protocol. I was misunderstood because the teacher had never seen Hagelslag on bread before and did know what it was, and she was misunderstood as I did not understand her perspective since in the Netherlands peanuts are not forbidden at schools. We both had trouble communicating our perspectives to each other.

Some of the possible areas of cultural misunderstanding in communication is explained in the book Intercultural Sensitivity where the authors identify five of them, one of them being tongue (Nunez, Nunez Mahdi, & Popma, 2017). The fact that I was not verbally able to communicate with the teachers was part of the reason why there was a misunderstanding. Another was the fact that the teacher’s non-verbal language of throwing out my sandwich came across as a negative action to me and made me feel like she was disrespecting my culture. Nunez suggest that looking at the intention and influence of the person can give insight to the situation. Questions like “What is the aim of the conversation? What are the intentions, needs and motives of the participants in the communication? What drives each one of them to do their best?” can help answer why a person might be acting a certain way (Nunez, Nunez Mahdi, & Popma, 2017, p. 23).

As a student-teacher and a future teacher, it is important to realize that because of different cultures, a student might have trouble expressing themselves or may feel misunderstood in a new culture. Rather than jumping to conclusions, it is important as a teacher to dive deeper and gain some new understanding of that culture. Nunez identifies three key rhetorical questions to ask for feedback and clarity: “1. What is my share in the misunderstanding? 2. What is the other person’s share? 3. What is the influence of the social environment – the norms, values and general beliefs?” (Nunez, Nunez Mahdi, & Popma, 2017, p. 21). As a student-teacher, I would want to handle the situation differently, do some research on Hagelslag, have the student eat in a different room or contact the parents. In other words, try and make the student feel understood.

Ensuring students are happy is therefore not the most important part of being a successful teacher but rather it is important for students to feel understood. If, as an international teacher, one can make a child feel welcomed into the new culture and feel that their previous cultural experiences matter to them, a child can and will feel more understood. It is also beneficial if the teacher has some prior knowledge of the culture so that the student does not feel completely left in the dark. When a teacher can do this, they are not just teaching a student but also taking care of their needs that go beyond the set standard of most curriculums.

4. Me as a Future Teacher

4.1. Holistic Education

All international schools follow a curriculum, whether this be a national or international one, and each of them have specific aims, goals, and focuses. The focus of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program and the International Primary Curriculum, in particular, is holistic education. The vision of this type of education is to look at the whole well-being of children. In the English as an International Language lecture during week 1.3, it was discussed that as a teacher in the holistic education program, they are to take care of the physical, intellectual, aesthetic, emotional and spiritual well-being of the child (de Mooij, 2019). Consequently, stating that the most important part of being a successful teacher is ensuring students are happy is incorrect. Taking care of the student as a whole, as stated in holistic education, requires more than just ensuring their happiness, it requires being able to help them with all the experiences they bring into the classroom.

While working at a summer camp for children aged four to nine, it was described that children wear a metaphorical backpack with them in which they carry positive and negative memories. Like family vacations, good school experiences but also an argument with a friend, witnessing parents fighting constantly or even violence. It was not the goal for the camp counsellors to take away these negativities from the children’s lives but rather to demonstrate coping strategies and show them that if they did not get their way it was not appropriate to be violent or yell but rather to be respectful to everyone in the environment. Our task was not to make the children happy but to create a positive environment where children can be themselves, get away from the negativity surrounding them and felt welcome. I believe this to be something to focus on as a future teacher as well. Teachers cannot take away the negative experiences of the children in the classroom, but they can provide a safe place for students to explore who they are. This is a big part of my personal philosophy of education.

4.2. Personal Philosophy of Education

When looking the responsibilities of a teacher, they have many. The most common belief of what teachers do is teaching a set of subjects that are standard to a curriculum. For example, the British National Curriculum has a set list of subjects to be taught at each age group. At Key Stage 1, ages five to seven, teachers are responsible for teaching English, mathematics, science, art and design, computing, design and technology, geography, history, music, physical education, and religious education (de Mooij, 2019). John Dewey believes that educating students is more than just teaching them these subjects. Society educates its children because schools encourage a democratic lifestyle that will prepare students for the democratic life as an adult (Haagsma, 2019). But how does one do that as a teacher? My personal philosophy of education believes it to be about being able to teach all the subjects and requirements set out by the specific curriculum and being able to teach the student as a whole, like holistic education.

This can be accomplished through developing relationships with the students. Knowing what type of students are in the classroom, their background and their struggles help the teachers be able to accommodate the specific subjects to the different students in the classroom. This is taught in the International Teacher Education for Primary Schools program at NHL Stenden as part of the design process. Students are challenged to empathize with the people they are designing for, including trying to understand their wants and needs and observe and watching as people are telling their stories (Denby, 2019).

