Teaching From A Design Perspective Essay

As a student of education, I have been able to gather many ideas and opinions about practices and ideals I want to implement in my future classroom. My philosophies about education are still being formed and continually change with every class I visit and with every educator I encounter. My ideas, admittedly, come from random experiences and intangible texts, but as I gain more experience in the field through my courses, my philosophies about teaching will become more clearly defined. These few ideas I have now will undoubtedly be added upon as I enter student teaching and my professional career, nevertheless, they are concepts of which I hope to never lose sight.

An educational philosophy is a personal statement of a teacher’s goals or belief. A teacher comes to the classroom with a distinctive set of principles and ideals that affect how a student learns and expand the child’s potential in his or her venture into knowledge. I believe that education should be active, and focus on the whole child, rather than just the content or the teacher. The three (3) principles I believe that work harmoniously with my educational philosophy are the teacher acting as a facilitator to foster critical thinking, allowing the child’s natural curiosity to steer his or her learning for personal development, and

But teaching is not an independent entity; it must co-exist with the learning process. In fact, Wood solidifies the relationship between teaching and learning by pointing out that, "the most powerful relationship between a teacher and student comes when they are both learners" (27). What Wood suggests here is that learning is a process that also involves exchange of lessons between

The Design Argument The name teleological is derived from the Greek word ‘telos’ meaning ‘end’ or ‘purpose’. Thus nature is viewed as directed in order that something beneficial may result. More popularly it is referred to as the ‘argument from design’, but this wording assumes the very thing that has to be proved. A better description would be the ‘argument for design’.

Through the courses i've taken at Lakeland college, my time spent observing a second grade class, and my own school experiences, I have begun to develope my own personal teaching philosophy. The needs of students are ever changing and I plan to evolve my philosophy as I gain more experiences. I plan to implement my philosophy and teaching beliefs into all of my future classrooms. My goal as a teacher is to fulfill all of my students educational needs, and prepare and adjust my lessons accordingly.

Throughout my time in Messiah College's Teacher Education Program, my beliefs, values, and knowledge of education have been challenged, reflected upon, and changed. Another way to state the latter is that my philosophy on education has been shaped by the experiences I have had within the education system at Messiah College along with surrounding school districts. The way in which teachers design curriculum and instruction have a direct correlation to the individual's philosophies of education. Having a philosophy provides teachers "with framework for broad issues and tasks, such as determining the goals of education, subject content and it organization, the process of teaching and learning, and, in general, what experiences and activities to stress in schools and classrooms" (Ornstein, 1991, p. 102).

The purpose of this paper is to develop a statement of professional philosophy. First, I will introduce myself as a student affairs educator. Next, I will gather together my beliefs on student affairs, and provide a context for my professional practice. Lastly, I will explain how I will contribute to the profession. My aspiration to become a student affairs professional derives from the challenges I experienced as an Asian American, first generation, and low-socioeconomic status.

Theories provide the foundation for educational practices, and many of them exist. While I consider my personal theory or philosophy of education to be one that is something of an ever-changing conglomerate of ideas, I realize that some of my guiding principals are directly attributed to well a well established theory.

Constructivist and connectivist learners are able to build their knowledge through their own connections made in online forums or classrooms which will enable them to generate new knowledge and meaning from their experiences and interactions. Described by Bates connectivism is “the collective connections between all ‘nodes’ in a network that result in new forms of knowledge” (2015, Chapter 2.6.1, para. 2).

First, the article identifies the importance of students’ prior knowledge to enable them to build on their prior knowledge to increase critical thinking in their understanding of the content as well as engagement within the classroom. It references Bartlett’s concept regarding the brain’s capability to connect past information as a reference point to a new concept, which can enable this knowledge to be stored in long term. This completes their statements about schemas that create a “blueprint” of the new information in regards to how it connects to the new information being delivered. This helps them to organize the information that is being presented so they can follow along with more ease. Once the basic principle concepts are established then students are able to have a reference point of understanding when trying to expand on that given topic. (P.73, 76)

Frye (1994) mentioned that faculty should seek to promote eagerness for intelligence in their students; as expected faculty must also model such eagerness through a wide range of learning experiences (p.148). Additionally, he declared that reading is essential to furthering competent development. “Similarly, as one seeks to understand and be responsive to students’ diverse learning styles, professional educators owe it to themselves to reflect on their own learning styles to find what is effective for their own professional needs” (Fryer, 1994, p.48). Fortunately, many institutions offer thorough assistance both within and externally. In conclusion, Frye (1994) stated that teaching is not limited to classroom experiences; teaching involves planning, implementation and evaluation.

Aristotle once said, “The one exclusive sign of thorough knowledge is the power of teaching.” Teaching enables students to gain the intelligence needed to excel in life. I believe that a teacher’s philosophy of education is a crucial role in his or her approach to leading students on their educated path. A philosophy of education is the set of beliefs that every school and every teacher stand behind. The certain philosophy that one chooses provides the answers to many vital questions, such as the purpose of schooling, a teacher’s role, and what should be taught in the classroom.

This essay will compare and contrast three key theories of learning; Behaviourism, Cognitive Learning Theory and Constructivism.

Constructivism is connected to the theories of Piaget and Vygotsky. Piaget believed that cognitive development occurred in four stages that have distinct developmental characteristics.  He theorised that all information is organised into ‘schemas’, and this refers to the manner in which a child organisesand stores information and knowledge received. As new information is received, it is either incorporated into existing schemas (assimilation) or new schemas (accommodation) are created (McDevitt & Ormrod, 2010).  Vygotsky’s theories compliment those of Piaget and place a greater importance on social interaction as he considered cognitive development predominately was achievedthrough social interaction.  Vygotsky believed that learning could be accelerated with the assistance of a more advanced peer or teacher.  This concept is referred to as the zone of proximal development (ZPD) and works in conjunction with the theory of ‘scaffolding’, where a teacher provides support to student and as proficiency increases the scaffolding is decreased (Marsh, 2008). Evidence of scaffolding is seen throughout the Maths video as Ms Poole provides an outline of the lesson and the goals to allow students to establish a focus.

In the field of education there could arise many philosophical ideas of each individual teacher. Many of the past philosophies have been and still are used in today’s education programs, such as the Socratic method. My philosophy will also contain some of the many philosophies of the past and possibly the future. I will state the nature of students, the nature of knowledge, the purpose of public education, method, and curriculum according to my own philosophies, which also may be based the philosophical ideas of previous individuals.