Essay on My Personal Philosophy of Education

A large part of my educational philosophy is based on the fundamentals of Progressivism. This philosophy, founded by John Dewey, organizes schools around the concerns, curiosity, and real world experiences of students. I agree with these ideas because people must continually learn to keep up with today’s fast paced world. I believe that when learning is relevant and enjoyable students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. Progressivism has respect for individuality, a high regard for science, and a receptivity to change that I feel is critical to successful education. As a Progressive teacher I will facilitate learning by helping students formulate meaningful questions and devise strategies to answer those questions. In my opinion, answers are best discovered through real world experience, especially hands on learning or pragmatism. I believe that there is a time and place for book-learning; however, there is no substitute for actually doing things. I

Along with parent involvement, I am also a very strong believer in the inclusion program. Teaching acceptance at a young age is much easier than trying to do it when the child is older and being influenced by the many factors of life today. It is my belief, that the best way to teach acceptance of others, is to integrate children with other children of different cultural, racial, financial, and developmental backgrounds. At this age, children can teach each other just as much as, if not more than we can teach them about life issues. In some aspects, teachers need merely be there for assistance.

For me, the decision to become a teacher is more of a way of life than a career. I have always loved school, practicing at being school marm from a young age, and voraciously devouring every shred of education offered me in my career as a student. If it were possible, I would be a student for the rest of my life. And then I still would not have learned enough. As a teacher, I hope to instill this appetite for knowledge in secondary students. They are, after all, the future leaders of the world, and what better place to expand the minds of the generations to come than here in Appalachia where education programs, especially the sciences, which I plan to teach, are poorly funded and children’s dreams

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” (Angelou, 2009) This is a truth that I have witnessed firsthand. As a child, at the tender age of seven years, I was blessed with an educator, Mrs. Cager, whose commitment to her students was so profound until I have never forgotten her. She made me feel like I was the most important person in her classroom. Her encouraging words instilled a level of confidence within me that I still cling to and apply more than 40 years later. Her commitment is directly responsible for my personal philosophy of education also being commitment.

incorporate into my curriculum are those of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who believed that everyone posses in the depth of our being certain feelings and passions, and when these feelings are first shielded from polluted influences in our culture, and then liberated and allowed to control our conduct, may we posses true understanding and virtue. I also like those of Progressivism which is respect for individuality, relevant to the needs and interests of students. Along with these two theories I think educators need to include some perennialism which is a general, liberal, humanistic approach because we all need the basics and then build upon those to discover who we are and what we want to gain from education and life. I believe we have come to a point in our society where we have lost track of traditional American virtues and what our country was founded on. My wish as an educator would to be able to bring back some of the back to basics approach into the public school system. For teachers to really be effective we should choose the

Upon completing the Philosophy Preference Assessment in Foundations of Curriculum and Instruction, the graph showed that my teaching beliefs are mostly Perennialist, peaking at Realist. I found the results accurate. My graph was represented best by Figure 1-6 and Figure 1-9. The former shows “strong structured (slanting down) or nonstructured (slanting up) orientation in your reported beliefs about schools”; the latter suggests “either an eclectic philosophy or a person only beginning to study his or her own philosophy.” While I agree with the assessment of my educational philosophies, I do not believe I subscribe strongly to any of the five philosophies, but, rather, I will employ certain elements from each.

I remember the early years of my childhood when I arrived at school and was received by the warm greeting of my teachers, who seemed to have special abilities to perceive if I was angry, sad, or hungry. In the classroom, I felt safe and had the confidence to tell my dreams without fear that they would make fun of them, when I was a child, my teachers made me feel loved and protected.

There are five philosophies of education that make up my personal philosophy. I believe in certain aspects of every philosophy. Perennialism strives above all to develop our capacity to reason. The things of everlasting importance should be taught to people everywhere. I believe that there should be an authority figure to guide the students. The aspects of perennialism that I agree with are critical thinking, problem solving, coaching, discussion, prayer in the classroom, contemplation, and orderliness. I believe that the children should be led to use strategic thinking skills to solve problems. Moral development is included in the curriculum of perennialism. I believe children today need to be taught

Throughout education there are six main philosophies to take into consideration, and they are as followed. From a teacher centered classroom approach they include Essentialism, Behaviorism, and lastly Positivism. In a student centered classroom approach they are Progressivism, Humanism, and Constructivism. What do these terms mean? Essentialism is and educational philosophy that there is a common core of information and skills that an educated person must have. Behaviorism is a psychological theory and educational philosophy that asserts that behaviors represent the essence of a person and that all behaviors can be explained. A person acts the way they do for a reason. Finally positivism is a social theory and educational philosophy that limits truth and knowledge to what is observed and measured. These are all important for a teacher to take into consideration. Progressivism is an educational philosophy that emphasizes that ideas should be tested by experiments and that learning is better developed in questions developed by the learner. Humanism is an

I feel as though all teachers should teach their students not only the bases of learning, but also that they matter and have a voice in this world. I will help them feel comfortable through sharing ideas with their classmates without being judged. In addition, I would arrange the classroom so the students feel they are a part of the learning environment. I will add encouraging posters, and I will involve students in creating this learning environment. When the classroom is organized and colorful, it not only creates a positive vibe, but also promotes learning and

My personal philosophy of education encompasses the rights and responsibilities of the student, the parents, the teacher and the community. Each of these entities are directly responsible for the successful education of the student.

Every teacher has a different method of teaching. The teachers that I have had in my school career have been no exception. In this way, each teacher has set an example for me, as a future teacher, to follow or not to follow as I see fit. With the examples from my teachers and in continuing my education, I am developing my own method of teaching. I plan to use a combination of teaching methods in my own classroom. My method will be an eclectic approach because I will be using components of more than one philosophy. I will be using essentialism, behaviorism, progressivism, and existentialism.

I believe that when students are comfortable, whether it be with a teacher or just a setting, they will learn much more quickly. Therefore, I think that it is extremely important to create an environment that is safe and comfortable for the students. Because of the “laid back” atmosphere, I think that my model for discipline would fall under the umbrella of constructivism. The reason is that I believe that students need to be able to learn in a way that relates to their lives in the present day. Students will retain the information they learn much better if they are able to connect that information to an aspect of their lives. The other key aspect of the this construct is that the students need to be allowed to come up with their

In terms of philosophy, I feel I benefit most from the pragmatic approach to teaching. This approach states that teachers feel the classroom is a community of learners, not just a teacher standing in front of a group of students. I believe this is true because it is my opinion that if the teacher is learning and exploring along with the students, the students are more likely to be involved and interested in what is being taught. I also believe the strategies of teaching by problem solving and encouraging democratic procedures are the most profitable in today’s society. My beliefs in student involved activities, emphasis of curriculum, and democratic classroom management are all part of the pragmatic approach.

Learning does not rely on only the teacher; the students must do their part as well. The students are to give the teacher their undivided attention at all time and they should be bold to ask questions when they need to do so. I always explain to my students, here inside the classroom is where you will make your mistakes and also fix them, so then I am here to help at all times. The students are to be punctual and attend as much classes as possible; they are also held accountable to complete all given assignments. I provide the resources need to my students and they are ones to make proper usages of the resource given to gain the knowledge that they need. Education is important to both teacher and students, so then it is both of our responsibilities to do our part as best as