Another aspect of holistic education is being caring, and emotional, physical, intellectual and moral growth. If a teacher can provide this for their student, they are well on their way to taking care of the student as a whole (De Mooij, 2019). Both these aspects of being a teacher are important and are connected together, in my personal philosophy of education, you cannot teach one without the other. Just like you cannot have a happy student without first providing a positive and encouraging environment for them, which is why a student’s happiness is not the most important part of being a successful teacher.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, the statement “the most important part of being a successful teacher is ensuring students are happy” should be changed to “the most important part of being a successful teacher is ensuring the classroom is a positive and encouraging learning environment”. This will allow the students to look up to their teacher as their role model as that is important in the Social Learning Theory of Bandura. As well as gaining cultural understanding through getting to know the students.

Lastly, many international schools believe in holistic education, taking care of the student as a whole, which can only be done in an environment that encourages this and allows them to be themselves. As a dream/ future teacher, I do not want to be perfect but rather I want to create a safe space and environment for my students to be themselves, to explore the international community around them and to become global citizens.

Bibliography

1. Cremin, T., & Burnett, C. (2018). Learning to Teach in the Primary School (4th ed.). New York: Routledge.
2. Denby, J. (2019, September 12, 2019). Design Sprint [Powerpoint slides].
3. De Mooij, M. (2019, September 16). The Political Economy of Globalization: describing the Issues [Powerpoint slides].
4. De Mooij, M. (2019, September 19). Holistic Education: educating the whole child…. [Powerpoint slides].
5. De Mooij, M. (2019, October 5). The Key International Curriculae Holistic Focus: National Curriculum in England [Powerpoint slides].
6. Haagsma, M. (2019, September 3, 2019). Democratic Citizenship [Powerpoint slides].
7. Keenan, T., Evans, S., & Crowley, E. (2016). An Introduction to Child Development (3rd ed.). London, Great Britain: SAGE.
8. Morales, A. (2017, June). Intercultural Sensitivity, Gender, And Nationality of Third Culture Kids Attending An International High School. Journal of International Education Research, 13(1), 35-44.
9. Nunez, C., Nunez Mahdi, R., & Popma, L. (2017). Intercultural Sensitivity: From Denial to Intercultural Competence (4th revised ed.). Assen: Royal van Gorcum.
10. Steger, M. B. (2017). Globalization: A Very Short Introduction (4th ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

My philosophy on education was formed quite early as a result of my day to day learning in public school, and consequently, it has been undeniably inaccurate. I was a hard-working, driven student, with little inclination to question the nature of my education. I simply came to school, soaked in the instruction of the day, and committed myself to perform well – whether that was in adding and subtracting fractions or finding the theme throughout the latest fictional novel. All of it seemed necessary, but I lacked a true purpose for my education. I entered the teaching profession young and naive nine years ago with a clearer purpose than I had growing up; however over time it has changed dramatically and is far more fluid and developed than it once was.

Education is important; it is important to develop knowledge, acquire capabilities, and assimilate facts into the deep crevices of the brain, but there are more factors at play than a student’s ability to grasp a hypothetical concept or study efficiently for a test. What I didn’t realize early in my education was that motivation, interest, intrigue, practicality, connection, and personal value are the principal elements of education (Lovat & Clement, 2008). The attainment of knowledge, sound logic, and the ability to reason, whether it is preferable to the educator or not, come second to a student’s affective well-being (Council, Allen, Allen, Kelly & Kelly, 2015). Though most educators join the profession because they love their discipline, only those who understand, embody and satisfy the students’ affective needs can be truly successful. Through time, reading and implementation, philosophical elements of American education, such as idealism, essentialism, pragmatism, and perennialism, began to influence the development of my educational philosophy and allowed my views to evolve.

When it comes to instruction, I lean towards perennialism and essentialism, a belief that what has stood the test of time is valuable (Blythe, 2009). Conversely, what has not stood the test of time should be modified. If the best instructional strategy consistently produces mediocre results, it is time to branch out and try new things. What has worked decently in the past is acceptable for a time, but if the goal is to have 100% engagement, and that goal is not being met, I’ve learned I need to experiment and revise old practices. Despite the need to often modify instructional styles, tried and true methods have strong validity. It is important for the students to be supplied with what is essential to their success. Backward design is always implemented in my classroom. I am always asking myself, “What do I want my students to learn or get from this?”. Instructional strategies are also designed to assist the end goals. How I group my students, what I find I need to reteach, and how long we spend learning a topic or skill, all connect to the formative assessments used in my room. These play an integral part in my students’ learning processes and allow me to tweak and modify my teaching. The goal, after all, is to learn the material and apply it – not to get it right on a one-time summative test.

