Essentialism and Social Reconstructionism
The field of study that I chose to go into is Elementary Education. For the past two summers, I have participated in the AmeriCorps Energy Express program and I can honestly say the experiences I have with this program are very enlightening and valuable to my ideas and conceptions about being an educator. Through Energy Express, I came up with my own theory. Any mind seeks to always place its limits and boundaries around that which they do not fully understand. It seems that all concepts and ideas must be placed in this little box for all others to comprehend and follow. The same holds true for philosophies of education. There are countless numbers of ways that educators go about teaching their students, however, six have been singled out and dissected to death. Along with most other education majors pertaining to their philosophies, I too cannot seem to find one single one to encompass all of my beliefs and desires that I hold for teaching my future students. However, holding true to my assigned task, it appears that of the six major philosophies, I more closely agree with and can relate to those of Essentialism and Social Reconstructionism.
The traditional family as we know it, over the years, has taken numerous setbacks resulting in many children and young adults entering life and school with a very “unstable foundation”. People ask, “By whose morals and values are you going to teach these students?” Despite today’s beliefs, there are necessary morals and values out there that everyone should observe. Whether people are offended or not, the qualities that I will teach have in the past and still today proven worthy by building strong families, communities,...
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...ssibilities, because I do not want to hold back or restrict any opportunities that may come my way. Once I have settled into my teaching career, I plan to further my education by going for my master’s degree in education. The only reason I see myself going for my master’s degree is the increased competition, many educators have already or are in the process of getting theirs. I believe that once I set my standards for teaching, I will let no further education make me feel as if I am above my students. In order for them to learn, I can never be above them.
Teaching is the simple task of transmitting one’s knowledge to another. What I can do as a teacher is to help my students to leave knowing that anything can be learned, and anything can be accomplished. If the desire to learn and work for something is evident, any task can be challenged and overcome.
As the time approached, my attitude toward student-teaching was one of confidence and in some ways overconfidence. I believed that I was equipped with all of the tools necessary to be a superior teacher. Little did I know what truly goes on behind the scenes of a teacher. Between grading papers, attending meetings, and preparing lessons, I would often feel overwhelmed. Still, student teaching would prove to be much more valuable than I anticipated. It would teach me to appreciate the wisdom of mentors and experienced teachers, value or being organized and prepared, and lastly the resilience of students.
I believe that teaching and learning is both a science and an art, which requires the implementation of already determined rules. I see learning as the result of internal forces within the person student. I know that children differ in the way they learn and grow but I also know that all children can learn. Students’ increased understanding of their own experience is a legitimate form of knowledge. I will present my students with opportunities to develop the ability to meet personal knowledge.
There are many types of family that exists in today’s society, each important to the upbringing of any children of which may be apart of it.
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.
I am very interested in pursuing my Masters Degree at some point, but my main goal is to get out into the school system as a teacher. The most important thing that I have learned in my life is the importance of education. Living in a world bursting with advantages and opportunities for those in education, I find it both a priority and a privilege to share the gift of knowledge with the future of society. Even more, I find it an honor to be able to have the chance.
There are four philosophies of education. They consists of perennialism, progressivism, social Reconstructionism, and essentialism. Each philosophy of education plays a role in American education. Today essentialism plays one of the biggest roles in American education. Essentialism tries to give all students the most basic academic knowledge, skills, and character development. I too believe in the essentialism philosophy of education. I agree with this philosophy because I believe that intellectual self-discipline should be encouraged within the classroom, all students have the ability to learn regardless of their needs, and teachers should concentrate on teaching basic skills. All of these beliefs falls under the essentialism philosophy
An effective teacher will excite, inspire and motivate students to be active in their learning, investigate new areas of knowledge and make connections to future learning (Whitton et al 2010). When a teacher is successful, their students are motivated, mutually respectful and ready to build on their knowledge and solve real-world problems. To be a teacher of value, one must have many skills and qualities to cater for a diversity of learners and their individual development; this includes many personal traits that are noticed 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.
Before taking my philosophy self-assessment, I was sure my highest score would fall somewhere in humanistic or social change. I was surprised when I saw that all of my scores fell within six points of each other in all five of the philosophies. After thinking about this, I have determined that I have come to see the benefits of each of the philosophies of education and have drawn pieces from each one in order to shape my own philosophy of education and teaching. Behavioral, progressive and humanistic are the three philosophies that I scored highest in and I will attempt to show how my philosophy relates to ethical teaching of each in today’s classroom. In Nodding’s Philosophy of Education he says, “Thoughtful people continue to examine the old responses, to generate new ones induced by changing conditions and to reflect on current responses in the interest of making education as good as it can be.”
In many cases, it has become very complex to keep students interested in their education. So the teacher must be creative and find ways to keep pushing the student onward as well as upward. In order to devise the ultimate plan for educating students, a teacher must acknowledge that the “students” are what teaching is all about. The most important factor in the equation is unequivocally the STUDENT! All humans are different in some sort or fashion. But the fact still exists that we all have only this place to function in. So help by putting forth an effort to make it a better place for us all.
Individuals who enter the field of education reply to the question why teach with various answers. There is beauty, joy, and fulfillment in this profession, and these spirit-lifting emotions are the result of watching annually as a new group of children enter to learn and leave with the knowledge to achieve. Richard Dufour (2000), author of Why Teach expressed his views on the profession first by stating that teaching is not the career for everyone. He goes on to say, that the education profession has the ability to present the “unique opportunity” for individuals to cast a positive influence upon others (Why Teach, 2000, p.1). The smiles received from a room full of students when as a whole their individual needs, both educational and personal have been catered to, prompts a burst of passion in every teacher.
My philosophy on education and learning is simple; to teach my future students to the best of my ability to achieve academic success. As well as getting to know my students well. Getting to know a little of their background can help make a difference in our teaching career. As a teacher, we care for our student’s educational needs and to achieve a full potential in their learning ability. I believe that education is an individual, unique experience for every student who enters a classroom. Having a passion for teaching and providing students with a proper education should always be a teacher’s top priority.
The process of educating children may seem like a clear-cut, straight-forward process to some people; however, this is far from the case. There are five philosophies of education (essentialism, perennialism, progressivism, social reconstructionism, and existentialism) that vary in their educational approaches. These philosophies can be grouped into two categories: ...
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.
I could use this information that I learned about essentialism to my everyday life. If I want something to taste better I can manipulate my mind or other peoples minds by simply decoying an object. This can allow people to get on my good side whether they are rich or poor. Knowing how to pleasure oneself and others is a good strategy not only in social encounters, but also in work or school environments. This also helps to give a better understanding on why elders and museum historians find certain things to be valuable. This brought to my attention why origin matters and why we care. Its not because we want spend money on valuable things but to keep the history and memories alive. When we buy things that are not the real thing you kind of are not giving the artist the credit for the work that you appreciated. That’s