I very much enjoy talking about my teaching philosophy. The reason being that when discussing my teaching philosophy, I get to combine both my love of teaching and love of psychology.
My teaching philosophy is rooted in the ideas of humanistic psychology. In humanistic psychology, theorists like Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers said that learning is a personal act that all humans seek to engage in to fulfill their own potential. Humanistic psychologists also discuss the ideas of self, motivation, and goal-seeking.
These ideals have shaped humanistic learning theory. Humanistic learning theory seeks to develop self-actualized and autonomous students in a cooperative and supportive learning environment. In humanistic learning theory, the learning is student centered and personalized and the educator's role is that of a facilitator. That is not to say that the teacher does not engage in instruction, but that the instruction is student-focused.
More modern theorists, such as Deci and Ryan, have expanded on the theories of humanistic learning with their self-determination theory. This theory has been very influential in how I model learning in my classroom. Self-determination theory says that in order to be motivated to learn students need to feel competent in their abilities, autonomous in their decisions, and have a sense of relatedness to what they are learning.
In my personal classroom, I seek to use these same ideals and make it a place where students feel safe and empowered in their learning. I feel that it is vital for students to understand why they are learning and have a sense of how this learning can shape them. I also believe that it is important to present learning in an accessible way to each student.
Further Reading
http://selfdeterminationtheory.org/theory/
http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/experiential-learning/