The metaphysics appropriate to my philosophical viewpoints are a mixture of idealism, perennialism, and pragmatism. Like Plato, I strive to know and reflect ideas in my life. I believe a perfect or ideal state exists for each situation and person, and there is always a morally and upstanding position that can be taken (Frede, 2015). Morality is not relative, it is certain (Frede et al, 2015). Practical knowledge, like the perennialists may condone, can be derived from what is tried and true (Frede et al, 2015). Information and human reason that stands the test of time can be considered useful for instruction. Often the latest whim of the educational society is unreliable, and therefore must be tempered with caution. I adhere to pragmatic philosophy, “What is real is what is practical, applicable, and useful” (Frede, 2015), and I aim to make that clear in all my lessons and conversations with my students.

As I have grown as an educator, I now look at education with a multifaceted approach. The rigor and quality of knowledge in diverse disciplines throughout education are a given. This is the overriding focus that the vast majority of stakeholders in education can agree upon. Examining the subject at a deeper degree, one may come to the realization that the reason for this collection of knowledge is to produce capable and successful contributing members of society. Given this larger purpose of education, I feel some leeway regarding the methods by which a student meets the standards may be given. In my day to day teaching, I believe the teacher should have the liberty to select texts and materials that relate and apply to their specific demographic. In my classroom, character education is the center of most lessons and is emphasized throughout selected texts that tailor to the needs of my classroom. The subconscious mantra of most teachers is to kill two (or three) birds with one stone whenever possible; meaning time is of the essence. I believe that character education is a fundamental part of the purpose of education that must be assimilated into the curriculum as each teacher sees fit. It is important for students to succeed with substantial knowledge, but also with a substantial moral compass that can be applied across the curriculum and into day to day life.

The scope of the curriculum should unquestionably cover the standards, the sequence, however, should be up to the teacher to decide. I wholeheartedly feel it is important to start out a new school year very slow, establishing routines, expectations, and confidence in students so that a heavier load of skills and strategies may be applied as the year and curriculum progress. Although there is endless information to cover, the students must be a part of the ‘discovery’ process. Socratic questioning plays a big part in my class discussions, as students are involved in choosing what they learn to some degree. This falls in line as an element of learning that a pragmatist may endorse. A limited choice between equally helpful and challenging topics supports high standards but also allows for freedom of expression. Concepts in interpreting literature, writing, and speech build upon one another. Time focusing on one particular area is extensive – as I do not believe in a survey of any topic, rather an in-depth focus being the best way to truly learn and apply something.

All students want to learn and be successful, but sadly students enter classrooms with life experiences that have affected their growth. Each student is different, and each student carries different amounts of baggage and predispositions in varying forms. Most days, a large portion of my students come ready to learn, relatively self-controlled, and open for instruction. The remainder of the students, however, have affective filters, skewed philosophies, or domestic disturbances that act as drawbacks to development (Ni, 2012). These negative experiences at home or with peers or teachers, often produce these affective filters. For example, many students and families have counterproductive philosophies, believing that the weight of responsibility lies solely on the teacher to make a student learn. This is a belief of entitlement, and it is difficult to uproot. These students need to be in a position to make choices and see how those choices affect them. I try to teach my students that they cannot be coddled with a lack of accountability, meaning I must show and teach them the flaws in this logic. On the extreme end, students also have domestic unrest. These students are so emotionally scarred that they have trouble accessing any of the information or strategies presented. I’ve learned that these filters must be removed or acknowledged for learning to take place. Often this is an extremely difficult task and it takes time for trust to be built. Regardless, all my students are given some leeway, some love, are affirmed regularly, and shown and told how capable they are.

Philosophies and life experiences aside, the role for me is to equip students for success. Teachers in Massachusetts must follow the standards. The majority has agreed upon these standards and that is what teachers are employed to do. Often the material may seem uninteresting or debatable, but teachers are employees, not supreme rulers of children. Teachers answer to the state, administration, and parents. My district follows a curriculum document that aligns the standards K-12 in both English Language Arts and Mathematics. The cornerstone of all teaching should be to equip students to be successful, so connections to real life must be made consistently and repeatedly. I continue to teach that character education has the end goal of producing morally honest citizens, however, one’s ability to distinguish justified belief from opinion may influence how character is taught. If it is assumed that people are inherently evil, the best character education can do is manage students through incentives and discipline. But, if people have equal potential for good or even underlying disposition for good, character education will be embarked upon differently. The latter is my opinion. Character education must be approached with the trust that people naturally want to make good choices – it is only unfamiliarity or illogical fear or embarrassment that inhibits people. The aim of character education and part of the role of the teacher is to invalidate fear that may prevent a student from communicating their innermost desire to be successful and to provide logic for students who need to make clear connections about their decisions and the effects of those decisions.

