Teachers in most schools today are expected to focus on fostering academic competence, and overlook the spiritual life of their students. Unless we teach in a private school that incorporates religion into the curriculum, it would be a challenge to include spirituality into the subject matter without violating the separation of church and state in the 1st Amendment of the United States Constitution.
The leadership of the educator is pivotal because ultimately “We teach who we are.” I believe those of us who are comfortable with our own spirituality will be able to integrate our faith in our pedagogy and be in a better position to make a lasting impact on the lives of our students. It is my desire as an educator, to inspire learning with creativity, enthusiasm, and motivation to help students mature to their fullest potential. Humanism and Constructivism are two of the major educational theories that correspond most, with the ideals of my personal philosophy of education.
The humanist educational theory is concerned with enhancing the innate goodness of the individual. It seeks ways to enhance the individual development of the student, which I believe fosters intrinsic motivation and stimulates a passion to learn. According to the humanist, education should be a process of developing a free, self-actualizing person. The teacher who follows humanistic theory emphasizes instruction and assessment based on student interests, abilities, and needs. A humanistic school environment is one in which the teacher and students share their thoughts, feelings, beliefs, fears, and aspirations with one another. I believe when students have ownership in the education process, they are motivated to work hard to master the skills necessary t...
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...reat sacrifice, but the rewards are everlasting! Living the Golden Rule benefits both, those who give and those who receive. Your life becomes more meaningful! You become a ray of light that draws people to you in a positive way; and in the end, you will experience a peace that surpasses your own understanding.
Having the Golden Rule as a family value has made my life less complicated. I learned in a philosophy class, that the Golden Rule is absolutely a way to use the Universal Law of Cause and Effect, which applies everywhere and in all things. The saying, "What goes around, comes around" or that giving and receiving are just the opposite sides of the same circle. This is basically true! Our actions and, or choices direct us through the cycle of life. If we believe and practice this principle much more diligently, the world would be a better place to live.
Per Regnerus et al, professors who hold reputable positions at accredited teaching institutions, studies “display strong evidence that public schools now lag behind Catholic schools in the average educational achievement of their students, most poignantly in cities and low-income neighborhoods” (16). Although this study pertained mostly to a specific type of school- Catholic school- similar results can be achieved by requiring a child to take at least one religion-specific class. Similarly, another study expressed the impact of religion on academic achievement: “Individuals with no religious affiliation reported the fewest years of education and were also likely to have the least religious socialization. Not being affiliated with a church resulted in a detrimental impact on educational achievement” (Brown & Gary 422). Without some form of religious impact on an individual’s life, one experienced low academic achievement. Religion should being an integral of public education and should be a requirement of all students; however, an array of different religious courses should be offered so that one is not forced to learn something they have no interest
I would hope that everyone behaves as we wish others to behave, because it shows you have integrity. Self-interest is not unethical; if you do not behave as we wish others to behave that is your personal choice and based on your ethical values. Many would think of “The Golden Rule”. However, it is easier to tell others to live by this rule than to actually put this rule into action. According to a newsletter written by William Scott Green, called Parsing Reciprocity: Questions for the Golden Rule, “The Golden Rule is easier to endorse than to enact. As a general moral principle or as an abstract statement of ethical value, the Golden Rule makes intuitive sense and enjoys wide acceptance across religions and cultures. But the generality and abstraction that enable its broad appeal make the Golden Rule problematic as a directive for practical action. Indeed, on Gert’s analysis, it is possible that the Golden Rule must be read figuratively or very expansively in order to be used, surely a challenge for any basic moral principle. The Golden Rule can be accepted unambiguously but applied only after considerable reflection and qualification.” After reading this article, it confirms to me that it is easier to tell others to behave as we wish others to behave than to actually do it. People will live by “The Golden Rule” only if they choose to in certain situations. My answer to this question does not conflict with my answer to question
The humanistic theory ties into the humanistic perspective. This was first thought of my Abraham Maslow. Unlike the behaviorists, humanistic psychologists believe that humans are not solely the product of their environment. Rather humanistic psychologists study human meanings, understandings, and experiences involved in growing, teaching, and learning. They emphasize characteristics that are shared by all human beings such as love, grief, caring, and self-worth. Humanistic psychologists study how people are influenced by their self-perceptions and the personal meanings attached to their experiences. Humanistic psychologists are not primarily concerned with instinctual drives, responses to external stimuli, or past experiences. Rather, they consider conscious choices, responses to internal needs, and current circumstances to be important in shaping human
In recent years, teaching religion, or the individual practice of religion in school, has become a very controversial topic. There are many different views on this matter and even more opinions on how it should be handled. There are people on both sides of the spectrum; there are those who believe that it should be taught and allowed in school, and those who believe it should not be taught or practiced in school. If the practice of religion were an option in public schools, students may become more tolerant, as well as knowledgeable, of religions and cultures beyond their own. Secondly, a time interval during the day may be implemented into the school schedule to allow the practice of student’s personal beliefs. Finally, since prayer was eliminated from public school systems, the nation has seen a decrease in education and the increase in crime rate. Even though public schools today are without school prayer, most schools have replaced prayer with a "silent moment of reflection." Prayer should be established into schools, because it generates the exposure to other cultures, allows a calming period for students, and creates well-rounded individuals in society.
