Essay on Progressivism: A Better Approach to Education

This notion and method of getting to know your students is supported by Craven (n.d., para. 4) in which she states “good things for students to share are information about their families, hobbies and interests, and any other fun facts… [in] building your classroom community”.

The Education process is one that gradually proceeds throughout life, greatly in early years and really never stops. There will always be something someone has not learned. Knowledge is a powerful tool. One of the most well-known educators in the 20th Century, Christa McAuliffe, before her tragic death said, “I touch the future, I teach.” As an educator you seek to influence each of your students. A goal, common to many new and old teachers; as well as, those who ‘hope to be” desire the ability to touch someone’s future. In the opportunity one has as an educator it is likely that the future of one immediate student or even a small part of the success of our nation will be

Pursuing the life to empower and educate our youth is the lifelong mission behind most teacher’s motivations to pursue the educational route in their higher education. My practicum placement I gained the opportunity to work alongside Ms. Jennifer Harvey in her endeavor to educate and inspire her first-grade students. In her class, I began to realize the workload and dedication that teachers set forth to help their students succeed. It may seem bizarre to believe how teachers calculate and manipulate their activities and lessons to meet their students' needs best. Consequently, my experience with her and her students, I saw how a connection formulated behind the teacher’s efforts and the performance of his or her students; it was beautiful. Over the course of my ninety-plus hours, I’ve gained more knowledge about how it means to be a teacher and how influential they are to the students than I ever imagined. Upon reflecting, I realized how this course strengthens my resolve, surprised me, helped me learn

“A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” – Henry B. Adams. For as long as I can remember, I have always wanted to play a big part in children’s education, which is why I have decided to enroll for an education course. I believe that educators have a lifelong impact on their students and on the development of resilience. Thus, I aspire to inculcate my love for learning into the next generation, by influencing and inspiring children all through their formal education.

I believe that positive student/teacher interaction and family involvement are essential to the learning process. I believe that all students can succeed in education. It is my goal as a teacher to develop the intellect of all learners through a challenging curriculum. I hope to propose thought provoking questions that will prompt students to think and learn on their own. I will provide supervised practice to ensure the students in my classroom are learning. I believe problem-solving skills will be the most valuable skills students can learn. It is important for the class to be active in the community and active in life-changing events. Students learn best by doing. Emphasis will be placed on learning how to learn. Students will take an active role in helping decide what they learn and how they want to learn it. They will be responsible for helping to care for and maintain the learning environment, thus taking ownership of the class.

Ever since I was a little girl, I’ve known what I wanted to do. I am one of those people who was blessed enough to realize my passion at an early age. As far back as I can remember, I’ve wanted to become a teacher. I can remember as a child sitting in my room, surrounded by my stuffed animals (or students, as I saw them) and forcing my younger brother to sit still and quietly do the work I assigned him. I even had two baskets which I kept on my little wooden desk; one for my “students” to turn in work, and the other for more work which needed to be graded. I spent many afternoons

The common thought about progressivism before the 1950s were that it was a movement by the common people to curb the excessive power of powerful people such as urban bosses, corporate moguls, and corrupt officials. However, when George Mowry wrote his Progressivism: Middle Class Disillusionment, he challenged the common idea that the progressives were middle class citizens and instead considered them to be a privileged elite group of businessmen and professionals. Mowry believed that this group was trying to recover their fading influence from the capitalist institutions that has been replacing them. When Gabriel Kolko published his Triumph of

social order. The Progressive movement, 1901 to 1917, was ultimately the triumph of conservatism rather than a

Therefore, by being admitted into this program, I feel I will be in the right path into becoming a trained teacher with some exposure on how to manage a classroom, work with diverse learnings, learn some pedagogical skills, present and develop lesson plans, and observe teachers. As a future educator, I firmly believe that all children are capable of learning and achieving success through the guidance, dedication, and support from a teacher. My philosophy and teaching styles may change throughout my teaching career, and I want to remain receptive to suggestions and open for improvement. Teaching young minds is a task that cannot be taken lightly. It is full of challenges, frustrations, and responsibilities. However, it is a task that is also full of excitement, wonder, and

It is my desire as a role model and teacher to help students by meeting them where they are at and reach their fullest potential by providing an environment that is safe, supports risk-taking, and invites ideas to be shared openly. It is my goal to teach students effective tools to gain a voice and be able to identify and understand other voices in this world. I believe the ideal curriculum is one which provides students with extensive individual freedom and requires them to ask their own questions, conduct their own inquiries, and draw on their own conclusions. My lessons and instruction will only be powerful if I have spent time establishing relationships and an effective behavior management system with my students. Also, by providing students access to hands-on activities and allowing adequate time and space to use materials that reinforce the lesson being studied, creates an opportunity for individual discovery and construction of knowledge to

It is important to me that students develop a belief in themselves that they can do it and that they can develop independence in their learning. It is important to me that they can develop social skills that enable to them to develop friendships with their peers and to make positive behaviour

As a student teacher I have been challenged to examine these goals in light of my personal experience in the classroom with real students. As a result of this self-examination and evaluation I find my primary motivation for becoming a teacher has not changed. It is my desire to make a positive impact on my student’s lives by helping them see that the challenge of learning can be fun. I hope to share my own love of learning and science by appealing to my student’s natural curiosity about the world around them. Creating challenging lesson plans that engage student’s on every level allows me to utilize my own creative talents and fan the creative spark in their minds and create a positive attitude toward learning that will help carry them successfully through their own academic

Children are with teachers the majority of the day. Children are influenced by what they see and why they are around. Not only are they teaching them academics, but also manners, sportsmanship, and self worth. These are important factors that children need in everyday life. This is why a teacher’s job is so important. Most would say that teaching would be a hard job. But, I feel that it will be easy if you win your students over. I know that the rewards in the end will out weigh the cost. Watching a student master a new task is the reward I am after.

First of all, my classroom is going to be based primarily on the proposal from John Dewey known as progressivism. This allows for a more democratic classroom,

I believe the essence of education includes growth. The purpose of education is not to just fill our head with lots of information, but to discover your uniqueness and to teach us how to develop it, and to show us how to, in return, give it away. Once you learn something in life, you should be able to absorb it in a way to use it in your life and then in turn pass it on to someone else in order to contribute to their growth as well. I also believe that the essence of education includes knowledge and skills. Once you are educated on a matter you obtain knowledge and/or skill. Education is understood as the artificial extension of human ability to learn, as the product of learner’s own efforts (Sidorkin, 2011).