Essay about Philosophy of Education

A large part of my educational philosophy is based on the fundamentals of Progressivism. This philosophy, founded by John Dewey, organizes schools around the concerns, curiosity, and real world experiences of students. I agree with these ideas because people must continually learn to keep up with today’s fast paced world. I believe that when learning is relevant and enjoyable students are encouraged to take responsibility for their own learning. Progressivism has respect for individuality, a high regard for science, and a receptivity to change that I feel is critical to successful education. As a Progressive teacher I will facilitate learning by helping students formulate meaningful questions and devise strategies to answer those questions. In my opinion, answers are best discovered through real world experience, especially hands on learning or pragmatism. I believe that there is a time and place for book-learning; however, there is no substitute for actually doing things. I

I as a teacher need to find ways to make connections with my students, and find ways to deepen their understanding of the information I am presenting. Understanding and being able to apply these concepts to my teaching will benefit my immensely in my career as an educator. In the future I hope to become a kindergarten or first grade teacher. Being able to apply content literacy is extremely important with this age group because I have them for all subjects. Making connections is also imperative at this age because their minds are like sponges. The material that I teach them is the building blocks of their knowledge. Student need to be able to internalize the information and remember it from this point forward. Learning about these concepts has greatly affected how I will write lesson plans in the future and how to present information to my young

There are five basic areas of philosophy regarding education. I am going to discuss the two that are nearest to my own educational philosophy. The aim of Perennialism philosophy of education is to ensure that all students receive an educational understanding about the ideas of Western civilization. They emphasize the rational thinking ability of students. With Perennialism they feel that correct and critical thinking should be the primary objective of all students and teachers. Whereas the Essentialist philosophy is the belief that all students should be taught a core of common knowledge in an organized and controlled process. Educators should prepare students for life with the sound practical education. The focus is that educators should instill good morale values, downplaying vocational courses. Essentialist have a firm belief of “back to basics” approach to education. Although both Perennialism and Essentialism have excellent ideas, they also have some issues. I read through both philosophies and found points from each philosophy that I felt would assist me with forming my philosophy along with the assistance of some very influential people in my life.

A famous author once said, “When you don’t know where you are going, any road will take you there.” There is truth in that statement when we look at the nature of humans today. Today’s society is filled with people who are wondering around with no purpose or direction in life. People today are content with this helpless lifestyle and so generation after generation will continue until the society has no leaders. I attribute this directly to the education of these individuals. As a future teacher, I must look at what the nature of students has become, the nature of knowledge, and ask myself why we have public education. In order for me to be an effective educator, I must reevaluate my philosophy

best of all philosophies, and combine them into a curriculum that workds for everyone?s needs and abilities. A teacher who is able to adapt their teaching techniques for each individual through determining how the pupil learns best. There is the visual,

My philosophy of education would include a classroom that supports creativity and gives students an opportunity to explore the world in the confines of four walls. Knowledge results from countless experiences and interactions throughout an individual’s lifetime. I believe the purpose of education is to allow students to discover who they are through exploring who has come before them, and what is possible for them in the future. Formal education should provide students with more than a foundation in basic disciplines. It should develop skills that will facilitate living and working in an ever-changing world; one filled with diversity. As a teacher, I would hope to illustrate to my students how vital each

Progressive education coincides with my belief that young children need to interact with their environment to nurture their natural curiosity and creativity. Progressive education allows the teacher to focus on the development of the whole child, which is critical since all developmental domains are interrelated. Children do not learn nor do they develop in isolation; therefore, the learning environment should support learning across all domains. For instance, when a child moves from crawling to walking new experiences open up for the child, their physical ability affects their cognitive ability as they venture out to explore areas of their environment that were limited to crawling. Both experimentalism and progressivism coincide with my belief that young children are active learners. These philosophies support my belief that children are critical thinkers and problem solvers as they actively attempt to make sense of the world through exploration. Furthermore, these types of ideologies correspond to my belief that the social and cultural context is relevant to learning.

