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

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

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,

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

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

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.

The word character can be defined as the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. Teaching, unlike any other profession, requires character, but I believe it goes deeper than that. When broken down there are key ingredients found as to what makes a good teacher. The phrase, “To be a good teacher”, has no clear meaning if we do not know what makes up an effective educator. Students sometimes need to be shown how to be successful not only in their work, but in their life. Think upon a cookbook for a moment. This item does not just supply a list of ingredients, for how are you to know what to do with them? Rather, it supplies the ingredients needed, along with the application and limitations of how to create something that, when made correctly, in genuinely good. The act of teaching is considerably similar to this idea. True that there is no book in the world that has an exact list of what educators need to do and how educators need to act in order to be effective. But there are books that list traits needed in order to be good, and how to apply these traits to yourself in order to help those around you. Writers John Dewey, William Bagley, Richard Mitchell, and Plato are all people who have tried to give us that list, in order to teach us how to, well, teach! But without a set of guidelines on how to apply these techniques, the academic world can be lost in the chaotic and ever changing era of today. As a prospective teacher, I

I believe that every child has the ability to learn, but it takes a good teacher to be able to bring this ability out. This is a role I would like to take. I believe the purposes of education are necessary for the child to live a successful life. In my opinion, the school's goals should begin with providing students the necessary knowledge and experiences to help contribute to our society. And it will be a very important goal for me to help my students succeed any where they go.

I spent some time looking back upon my time in elementary, junior high and high school and thinking about all of my favorite teachers, and what exactly made them such outstanding, inspiring educators. I came to several conclusions. A good teacher is one who can not only show a student how to add four and seven, but also help them see why it is important for them to know how to do so. A good teacher is one who can explain to a child the process of photosynthesis while at the same time instilling an appreciation for the beauty of a flower. A good teacher is one who can accept and cherish a hug from a child and conveniently overlook the muddy handprints left on her skirt. I feel that successful teaching is made of

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.

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

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

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

An educational philosophy gives teachers and all educators’ ways to use problem solving in schools. For a lot of practitioners, actual teaching has been reduced to action lacking of a rationale or justification. According to Alan Sadovick, the author of our textbook, a philosophy of education is “firmly rooted in practice, whereas philosophy, as a discipline, stands on its own with no specific end in mind” (Sadovnik, 2013, pg. 179). All teachers and prospective teachers have their own personal philosophy, whether they know it or not. It shows in the way they teach, the way they communicate with students, peers, and parents, and even how they use classroom management. A philosophy of education helps teachers in understanding two very important concepts: who they are or intend to be, and why they do or propose to do what they do. Knowing both of these as they all become teachers is important in ways that these concepts lead to giving us the power for our own decision making (Sadovnik, 2013, pg. 179). Progressivism and social reconstruction lay hand in hand as relating to the same philosophy. Progressivists believe that education should set a focus on students in active settings, and social reconstructivist’s set their focus and beliefs on student experience and bringing real world issues into the classroom. Both of these focus solely on the student and their needs. A teacher is the facilitator of learning for the students’ and they are the ones who are

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”.