About Mr. Fielder
Welcome to my little home on the web! My name is Patrick Fielder and I have been teaching at Everett for 6 years, all of them in 5th grade I have been married for 15 years to my wife, Christina. We have a daughter that is 6 years old and going into 2nd grade, as well as twins (one boy and one girl) who are 2. I graduated from UNK in 1994 with a degree in Elementary Education and received my Master's degree (in history) from Nebraska Wesleyan in 2007. I have lived in Grand Island, Kearney and Lincoln, Nebraska, Clinton, Missouri and Columbus, Ohio (not in that order). In addition to teaching, I also worked in the publishing industry for a number of years.
Please feel free to email me with any questions or comments, no matter if you have a child in my class or not!
Here is my Educational Philosophy:
Patrick Fielder
2005
The phrase “educational philosophy” is rather evasive and hard to define. It is more of an internal drive than something that can be effectively conveyed in written form. That said, there are still some overall views on education and what I believe education should entail.
First and foremost, All children need to be treated as the individuals they are. Too many people look at a class as a single entity rather than 20 different unique people. Although these children cannot be taught one on one with lessons tailor made for their individual learning styles, a first step is to understand that they each view the world and what is taught to them in a slightly (or majorly) different way, and small concessions and adjustments need to be made to help keep us from the pitfalls of a ‘one size fits all’ approach.
Teachers need to be facilitators of a child’s learning, a guide, rather than running a virtual totalitarian regime. What I mean by this is that the student needs to be able to fail, and to know that failing is a way of learning. Students needs to be able to take responsibility and drive some of their own education (more responsibility as they get older- minimal at Kindergarten, maximal at 12th grade and beyond) rather than just sitting back and watching their teachers lecture throughout their student careers.
As a teacher, I see education as a lifelong journey, not something that you ever get to the end of. All too often I hear my kids talk about “when I am done with school” or “when I don’t have to learn anymore”.
Learning is something that you never should tire of, and something that needs to be sought out on a daily basis. If your education is formal or if you are learning while living, it is a ride you should never want to disembark.