Teaching Philosophy

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Teaching Philosophy

After examining all of the different teaching philosophies, I have chosen to side with Rousseau's theory. A theory which I find to be very complete and practical enough to apply to modern day students. Rousseau's theory had three ideas throughout his writings that he used to prove his theory: the nature of students, the purpose of education, and what education should look like (curriculum, methods, disciplines). I will also look at an area in which Rousseau stayed relatively neutral in, that is the nature of knowledge.

The Nature of Students:

According to Rousseau's thoughts, the environment determines whether a student is good or evil. I totally agree with Rousseau's statement that the environment determines whether kids are good or evil. It has been proven through longitudinal studies that identical twins, which have the same genetic abilities and talents, can be affected by differing environments, either negatively or positively depending upon the individual situation.

Rousseau also felt that most students have about the same intelligence. This statement by Rousseau to me is a moto that all teachers must have in order to succeed. All students have the same intelligence; it falls largely onto the teacher to find the way to help the student reach his or her potential for intelligence.

Rousseau also mentioned that students should learn from experience and that students are exceptional imitators. I feel that as a teacher one must provide many different learning experiences to learn from. Most importantly, a teacher, by setting a good example can and will greatly influence a student's behavior and overall performance.

The purpose of Education:

The purpose of education according to Rousseau is to create good people who can live in a free society. Rousseau felt that the following characteristics make a good citizen: self-sufficient, respectful, caring, modest, healthy, etc) so that they will become just what Rousseau wanted, good citizens who are able to live in a free society.

What Education should look like:

As far as curriculum goes, Rousseau thought that you should teach only what a child wants to know and things that can be learned through experience. To me personally curriculum is indeed very important. I will be teaching K-12 PE/Health, thus the students ages will differ according to the level I am teaching.

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