My Education Philosophy
Developing a personal education philosophy is a process that may never end, but I believe that I am in the midst of creating one based on my own experiences and the lessons I am receiving in college. After examining the various education philosophies outlined in the “Teachers, Schools & Society” textbook by Myra Pollack Sadker and David Miller Sadker, I have decided that my present philosophy is an eclectic combination of Essentialism and Progressivism. This approach covers my beliefs and the way I hope to interact with students.
I believe, like the essentialists, that is important to throughly cover the basics of English, writing, math, and science. Students cannot be expected to take on sophisticated concepts if they do not have a good understanding of core subjects. I see English and other core curriculum as tools used for dealing with more complicated ideas; one must learn to use a hammer before trying to build a house. For example, how can a student be expected to write coherently if he or she does not understand the basics of English and spelling? Not all students will learn how to write poetry or insightful essays, but it is possible to teach them fundamentals such as sentence structure and paragraphs.
Learning fundamental skills does mean enduring some rote exercises such as spelling tests, keyboarding lessons, and writing assignments, but it does not mean the lessons have to be boring chores. There are times when progressive philosophy offers avenues for making classes more stimulating. Project-based instruction, a common tool in the progressive approach, is one way to give students an interesting approach to a topic. For instance, students can t...
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... told me that become a full fledge teacher can take as many as five years after entering the profession. Hopefully my life experiences will allow me to become competent in a shorter time span.
I am currently studying to teach English and literature for students grades five through twelve. If I am able to obtain the college credits I need, I should be able to reach my goal within two years. Later I may consider returning to class for a masters degree and seek a career teaching on the college level. No matter where my ambitions take me, I am sure my personal teaching philosophy will continue to grow and evolve. My ideas lean toward the ideals of essentialism and progressivism, and I believe that an eclectic combination of the two philosophies will allow me to offer students the knowledge they need to communicate effectively and appreciate the value of reading.
In our time of uncertainty one of the most stable institutions is the school system for children. Thus, being a teacher and providing the most stable atmosphere along with providing the children with an education must be handled delicately. I believe a mixture of essentialism, progressivism, perennialism, behaviorism, and social reconstrctonism is essential in achieving those goals.
Poverty is a potential outcome for everyone. It’s sneaky and many people fall victim to it every year. No one believes that they have the potential to fall into debt, but it can happen through a string of bad luck, time running short, and other possibilities that can’t be controlled. People who are struggling with difficulty believe that there is no way out because no one will help them. However, there are ways for us, as a society, to help those who are short on income receive the help that they need. Many of the impoverished are thought to be slackers, addicts, or self-destructive to their lives. Society can help each other by dismembering the stereotypes given to people who are underneath the “Poverty Line” that they used as wedges between the classes. Labels given to those who’re poor have nothing to do with who they are as humans.
America has always been a country known for their great integrity, diversity, financial prosperity and great pop culture. It has been a place many people have flocked to from many different parts of the world in order to escape their very own poverty struck countries in their quest to build a new life in America and hopefully become financially stable. In this article written by M. Harrington he pointed out some key factors discussing how America has not really changed from over a hundred years ago. In specifics he tells how many years have gone by and still yet there is still a very large amount of a poverty class of people. Although our nation takes great pride on its classlessness there is still a one quarter percent of our country’s population that still lives in a poverty level. Some of these areas also included some inner city blacks, farmworkers, Appalachian whites and elderly people. Harrington’s book “The Other America” also tells us how as a country we have managed to hide the poverty level class from being seen while our country screams we are the wealthiest country in the world! America has done just that. Encourage the wealthy to become wealthier and poor to be poorer. It was also pointed out that the poverty class tends to have a poor language, poor mentality and just a poor outlook of the entire world view as a whole. He stated that the poverty people in this country are identified by a unique way of what is called “Culture Of Poverty”. What he was saying was that the mind of a poverty struck person will not ever surmount to doing things that will benefit them or change the course of their direction. In other words you may give a poor man a million dollars but he will not know wha...
Several citizens in America may not empathize with many social conflicts which transpire in America. Unfortunately, when poverty is mentioned people of diverse gender, race/ethnic, and age can relate to poverty in America. Although several societies have not experienced the undesirable measures of relative or absolute poverty; several people know poverty exist through many channels, such as the media, social networking, history and charities.