My worldview is pliable to some extent. I believe each human life has a genuine purpose, immense value, and that morality is not relative. The moldable portions of my worldview include how my beliefs are expressed. The embodiment of my beliefs has changed over time, and I expect it will continue to morph as new experiences, revelations, and information offer new perspectives. In an educational setting, this can be readily applied.

My ultimate goal as a teacher is to provide students with the ability to be effective communicators, both written and verbal, build their character, and become contributing members to society. Students will only be on board to this idea if they first believe that people are valued. If students feel important themselves, they will also see value in other people and see the importance in all education has to offer. Students must also be safe and free, feel secure and respected. The environment in which they learn and the relationships they create is key to the acquisition of who they become as lifelong learners and people. My hope is they walk out of my classroom different than I did, with a clear purpose for learning that is fluid and developed.

Aspire to Inspire

Me as A Dream Teacher

Introduction

A dream teacher is someone who is successful in their profession. This raises the question in which ways can a teacher be successful? Is the most important part of being a successful teacher ensuring students are happy? Some believe this statement is untrue, as it is not the role of the teacher to ensure the happiness of their students. Instead, the role of a successful teacher is to create a positive and encouraging environment in which students can develop all aspects of their lives and be themselves. Happiness should not be the focus of being a successful teacher.

This can be examined through Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory, which explores the impact role models have in children’s lives. Secondly, it is important to be aware of cultural misunderstanding and to be able to make the student feel understood. Lastly, being successful includes taking care of the well-being of a student as a whole according to the perspective of Holistic Education which is also part of my personal philosophy. In all these different aspects, it is not about the happiness of the students, but it is about creating a positive and safe environment for them in the classroom to be themselves.

2. Me as a Child

2.1. Social Learning Theory

Most people have that one person in their life that has encouraged and inspired them. This might be, for example, a parent, a sports coach or a church member but often people mention a teacher. One explanation for this is that teachers, in most cases, spend more time with the students than parents do (Cremin & Burnett, 2018). It might also be a quality that they exhibit, an action that the student can relate to or just the environment they provide for the students.

The Social Learning Theory, from psychologist Albert Bandura, states that children learn through observing those around them and learning from the behaviour and consequences. If children decide to imitate their role model’s behaviour it can have an enormous impact on their development, whether positively or negatively (Keenan, Evans, & Crowley, 2016).

On the other hand, “children do not imitate everyone around them; they are more selective, being drawn towards models who are warm and powerful and possess desirable objects and characteristics” (Keenan, Evans, & Crowley, 2016). Children could be looking to their student-teachers and teachers as someone they trust, look up to and want to imitate. Consequently, teachers should be setting good examples through their verbal and non-verbal language while teaching. If they are teaching about global citizenship and democracy, they should be demonstrating the qualities of a global citizen, like cultural understanding, and should demonstrate democracy in the classroom as well through involving students in the decision making, to a certain degree.

Personally, many teachers have made an impact on my life while I was a student. Looking back on the last four years of high school, Miss Medeiros and Misses Berry stand out for me. These teachers demonstrated admirable qualities like kindness, passion and understanding. They had those qualities as a person while also delivering the course content in an interesting manner as a teacher. They listened to students’ feedback and furthermore always provided extra support for those who wanted it. They helped me develop into a global citizen as both have had global experiences as a person and teacher which helped me embrace the challenge yet joy of being a Third Culture Kid, a child who has been brought up in two cultures and is a combination of the two. Their teaching and knowledge of Third Culture Kids makes me want to provide the same guidance to Third Culture Kids at International Schools.

As a student and future teacher, I want to be able to portray the same qualities they had to the students I will teach. I want to be able to provide an environment for the students that encourages them to discover who they are and embrace that.

At the same time, it is important to be mentored at all stages of life, including when one is a student-teacher. Doing a teaching practice gives the opportunity to be coached by teachers who have a broad understanding about the international community and are able to demonstrate qualities of a global citizen. It is an opportunity for student-teachers to discover techniques of teaching that are useful and impractical in their own classrooms. As a student-teacher it is important to realize that one is at the beginning of their knowledge of the classroom of an international school and being a teacher at one. This should be an inspiration for student-teachers to allow themselves to be mentored by those who have more experience while also sharing their own experiences with the students in the classroom.

For these reasons, the statement that the most important part of being a successful teacher is ensuring students are happy is not entirely accurate as it is more important as a teacher to be a good role model for the student, someone who exhibits qualities of being a global citizen. In order to be this role model, teachers need to have a basic understanding of the students in their classroom.