Amundson, Kristen J. Religion in the Public Schools. Arlington: American Association of School Administrators, c1986
Many outsider views have changed negatively since the enlightenment (McConnell, 10) however, the fact still stands that religion is one of the most powerful influences on a person’s decisions throughout whether it is an actual religion or the lack thereof. The Supreme Court even states that “it is legitimate for the public schools to inculcate values” and most values of present day society are often based on religious beliefs. Inculcating religion into the lives of students in the public school is not only both historically and presently permissible but also beneficial to the three main areas of a school system.
Since teaching religion in a public schools has been banned, parents may opt for a private school with a religious component. Catholic, Jewish, and Christian schools can embrace faith-based education in their curriculum, and other activities. “Academic religion promotes “personal character”, and “love of learning” (William 86). Many private schools go beyond academics, and require daily attendance at a chapel, synagogue, or temple. Students of non-religious families also attend religious schools. For example, the number of non-Catholic students attending Catholic schools. Freedom of school choice is wider than it ever was. A factor that plays a large role in parents deciding whether to send their children to public, or private school is whether, or not they want religious, and or moral instruction to play a part of their children’s academic environment. Religion in education is such a controversial topic by itself that it might take a long discussion to develop the topic. There are many strong arguments for this matter. “The government takes an appropriate approach to religion in education” (Attack on Public schools). The government allows for freedom of expression in schools yet, they are preventing the teachers from influencing the students with their religious beliefs. This topic really demonstrates the fact that everyone is different, which causes people to
It is argued that there isn’t a way for every religion to be recognized within the public schools to accommodate everyone without offending anyone. It just isn’t a possibility to incorporate a sense of a “prayer service” that meets everyone’s needs without completely throwing off the school day’s curriculum and without making a form of an offense.
Humanistic personality is any personality theory that asserts the fundamental goodness of people and their striving toward higher levels of functioning. Humanistic personality theory emphasizes that we are positively motivated and progress toward high levels of function, in other words, there is more to human existence that dealing with hidden conflicts (Morris & Maisto p. 364). I think that is relates to my personality development I am seeking higher levels of function. I am very motivated and progress toward bigger rewards for myself.
Constructivism represents a paradigm shift form education based on cognitive theories. This concept assumes that learners construct their own knowledge on the basis of interaction with their environment. (Gagnon & Collay, 200?) The role of the teacher as a constructor of the learning experience to ensure authentic curriculum and assessment which is responsive to the skills, needs and experiences of the learner, within established curriculum framework and with the reference to the achievement of literacy, numeracy, retention and attainment of outcomes. Krause, Bochner and Duchesne (p.157) comment that “as learners interact with their environment, they link information learned through experience to previous knowledge, and so construct new understandings and knowledge.” Constructivism then inturn encourages Teachers and Learning Managers to recognise the value of prior knowledge and experiences that each child brings with them into the classroom, and help them (the students) build on their understandings of the world by providing appropriate learning experience plans.
During the course of my observations I have noticed humanist existing when the teacher gives the students options. This theory suggest that students will learn what they need and what they want and like I mentioned previously for Darian, learning happens in his seat on his time rather than on the rug during group reading or group work. As for existentialism this is noticeable in the classroom when the students exercise freedom of choice, usually Ms. Diaz gives her student’s choices like write about what we read or draw about what we read, giving the students a feeling of independence and partnership with regards to their education. The students usually start their days by setting classroom goals on a daily basis, which again allows the students to make choices. Behaviorism is another theory I explore in this classroom, because Ms. Diaz is very intuitive she makes many changes and is not afraid to change up her lesson plan or activities when they seem to be failing or lacking. One observation of this I noted was during the week of Halloween, Ms. Diaz asked Ms. Warm to read the students a book about Halloween, as Ms. Warm began to read the students became very talkative and were distracted. Ms. Diaz quickly realized the book was not age appropriate and therefore, instead of the book being enjoyable it was causing confusion and
University of Michigan. “Religion in Schools: A look at how religious practices influence education.” .
Constructivism is a method that says students learn by building their schema by adding to their prior knowledge by the use of scaffolding (Rhinehart Neas). Because the students are basically teaching themselves new information, the teacher is there mainly for support and guidance for the students.
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.
Among many teaching styles and learning theories, there is one that is becoming more popular, the constructivist theory. The constructivist theory focuses on the way a person learns, a constructivist believes that the person will learn better when he/she is actively engaged. The person acts or views objects and events in their environment, in the process, this person then understands and learns from the object or events(P. Johnson, 2004). When we encounter a certain experience in our life, we think back to other things that have occurred in our life and use that to tackle this experience. In a lot of cases, we are creators of our own knowledge. In a classroom, the constructivist theory encourages more hands-on assignments or real-world situations, such as, experiments in science and math real-world problem solving. A constructivist teacher constantly checks up on the student, asking them to reflect what they are learning from this activity. The teacher should be keeping track on how they approached similar situations and help them build on that. The students can actually learning how to learn in a well-planned classroom. Many people look at this learning style as a spiral, the student is constantly learning from each new experience and their ideas become more complex and develop stronger abilities to integrate this information(P. Johnson, 2004). An example of a constructivist classroom would be, the student is in science class and everyone is asking questions, although the teacher knows the answer, instead of just giving it to them, she attempts to get the students to think through their knowledge and try to come up with a logical answer. A problem with this method of learning is that people believe that it is excusing the role of...