Educational philosophy statement

Here are the things you should address in your paper:

Purposes of Education:  What purpose does education serve in the life of the community and the larger society?  What are the purposes of education in the life of the student?  What should it do for a young person and what should it enable a person to eventually do?  What types of things should students be taught or learn in schools?

Developmental Goals:  What are your developmental goals (social, emotional, moral, cognitive) for ALL the students in your classes?  These are not academic goals such as meeting the state standards or being at grade level in your content area.  Rather, think in terms of non-academic goals related to the types of people you want your students to become or perspectives you want them to have.  Although expressing that you want each student to fully develop as an individual is a worthy sentiment, in reality, you teach 20-30 students at a time and you work to create a classroom that educates a group.  Therefore, in thinking about your classroom, decide on the characteristics, traits, dispositions, and skills you hope to promote in ALL of your students and what would be the developmental outcomes of the classrooms you create.  Once done, this can become the foundation upon which you develop classroom discipline strategies, lessons, management plans, and curricula that promote the developmental goals you think are important for all.