3. Me as a Student-Teacher

3.1. Cultural Misunderstanding

Knowing a student requires understanding of who they are, their personality and background. Students at international schools can be from all over the world, some have experienced the culture of many different nations before turning the age of ten. This happens frequently nowadays due to globalization. Big multinational companies have headquarters all over the world and require their employees to frequently move from one nation to another. This causes the children of these parents to move frequently as well and attend different international schools to have some stability in their constantly changing world. This means that teachers at international schools are working with students who have different cultural understanding in regard to values and norms (de Mooij, 2019). These students have unconsciously started the process of “hybridization – the process of mixing different cultural elements and styles” (Steger, 2017, p. 8). They combine different aspects of the cultures they have experienced and are living in a world that combines them together, they are also known as Third Culture Kids. They have the ability to shift their cultural lens to communicate and integrate into the culture they are now living in although it takes time to adapt to it (Morales, 2017). For teachers it is important to try and understand where these students came from and what their morals and values are to avoid cultural misunderstanding which can happen when the teacher is not aware of the culture differences, like what happened when I attended a school in a new country.

I attended a local public school when I first moved from the Netherlands to Canada and I felt misunderstood since most staff and students had very little knowledge of Dutch norms. In that school year, as a ten-year-old who barely spoke a word of English, a teacher thought that the Hagelslag (Dutch for Chocolate Sprinkles) I had on my sandwich contained peanuts which were forbidden at the school due to allergies. The teacher threw out my sandwich and made me clean my hands and desk. I had no way of communicating to her that the sandwich did not contain peanuts and I was left very confused, misunderstood, hurt and hungry as I did know at the time that she was just following school protocol. I was misunderstood because the teacher had never seen Hagelslag on bread before and did know what it was, and she was misunderstood as I did not understand her perspective since in the Netherlands peanuts are not forbidden at schools. We both had trouble communicating our perspectives to each other.

Some of the possible areas of cultural misunderstanding in communication is explained in the book Intercultural Sensitivity where the authors identify five of them, one of them being tongue (Nunez, Nunez Mahdi, & Popma, 2017). The fact that I was not verbally able to communicate with the teachers was part of the reason why there was a misunderstanding. Another was the fact that the teacher’s non-verbal language of throwing out my sandwich came across as a negative action to me and made me feel like she was disrespecting my culture. Nunez suggest that looking at the intention and influence of the person can give insight to the situation. Questions like “What is the aim of the conversation? What are the intentions, needs and motives of the participants in the communication? What drives each one of them to do their best?” can help answer why a person might be acting a certain way (Nunez, Nunez Mahdi, & Popma, 2017, p. 23).

As a student-teacher and a future teacher, it is important to realize that because of different cultures, a student might have trouble expressing themselves or may feel misunderstood in a new culture. Rather than jumping to conclusions, it is important as a teacher to dive deeper and gain some new understanding of that culture. Nunez identifies three key rhetorical questions to ask for feedback and clarity: “1. What is my share in the misunderstanding? 2. What is the other person’s share? 3. What is the influence of the social environment – the norms, values and general beliefs?” (Nunez, Nunez Mahdi, & Popma, 2017, p. 21). As a student-teacher, I would want to handle the situation differently, do some research on Hagelslag, have the student eat in a different room or contact the parents. In other words, try and make the student feel understood.

Ensuring students are happy is therefore not the most important part of being a successful teacher but rather it is important for students to feel understood. If, as an international teacher, one can make a child feel welcomed into the new culture and feel that their previous cultural experiences matter to them, a child can and will feel more understood. It is also beneficial if the teacher has some prior knowledge of the culture so that the student does not feel completely left in the dark. When a teacher can do this, they are not just teaching a student but also taking care of their needs that go beyond the set standard of most curriculums.

4. Me as a Future Teacher

4.1. Holistic Education

All international schools follow a curriculum, whether this be a national or international one, and each of them have specific aims, goals, and focuses. The focus of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program and the International Primary Curriculum, in particular, is holistic education. The vision of this type of education is to look at the whole well-being of children. In the English as an International Language lecture during week 1.3, it was discussed that as a teacher in the holistic education program, they are to take care of the physical, intellectual, aesthetic, emotional and spiritual well-being of the child (de Mooij, 2019). Consequently, stating that the most important part of being a successful teacher is ensuring students are happy is incorrect. Taking care of the student as a whole, as stated in holistic education, requires more than just ensuring their happiness, it requires being able to help them with all the experiences they bring into the classroom.

