My philosophy on education is that education is important not only to prepare students for tests or for final exams, but also to prepare students for life outside of school. To ensure that my students are equipped for today's world, I have to demonstrate several practices and ideas in my classroom. One is that they are responsible for their actions. Another is being innovative in the classroom so that students are kept interested, while setting an example for them by not being afraid of change and new ideas. And a third is introducing them to the world of technology and the uses that it has. I feel that students learn best when they know that what they are learning has a purpose. The skills that I would try to help them develop have to be supplemented by experience so that they can recognize their importance.

Many students leave school feeling that what they do affects them alone. However, this is not the case. Both good and bad decisions that they make have a ripple effect and can influence not only their lives but also the lives of those around them. I would teach them this through participation in co-op programs and through volunteerism. These are real life situations where they see the decisions they make affecting others. And they also see the job they are doing affecting the school - if they do a bad job, then the school partnership with that particular section of society may suffer. In a co-op placement or in school-sponsored volunteerism, the students realize that they are not totally representing themselves - instead they are representing the school and themselves as a student of it. This is one way to instill in them a feeling of responsibility for their actions.

Innovation in the classroom is, to me, of utmost importance. At dictionary.com, innovation is defined as the act of introducing something new. Expanding on that, an innovative teacher can be defined as a teacher who introduces new things to the classroom. However, I feel that the definition can go further, and the term 'innovative teacher' can be defined as a teacher who is not imitated by changes and new ideas. They can bring something new into the classroom - seeking the changes as opposed to having them forced upon them. To be an innovative teacher is to be someone who works for the students. They do this work in ways that are new and often exciting. They look out for the needs of their students, and bring balance to their lessons because they're looking out for these needs. They introduce skills through partnerships and technology that serve their students well through their school live and beyond. They are the ones driving the pedagogy and the curriculum changes, and who are often one - or many - steps ahead of their co-workers. Innovative teachers are not perfect - they make mistakes just like anybody. However, behind the mistakes and the successes there is one major factor - their ability to be unintimidated by change and new ideas. Students can identify teachers - my experiences in classrooms tell me that students are watching everything a teacher does (even if they are not listening to everything a teacher says). If a teacher displays innovation in the classroom, students are watching. And students will learn from this example. I feel that this is important because students will then leave that classroom knowing that they too can be different, and they too can be innovative. And then, they can enter the 'real world' unimitated, but instead ready for whatever it may present.

Thirdly, I would try to enhance student's familiarity with technology. I don't expect that they will leave school able to be web designers or programmers. However, I do expect that if they are put in a situation in which they need to be able to use technology, they can face that situation with no trepidation. To do this, I hope to bring a type of technology into everything they do in my classroom. That way, they can see that technology does not exist in a bubble and that it has uses beyond chat programs and e-mail. If they understand that it has uses, it is not a huge step for them to understand that it is being used in the "real world".

Therefore, the biggest task I have in equipping my students with the skills they need is to help them realize that the skills that I am teaching are ones that can help them in life and that they will need them. We, as educators, only have 13 years with them. We have to ensure that in these 13 years, we have prepared them for the rest of their lives where we aren't present. The curriculum we teach is very important, but also important is how we present it. If I can make students realize that they aren't learning for the sake of getting a credit, but to prepare them to enter the "real world" , then perhaps I can play some role in ensuring that they are ready for life in that "real world". My philosophy of education can be compounded into one simple statement - they have to leave school not only knowing the right answers to the right questions, but also know how to ask the right questions and find the right answers. If I can, through making them responsible for their actions as well as being innovative and through using technology, help them leave school with this skill, then, in my opinion, they have received an education that has prepared them for the world they are entering.