Ashley Lane
EDU 101
4/17/14
Educational Philosophy
Did I always want to be a teacher? No, I didn’t. I wanted to be a professional singer
when I was really little and then decided I wanted to be a teacher but like all kids, I changed my
mind millions of times and entered college as a psychology major. I had no clue what exactly I
wanted to do in that field but that I wanted to work with kids in some way. I finally changed my
major to elementary education and have been so happy I made that decision. Education is
really important and working with children is one of the most rewarding fields a person can get
into. Education is the valuable thing a country can have. Does every country view this as
important? Not really, in the U.S. we don’t even take it seriously but education is the way to the
future.
There are many different educational Philosophy’s in the world today and each one is
very different. The Social Constructivism philosophy focuses on responsibilities to add goodness
to the world. They teach social reform through experiences and values high degrees of
morality. They believe that teachers plant the seeds to improve society and they use a lot of
field trips and community-based projects to teach. The curriculum leads social change and
should make the world a better place. The Idealism philosophy is that the world constantly
changing and education is the way the world may become a better place. The founders of the
philosophy was Socrates, Plato, George Berkeley and Friedrick Hegel. They believe that no
school should just teach things or be authoritative. The children are normally passive learners
who learn through memorization but the most important knowledge is to know best how to
live. Existentialism subscribes to concrete acts of human existence rather than rational themes
and ideas. They believe that humans create their own path and meaning in life. The founders of
the philosophy include Maxine Green and Friedrich Nietzsche. Teachers normally stress the
ability to make decisions responsibly and students create individualized learning environments
for each child. The students must learn who they are as a person and the curriculum is a liberal
education with an emphasis on arts and humanities. Progressivism helps students become
rational thinkers and problem solvers. It was started by Ella Flagg Young in 1909 and teachers
help children learn what they want. They mainly coach and facilitate projects because the
students learn best by doing. The curriculum is focused on kid’s interests and problem solving
skills. Essentialism has students gaining knowledge through unchanging ideas. It was founded
by William Bagley and William Hirsch Jr. They believe that teachers are the holders of
knowledge and students are to learn what is taught and take tests. The curriculum normally
uses books and tests. Humanism stand in opposition to all forms of psychological, social, or
historical reductionism. It was founded by Johann Amos Comenius, Jean-Jacques Rousseau,
Heinrich Pestalozzi, Maria Montessori and John Dewey. They believe that teachers are a
pinnacle for learning and claim that the right to educate oneself is a birthright of humans.
Students should be active learners and treated with respect. The curriculum focuses on selfpaced learning and the open-classrooms of the 1970’s. Another philosophy is Pragmatism
which is tied to theory with scientific methods and no truth. They believe that reality is
constantly changing with new things to experience. The founders are C.S. Peirce, Richard Rorty,
Susan Haack and William James. Teachers have learning capabilities to identify, compare and
contrast qualities, the ability to perform analyses, and the ability to interpret the meaning of
signs. They also believe that knowledge is a social phenomenon.
I took a quiz on the McGraw-Hill website that shows you what Philosophy you seem to
lean towards. You had to answer the questions and it would give you points based on your
answer. According to this quiz, my lowest scores were in Existentialism, Social Reconstructivism
and Perennialism. My next highest was Progressivism but my highest overall score was
Essentialism. I really disagree with this because I really disagree with students being forced to
take standardized tests. Standardized tests do not cover everything a child knows and you’re
not teaching the students life skills- you’re teaching them on how to take a test. I also don’t
agree with the Essentialism philosophy that human nature doesn’t change because it does.
Every generation of people in the U.S. are different, so how would that compare to the rest of
the world? When technology changes, people change. I see myself following more of the
Progressivism philosophy.
I will base my classroom on a student-learning style of classroom. I want my students to
be the kids who can critically think for themselves in the future and maybe be the students who
can get the U.S. to be a “Purple Country” on the PIZA Test in the future. I always hated group
projects as a kid because I was always the student who ended up doing all of the work while the
other students slacked off; however, I think group projects can be very effective if done right.
The teacher needs to monitor the group status and see who really seems to be participating in
the project. If you give the people who working hard the better grade, then it will make those
who didn’t get a good grade really work harder next time. Make it known that you grade as a
group but also on individual effort. Teacher should be paying attention to their students
anyway and seeing how their students are doing every day, not just on group projects.
I want to be able to have the students have more recess also. They need to be able to
play and have fun with their peers in order for their minds to be able to focus during the school
day. There are also far better punishments that kids can follow than taking recess. If your
school thinks you have to take recess for behavior than if your student gets in trouble enough
during class that other teachers would take recess, make your student run laps around the
playground during part of recess, this way they still get to participate in recess but also get
some of their energy out which is probably why they were acting up in the first place. Another
way to make sure your classroom rules are followed is to make them with the class on the first
day. If they kids help create the rules, they might stick to them better because they feel a part
of something. Also, Do fun projects during the day and involve the kids don’t just lecture at
them. Elementary school teachers especially need to make sure that their lessons are fun and
that they are engaging the students because kids get bored easily and no one wants to just be
lectured at for eight hours a day. If a student is acting out all the time in class, maybe the
teacher needs to sit down and talk to the student in private. Tell the student the behavior you
are seeing and see if the student realizes what they are doing wrong. If this wrong behavior is
constant, then create a behavior plan with the child.
I also want to have parents be very involved in my classroom. I want them to be
comfortable being able to come in whenever and know that they are welcome. I also want
parents to be more involved in my classroom than just making cupcakes and coming in for
school parties. I want to give homework that the parent can help their child do so that they
know what their children are learning. It would also be great to have that open communication
so that they can let me know if their child is really struggling with something at home that I can
work with them more during the day at.
My classroom will also be bright and colorful. Most elementary school walls are lined
with projects the kids do during the day but I’ve seen many classrooms that don’t have
anything. The walls are plain white with tables and it looks more like an institution than a
school. It would drive me crazy to be in a room like that all day! School should be a place of
learning but also fun for the kids to show that learning is fun. I want a room full of bright
posters and projects hanging everywhere to show that we make learning fun and make the
room more enjoyable. Of course, if a kid with ADHD has issues with my planning on making my
classroom bright, than I will have to change this plan but for right now, that’s what I really want
to do. My classroom will also have to be organized. How can your classroom run smoothly if it’s
not organized? It drives me crazy when I see papers lying around and when teachers can’t find
their work. Teachers only get allotted so much time to plan during the day so if your room is
organized, you won’t have to use that time to find papers. It also wouldn’t be fair if you lost the
students work, it shows them that you really don’t care, so keep your room organized and let
them know you do.
I will be the positive teacher. I want my students to learn and grow when they are with me. I
want to be the teacher they remember for years to come for good reasons like fun school
projects and everything they learned. I had a few teachers like that myself in school and I would
love to be that teacher that can really help a child grow and learn to love school.