While working at a summer camp for children aged four to nine, it was described that children wear a metaphorical backpack with them in which they carry positive and negative memories. Like family vacations, good school experiences but also an argument with a friend, witnessing parents fighting constantly or even violence. It was not the goal for the camp counsellors to take away these negativities from the children’s lives but rather to demonstrate coping strategies and show them that if they did not get their way it was not appropriate to be violent or yell but rather to be respectful to everyone in the environment. Our task was not to make the children happy but to create a positive environment where children can be themselves, get away from the negativity surrounding them and felt welcome. I believe this to be something to focus on as a future teacher as well. Teachers cannot take away the negative experiences of the children in the classroom, but they can provide a safe place for students to explore who they are. This is a big part of my personal philosophy of education.

4.2. Personal Philosophy of Education

When looking the responsibilities of a teacher, they have many. The most common belief of what teachers do is teaching a set of subjects that are standard to a curriculum. For example, the British National Curriculum has a set list of subjects to be taught at each age group. At Key Stage 1, ages five to seven, teachers are responsible for teaching English, mathematics, science, art and design, computing, design and technology, geography, history, music, physical education, and religious education (de Mooij, 2019). John Dewey believes that educating students is more than just teaching them these subjects. Society educates its children because schools encourage a democratic lifestyle that will prepare students for the democratic life as an adult (Haagsma, 2019). But how does one do that as a teacher? My personal philosophy of education believes it to be about being able to teach all the subjects and requirements set out by the specific curriculum and being able to teach the student as a whole, like holistic education.

This can be accomplished through developing relationships with the students. Knowing what type of students are in the classroom, their background and their struggles help the teachers be able to accommodate the specific subjects to the different students in the classroom. This is taught in the International Teacher Education for Primary Schools program at NHL Stenden as part of the design process. Students are challenged to empathize with the people they are designing for, including trying to understand their wants and needs and observe and watching as people are telling their stories (Denby, 2019).

Another aspect of holistic education is being caring, and emotional, physical, intellectual and moral growth. If a teacher can provide this for their student, they are well on their way to taking care of the student as a whole (De Mooij, 2019). Both these aspects of being a teacher are important and are connected together, in my personal philosophy of education, you cannot teach one without the other. Just like you cannot have a happy student without first providing a positive and encouraging environment for them, which is why a student’s happiness is not the most important part of being a successful teacher.

5. Conclusion

In conclusion, the statement “the most important part of being a successful teacher is ensuring students are happy” should be changed to “the most important part of being a successful teacher is ensuring the classroom is a positive and encouraging learning environment”. This will allow the students to look up to their teacher as their role model as that is important in the Social Learning Theory of Bandura. As well as gaining cultural understanding through getting to know the students.

Lastly, many international schools believe in holistic education, taking care of the student as a whole, which can only be done in an environment that encourages this and allows them to be themselves. As a dream/ future teacher, I do not want to be perfect but rather I want to create a safe space and environment for my students to be themselves, to explore the international community around them and to become global citizens.

Bibliography

1. Cremin, T., & Burnett, C. (2018). Learning to Teach in the Primary School (4th ed.). New York: Routledge.
2. Denby, J. (2019, September 12, 2019). Design Sprint [Powerpoint slides].
3. De Mooij, M. (2019, September 16). The Political Economy of Globalization: describing the Issues [Powerpoint slides].
4. De Mooij, M. (2019, September 19). Holistic Education: educating the whole child…. [Powerpoint slides].
5. De Mooij, M. (2019, October 5). The Key International Curriculae Holistic Focus: National Curriculum in England [Powerpoint slides].
6. Haagsma, M. (2019, September 3, 2019). Democratic Citizenship [Powerpoint slides].
7. Keenan, T., Evans, S., & Crowley, E. (2016). An Introduction to Child Development (3rd ed.). London, Great Britain: SAGE.
8. Morales, A. (2017, June). Intercultural Sensitivity, Gender, And Nationality of Third Culture Kids Attending An International High School. Journal of International Education Research, 13(1), 35-44.
9. Nunez, C., Nunez Mahdi, R., & Popma, L. (2017). Intercultural Sensitivity: From Denial to Intercultural Competence (4th revised ed.). Assen: Royal van Gorcum.
10. Steger, M. B. (2017). Globalization: A Very Short Introduction (4th ed.). Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

My philosophy on education was formed quite early as a result of my day to day learning in public school, and consequently, it has been undeniably inaccurate. I was a hard-working, driven student, with little inclination to question the nature of my education. I simply came to school, soaked in the instruction of the day, and committed myself to perform well – whether that was in adding and subtracting fractions or finding the theme throughout the latest fictional novel. All of it seemed necessary, but I lacked a true purpose for my education. I entered the teaching profession young and naive nine years ago with a clearer purpose than I had growing up; however over time it has changed dramatically and is far more fluid and developed than it once was.