Each student has their own unique needs and distinctive styles of learning, and progressive education allows both the teacher and student to work together and form a learning experience. In a progressivism classroom, students are thoroughly learning not only about the curriculum but also about each other. Students collaborate with each other and learn to be accepting of each other and be more accepting of differences. Another teaching philosophy that I believe in is existentialism. Existential philosophy emphasizes a student's creative choice and provides them with individual freedom. The students are then required to ask their own questions, conduct their own experiences, which in turn helps them draw their own conclusions. Although we can provide various opportunities for students, in the end it all comes down to the student's own choice. I know from my personal experience this was true for me. Although, I was afforded many great opportunities, in the end many times, I chose not to take them. These choices can end up defining the students and as teachers we can only guide them, in the end, the choice is theirs. The management and organization of a classroom are also imperative to the learning process. A teacher's own belief system may influence the way the view their

In order for a society to function, individuals must be productive members of that society. This is accomplished through education. The philosophy of education is determined by society. As society changes so does the concept of education.

In studying the different philosophies of teaching, I have concluded that I have an eclectic view of my philosophies on education. My goal will be to follow idealism, existentialism and pragmatism. As a teacher, I will study the content that I will be teaching and focus on knowing it very well. Not only will I fulfill my job with the school, but also I will be fulfilling my dream and desires of being a teacher. My passion is to teach children what they do not yet know. I want them to learn what is required, but I want to teach them more than just that. I want them to learn their own strength of their own mind. My desire is for them to learn their own level of intelligence and for them to realize

The philosophical perspective possessed by a teacher has on affects the ability and effectiveness of their teaching methods. Therefore a teacher must be one who appreciates and respects education and formalized schooling. In the following paragraphs I will give a general description of my views on education. I will describe how I view the acquisition of knowledge, common student nature, what I believe the purpose of education is and my desired method and curriculum. Future teachers should carefully consider each of these aspects.

The philosophy of education is not a topic that can be fully taught and understood by reading and studying a textbook, or a few textbooks for that matter. I believe that the philosophy of education is somewhat subjective, rather than objective, and that there exists numerous answers to what is the “philosophy of education”. I feel that one’s answers can not be expressed with a single word nor a sentence; and that one has to “experience” rather than just read to find the answer. Yes, a huge part of education involves learning in a classroom, however, a lot of education is also learned through experiences in life. We go through schooling to learn the fundamental concepts and thinking modalities so that we can take all of this learned knowledge and apply it to and use it for the everyday situations in our lives and in the real world. So, I believe that all people should and deserve to go to school and get an “education” that they can use for a “lifetime”.

Find out what your child's strengths and weaknesses, improve the weaknesses by trying different methods of teaching.

Children are active, curious, extremely social, literal, and more intelligent than they are given credit for. They can easily pick up the atmosphere of any environment they are in, if something is off they may not understand it, but they will know. Children want to learn, explore, and be involved. Teaching styles that work best for children are hands-on approaches, present new information in small, clear steps, ask many questions and discuss answers deeply. Provide scaffolding, and provide diagrams, maps, models, and handouts. These teaching styles work best because students are doing and seeing something. Students can hold a piece of paper and listen to what is on it by the teacher. They can see the diagrams and

I want to become a teacher. I must be out of my mind. At least that is what I am told by almost everyone when I tell him or her my plans for the future. Maybe I should become a doctor, lawyer, or own a business. No, I am going to fulfill my dream that I have had since I was in elementary school. I always ask a question to answer, “Why do you want to be a teacher? Are you out of your mind?” I ask who shapes the minds of the children of these doctors, lawyers, and businessmen while they are working. I also ask how these people would become doctors, lawyers, and businessmen without teachers to present them with the gift of education and the skills needed to perform their jobs. I am not out of my mind. I