There are different philosophies of teaching that are being used in today’s schools. The
philosophies I feel that I identify the best with are a mix of existentialism and behaviorism. As
teachers influencing lives, we believe that we have an obligation to our students to help them
achieve to be the best students and citizens as they could be. How the student behaves in class is
a good look into how the student will act in society. It is important that the students learn to
think for themselves and have a freedom to make their own decisions. Mixing the philosophies
of behaviorism and existentialism in the classroom will help better the students and will make it
easier for the students to understand what they are learning.
A philosophy that would work with my teaching style would be a little of existentialism.
I feel that students give their best effort and learn the most when they enjoy what they are doing
and do it at their own pace. If a student works well in a group, then I would let that student find
other students who work well in a group and have them sit together and figure out what they
need to be learning. If a student works well alone, I would let the student sit somewhere and
study the material I’m going over with the class and let the student teach himself. A student that
is forced to work on something or learn something a certain way often strays and causes troubled
because they are bored and do not care. I feel a stimulating and free environment will help the
student’s imagination and they will not feel so controlled. This type of teaching requires the
student to learn responsibility. A child who takes advantage of this system of teaching and
messes around will quickly fall behind the rest of the class and become at risk. I feel it is
important to reward the students who take responsibility and learn what they need to learn.
To keep a child on task and acting in a way you want them to act, rewards must be given
for good behavior. When the other students see the teacher rewarding for good behavior, the
other students quickly mimic that good behavior and order remains in the classroom. As a
teacher I have to be careful that the students do not expect a reward every time they have good
behavior. Mixing behaviorism with existentialism will help the classroom act in a way that you
want them to act without the teacher controlling of the classroom. If the students have complete
control of the way they learn and how fast they learn it, then behavior plays a big role. In my
classroom, I would set up my classroom in a way that fits the different learning environment that
my students would need. Some students learn best by windows; some students learn best in the
hall; some students learn best in front of the classroom listening to a lecture. It is important for
your classroom to have a positive environment.
Teaching with a mix of behaviorism and existentialism will help prepare the child for
when they get older. The teacher is not holding the students hands and telling them what they
need to know and how to learn it. Instead the teacher lets the student determine how they learn
best and pace themselves through their own learning. I would like teaching in a way of
discussion. Instead of just talking, I like listening to the students and see how much they are
learning. This is a way to assess the student’s knowledge and make sure they are learning what
they are supposed to be learning.
I want the students to accept personal responsibility for their own lives and not depend on
the teacher to help them with everything and give them the answers when they can not figure a
problem out. I also want my students to develop into an individual who exercises freedom of
choice and take responsibility for their actions. Some students blame their behavior on other
students, parents, and sometimes their teachers. Teaching through existentialism brings reality
into the classroom. Goals that I want my students to have are to set challenges for themselves
and push themselves to the limit. So they can learn above the basics and they can solve
problems and learn from them. I also want my students to be self-regulated and not to spend too
much time on the things that do not really matter.
My goal in teaching with the styles of both behaviorism and existentialism is to create an
open environment where the students will feel comfortable and not feel stressed in learning in a
way that does not fit them, and learn a since of responsibility so when they grow up they will be
able to contribute to society. I would use different types of activities to make sure the students
understand what they are learning. To make sure that the students understand what they should
be I’d assess them in different ways. One way would be through verbal explanation. I would go
up to them either in groups or individually and have them explain to me what they learned or
what they have learned. I would also asses them in the way they behave. Behavior is a big part
of how smoothly a classroom is run and how in control the teacher is whether the teacher is the
center of the classroom or not. If a child behaves well, he will be rewarded with a good grade in
classroom participation and if he is not well behaved he will get a bad grade.
Whether a student is sitting by a window, in the hall, in a group, or by themselves, if that
is the way they learn best then that is the way they should learn. By giving students restrictions,
they will rebel and not enjoy what they are learning. By rewarding students good behaviors will
help influence the other student’s behaviors and the teacher will have classroom management. I
feel the students will benefit the most by learning through the philosophies of behaviorism and
existentialism.