It is my belief that the contribution towards human development through imparting of knowledge and moral instruction remains an invaluable legacy of a teacher to young minds that will influence, in no small measures, the future of our society, nation and the world. In our extremely evolving society, driven by sociological transformation, scientific advancement and technological innovation, education has become a formidable challenge, requiring the recruitment, retention and continuing professional development of teachers who possess the required credentials, character and capability for effective mentoring of students. On this understanding, my philosophy of teaching focuses on the following four main elements: mentorship, classroom management, planning, and cooperative and collaborative efforts.

Mentorship

Teaching is a powerful means of developing a person intellectually, emotionally and morally. It is expected that an effective and efficient teacher is a mentor who is capable of affecting the lives of students in a positive way. The mentor does not only have a strong mastery in the subject matter, but also has personal qualities or character worth emulating by others, especially students.  As a mentor the teacher must exhibit positive expectations for the student success.  Without doubt, every one, especially the student, needs to be motivated and inspired to face and overcome learning challenges or even life situations in general.  A mentor is driven by both a strong passion for the work (teaching) and an unparalleled compassion for the students or others.  The mentor believes in the student’s capacity for learning, and is, himself, humble and willing to grow together with the students through continuing learning. It remains a natural propensity for one to seek to establish one’s hero in life.  Bearing in mind that a high proportion of people, especially children, are deeply hurting in one way or the other as a result of adverse experiences either at home or outside the home, or even both, a teacher who demonstrates an appreciable level of mentorship can very easily become a hero to such ailing student that is in search of comfort, confidence, help and hope in life. 

Classroom Management

This is one of the key elements that is crucial for both instruction and learning.  I believe that it is the responsibility of an effective science teacher to create, support and maintain learning and teaching environments that both ensure and enhance high academic achievement. The teacher should make himself/herself both available and accessible to students who should be encouraged to freely discuss their academic problems with the teacher.  A well managed classroom results in learning and instructional productivity. Learning and instruction are two inseparable processes involved in the art of teaching.  The success of both student learning and the teacher’s practice of instruction depends, to a great extent, on the effectiveness of a carefully designed classroom management and a realistically developed discipline plan.

In view of the potential dangers and high risks associated with science teaching, it is my conviction that classroom management and discipline plan must be given due consideration. My perspective about classroom discipline hinges on the premise that discipline plan must aim at helping the students to develop productive habits of mind. Such students are capable of making good choices by themselves, after thinking through the possible consequences of their actions in any given situations. This is particularly important because it has been established that the most effective learners have developed powerful habits of mind that enable them to regulate their behavior, think critically and think creatively. Although several discipline models have been developed and proposed for implementation in the classrooms, my personal view of classroom discipline matches perfectly with the view of incorporating in our management and discipline strategies the essential elements of dignity, responsibility as well as cooperation and collaboration.  I wholly subscribe to the idea that the science teacher is responsible for organizing a well-managed classroom where students can learn in a task-oriented environment.  In addition, the strategies for classroom management should aim at involving the participation of students.  This will serve as a practical lesson on student responsibility as well as a mechanism of enhancing classroom management and discipline.

Instructional Strategy Planning

This appears to be the right time and the right place to recall the saying “failing to plan is planning to fail.” Developing and implementing instructional strategies constitute the critical challenges that an effective science teacher must take on to ensure the success of student learning. The foundation of instructional strategies is the design and development of lesson plans capable of helping the students reach mastery. First, this involves identifying the academic needs of the individual students in the class.  Second, it is important that the classroom is effectively managed.  Third, the students should be fully engaged through interactive activities to achieve an increased learning time, while, at the same time, decreasing possible disruptive manifestations in the classroom. It should be expected that academic variability as well as cultural and emotional diversity among students exist in the class.  Meeting the diverse needs of these students may require planning the lessons based on instructional models that allow and encourage effective and intensive interaction among the students so that the high achieving students may be of help to the low achieving students.  In addition, the teacher may offer some form of after-school helps (review, tutorials, extra lessons, etc) to academically disadvantaged students. As a science teacher, I will strive to fit more in the role of a facilitator as I deliver my lesson instruction to my students.  Indeed, the climate of the classroom should be work-oriented but relaxed and pleasant.  I could see myself dealing with problems with confidence, courage and integrity, being driven by compassion for the interest and well-being of my students. For example, if a student consistently performs poorly in class assignments and tests, I should make the student know, by one on one discussion, that I do really care and that I am willing to work together with him/her to improve her performance.

Cooperative and Collaborative Efforts

Regardless of the expertise and experience of a teacher, it is important to understand that to offer a well-rounded, quality science education to a student, the full cooperation and collaboration of third party entities is essential. This is particularly true when one realizes and appreciates the input of other teaching colleagues, the support and participation of parents/guardians, or even the involvement and interest of education policy-makers.  An effective science teacher must strive to optimize the level of learning by developing, cultivating and coordinating cooperative and collaborative efforts involving carefully identified, relevant third party entities such as the input from parents, teaching colleagues, administrative staff, school counselors, etc. For all practical purposes, the teacher may consider the suggestions from close and active parents with great depth of professional or teaching experiences.  A possible forum to discuss with such parents and ask for their feedbacks or opinions on class related issues may be during or after a parent-teacher conference.

Taken together, it has been established that classroom management refers to all of the things that a teacher does to organize students, space, time and materials so that student learning and teacher instruction can take place.  Anchored on an effective planning, a well-managed classroom, coupled with a well-designed classroom discipline plan (consistent with a school-wide discipline plan) that focuses on promoting the dignity and raising the level of responsibility of students and strongly supported by the cooperative and collaborative efforts of other partners (parents, teaching and administrative staff, etc), may prove most useful and extremely successful in the execution of the challenging tasks of science teaching.