Education is important; it is important to develop knowledge, acquire capabilities, and assimilate facts into the deep crevices of the brain, but there are more factors at play than a student’s ability to grasp a hypothetical concept or study efficiently for a test. What I didn’t realize early in my education was that motivation, interest, intrigue, practicality, connection, and personal value are the principal elements of education (Lovat & Clement, 2008). The attainment of knowledge, sound logic, and the ability to reason, whether it is preferable to the educator or not, come second to a student’s affective well-being (Council, Allen, Allen, Kelly & Kelly, 2015). Though most educators join the profession because they love their discipline, only those who understand, embody and satisfy the students’ affective needs can be truly successful. Through time, reading and implementation, philosophical elements of American education, such as idealism, essentialism, pragmatism, and perennialism, began to influence the development of my educational philosophy and allowed my views to evolve.

When it comes to instruction, I lean towards perennialism and essentialism, a belief that what has stood the test of time is valuable (Blythe, 2009). Conversely, what has not stood the test of time should be modified. If the best instructional strategy consistently produces mediocre results, it is time to branch out and try new things. What has worked decently in the past is acceptable for a time, but if the goal is to have 100% engagement, and that goal is not being met, I’ve learned I need to experiment and revise old practices. Despite the need to often modify instructional styles, tried and true methods have strong validity. It is important for the students to be supplied with what is essential to their success. Backward design is always implemented in my classroom. I am always asking myself, “What do I want my students to learn or get from this?”. Instructional strategies are also designed to assist the end goals. How I group my students, what I find I need to reteach, and how long we spend learning a topic or skill, all connect to the formative assessments used in my room. These play an integral part in my students’ learning processes and allow me to tweak and modify my teaching. The goal, after all, is to learn the material and apply it – not to get it right on a one-time summative test.

The metaphysics appropriate to my philosophical viewpoints are a mixture of idealism, perennialism, and pragmatism. Like Plato, I strive to know and reflect ideas in my life. I believe a perfect or ideal state exists for each situation and person, and there is always a morally and upstanding position that can be taken (Frede, 2015). Morality is not relative, it is certain (Frede et al, 2015). Practical knowledge, like the perennialists may condone, can be derived from what is tried and true (Frede et al, 2015). Information and human reason that stands the test of time can be considered useful for instruction. Often the latest whim of the educational society is unreliable, and therefore must be tempered with caution. I adhere to pragmatic philosophy, “What is real is what is practical, applicable, and useful” (Frede, 2015), and I aim to make that clear in all my lessons and conversations with my students.

As I have grown as an educator, I now look at education with a multifaceted approach. The rigor and quality of knowledge in diverse disciplines throughout education are a given. This is the overriding focus that the vast majority of stakeholders in education can agree upon. Examining the subject at a deeper degree, one may come to the realization that the reason for this collection of knowledge is to produce capable and successful contributing members of society. Given this larger purpose of education, I feel some leeway regarding the methods by which a student meets the standards may be given. In my day to day teaching, I believe the teacher should have the liberty to select texts and materials that relate and apply to their specific demographic. In my classroom, character education is the center of most lessons and is emphasized throughout selected texts that tailor to the needs of my classroom. The subconscious mantra of most teachers is to kill two (or three) birds with one stone whenever possible; meaning time is of the essence. I believe that character education is a fundamental part of the purpose of education that must be assimilated into the curriculum as each teacher sees fit. It is important for students to succeed with substantial knowledge, but also with a substantial moral compass that can be applied across the curriculum and into day to day life.

The scope of the curriculum should unquestionably cover the standards, the sequence, however, should be up to the teacher to decide. I wholeheartedly feel it is important to start out a new school year very slow, establishing routines, expectations, and confidence in students so that a heavier load of skills and strategies may be applied as the year and curriculum progress. Although there is endless information to cover, the students must be a part of the ‘discovery’ process. Socratic questioning plays a big part in my class discussions, as students are involved in choosing what they learn to some degree. This falls in line as an element of learning that a pragmatist may endorse. A limited choice between equally helpful and challenging topics supports high standards but also allows for freedom of expression. Concepts in interpreting literature, writing, and speech build upon one another. Time focusing on one particular area is extensive – as I do not believe in a survey of any topic, rather an in-depth focus being the best way to truly learn and apply something.