“Living with Burn Trauma,” an online article, states that “human skin is the largest organ of the body.” It provides many functions which assist humans to survive. What happens if this vital organ is destroyed? This is a question with which thousands of Americans are challenged annually. In the United States alone, 4,000 people die in burn accidents or from complications of burn injuries (“Prevention”). One common misconception is that burn victims have all come into contact with flames. Burns result from fires, electricity, hot liquids, chemicals, and even ultraviolet rays. Seeking medical attention for a proper diagnosis is critical to ensuring quality treatment and management of burns. Burn Centers have been established to help patients adapt to life after burns, which can be a great challenge. In today’s society, hospitals and medical professionals can treat burn victims, but the best remedy for burns is prevention.
When I am teaching in a high school someday, what philosophies will be evident in my classroom? What methods will I use to reach my students? In my present education, I am beginning to think carefully and deeply about these issues. From what I have read and learned and from comparing various philosophies with each other, I have come to realize that I am a strong essentialist, and I also see many strong points in progressivism and behaviorism.
All six of the major educational philosophies Perennialism, Progressivism, Essentialism, Existentialism, Social Reconstruction, and Behaviorism are in my opinion feasible in the classroom. However, I have chosen Essentialism as the primary philosophy I would like to employ in my classroom for several reasons. Although I think all six would result in learning, which is the primary purpose of education, I think that Essentialism is superior to the other five for my classroom. I feel this way because it embraces the purpose or original goal of public education, it allows lessons to be gauged to all different learning styles, and finally because essentialism employs methods of teaching and discipline that I believe work exceptionally well with my content specialization.
What exactly dance is, depends on which culture you are speaking of. Dance can be competitive, ceremonial or even sensuous. But whatever you consider dance, all types had a beginning someplace, probably back in the time of the earliest humans. Back in 3300 BC artifacts have been found which depict dancing in tomb paintings.
Poverty: a never ending cycle of American disappointment. There are many reasons why poverty is so prominent: the corrupt government, education systems, the never-ending circle, the materialized world, and the morality of it all. Throughout time, people have stumbled among the dilemma of helping or ignoring. We often stumble on the questions, “How do we fix this issue? Can we? Would we?”. Everyone has his or her own opinion on the topic, but does that change the morality of it? Poverty is a very controversial issue in America, but when broken down into causes and solutions it is actually very simple.
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.
To be a teacher it is imperative to have philosophies on teaching; why you want to teach, how you want to teach, and what you want to teach. There are six main philosophies of education; essentialism, behaviorism, progressivism, existentialism, perennialism, and reconstructionism. My two strongest philosophies are progressivism and existentialism. Progressivism in short is the philosophy where the student utilizes their ability to access knowledge for themselves with a method they have discovered on their own instead of simply being told answers. This creates deeper thinking. Existentialism is the philosophy that the student decides how and what they will learn, they also decide what they think to be true and false. This creates
Jaime Escalante, a great educator, once said, “The teacher gives us the desire to learn, the desire to be Somebody.” As a teacher, my goal will be to show students that each of them can be whatever they want to be, and not only are they capable of being good at what they do, they can be the best. To reach this goal, I must be an effective teacher, which I believe can best be accomplished by teaching in a way that is comfortable for me. Therefore, I will not base my classroom around one single philosophy; I am going to seek comfort by utilizing certain aspects of different educational philosophies, namely essentialism, existentialism, progressivism, and social reconstructionism.
Pursuing a career in Education has led me to different philosophical perspectives of education that will be utilized in my future classroom. Behind every educational facility and educator lies a value system and set of beliefs that influence their philosophy of education. My educational philosophy and goals are influenced by a combination of both progressive and behavioral aspects. Most imperative is the characteristics of progressivism that appeal to my values and belief system.
Dance is an ancient human practice, however the earliest record of human dance remains a mystery. By
My main goal as a teacher is primarily to provide students with the knowledge that will help them further excel in their everyday lives, but also to teach students to apply the knowledge they gained and take advantage of opportunities that will enrich their lives. Many times, students learn better when they feel a certain subject is relevant in their lives. I feel that it is important to have a curriculum that is based on the student’s interest, experience and capabilities. Having a textbook integrated in a curriculum is important, but a student will have a better understanding of the subject area when experience is involved. Although there are many different techniques to education, I feel that the philosophy of progressivism and essentialism best fits my style and belief of teaching. These teaching philosophies focus around student needs, democracy, and the basics of education.