All students want to learn and be successful, but sadly students enter classrooms with life experiences that have affected their growth. Each student is different, and each student carries different amounts of baggage and predispositions in varying forms. Most days, a large portion of my students come ready to learn, relatively self-controlled, and open for instruction. The remainder of the students, however, have affective filters, skewed philosophies, or domestic disturbances that act as drawbacks to development (Ni, 2012). These negative experiences at home or with peers or teachers, often produce these affective filters. For example, many students and families have counterproductive philosophies, believing that the weight of responsibility lies solely on the teacher to make a student learn. This is a belief of entitlement, and it is difficult to uproot. These students need to be in a position to make choices and see how those choices affect them. I try to teach my students that they cannot be coddled with a lack of accountability, meaning I must show and teach them the flaws in this logic. On the extreme end, students also have domestic unrest. These students are so emotionally scarred that they have trouble accessing any of the information or strategies presented. I’ve learned that these filters must be removed or acknowledged for learning to take place. Often this is an extremely difficult task and it takes time for trust to be built. Regardless, all my students are given some leeway, some love, are affirmed regularly, and shown and told how capable they are.

Philosophies and life experiences aside, the role for me is to equip students for success. Teachers in Massachusetts must follow the standards. The majority has agreed upon these standards and that is what teachers are employed to do. Often the material may seem uninteresting or debatable, but teachers are employees, not supreme rulers of children. Teachers answer to the state, administration, and parents. My district follows a curriculum document that aligns the standards K-12 in both English Language Arts and Mathematics. The cornerstone of all teaching should be to equip students to be successful, so connections to real life must be made consistently and repeatedly. I continue to teach that character education has the end goal of producing morally honest citizens, however, one’s ability to distinguish justified belief from opinion may influence how character is taught. If it is assumed that people are inherently evil, the best character education can do is manage students through incentives and discipline. But, if people have equal potential for good or even underlying disposition for good, character education will be embarked upon differently. The latter is my opinion. Character education must be approached with the trust that people naturally want to make good choices – it is only unfamiliarity or illogical fear or embarrassment that inhibits people. The aim of character education and part of the role of the teacher is to invalidate fear that may prevent a student from communicating their innermost desire to be successful and to provide logic for students who need to make clear connections about their decisions and the effects of those decisions.

My worldview is pliable to some extent. I believe each human life has a genuine purpose, immense value, and that morality is not relative. The moldable portions of my worldview include how my beliefs are expressed. The embodiment of my beliefs has changed over time, and I expect it will continue to morph as new experiences, revelations, and information offer new perspectives. In an educational setting, this can be readily applied.

My ultimate goal as a teacher is to provide students with the ability to be effective communicators, both written and verbal, build their character, and become contributing members to society. Students will only be on board to this idea if they first believe that people are valued. If students feel important themselves, they will also see value in other people and see the importance in all education has to offer. Students must also be safe and free, feel secure and respected. The environment in which they learn and the relationships they create is key to the acquisition of who they become as lifelong learners and people. My hope is they walk out of my classroom different than I did, with a clear purpose for learning that is fluid and developed.

Success is the most important issue in a person’s life as it could be seen as a measurement of how good they are in their occupation. It is crucial for one to determine themselves to be successful. Consequently, the success will reveal itself to be reached as a clear target. Moreover, every subject requires different strategies in order to be successful. Primarily, taking risks and planning carefully could be seen as the two main tools to use to be successful. On the one hand, one must be well-planned and prepared for the tasks required to be done, as well as predict any possible obstacles that might need to be overcome. As a result, the possibility of taking the risk would be reduced dramatically which will certainly lead to success. On the other hand, it is claimed that the greater the risk you take, the greater the outcome you receive. Therefore, the role of taking risks cannot be dismissed.

From my point of view, success should be based on planning carefully. It is obvious because the more carefully you make plans, the better preparation you have for your work, which increases the ability to have control and clear ideas over external issues. To take an example, assume an investment manager in a fast-growing company that is involved in many sectors looking for investment opportunities. He/she is well-organized and has planned carefully. However, they are in an economically vulnerable time as there is an election ahead. The outcome is unknown. However, there have been so many good offers to invest in. However, the manager does not involve in those offers straight away. He/she must consider the plans made before and evaluate the risks as the conditions are not clear. Therefore, those offers may not remain as profitable as before. This must be considered as well. If the manager goes for the investment, it may end up in unexpected results like losing the capital, etc. Thus, he/she should evaluate the possible outcomes of the elections, and make plans accordingly. Otherwise, taking that kind of risk could be considered gambling. Nevertheless, if the plans made by the manager so far prove that it is still more likely to be a good investment, despite all the unstable issues, there has to be risk-taking to be more successful.

In conclusion, I am completely convinced that whether it is necessary or not, risk should not be the main role in achieving success, because it increases the probability of failure. On the contrary, careful planning always leads to better results and increases the probability of success. Nevertheless, I believe that taking risks can be a good choice, provided that all plans and completed works are certain and to some extent prove that the risk can be accepted. This is my vision of success and the place of risk in achieving it. I am guided by this ‘philosophy’ in my life.