Philosophy of Education

Philosophy of Education

            Every year that students walk into a new classroom they need to be challenged, engaged, and inspired to learn.  My philosophy of education is for students to learn more when they are engaged in a supportive learning environment that allows them to create, evaluate, and analyze solutions through inquiry and hands-on activities.  It is important for students to understand and remember information, but as a teacher, I will create a positive environment where students can implement higher level Bloom’s Taxonomy skills to advance their critical thinking.  One of my goals as a teacher is for my students to be motivated to learn and enjoy coming to my class because they can freely inquire about their interests.  If students are motivated then I believe their ability to learn is limitless.  Thus, my philosophy of education adheres toward the philosophy of progressivism. 

            John Dewey is known as the godfather of the philosophy of progressivism and was established in the mid-1920s through the mid-1950s (Cohen, 1999).  Progressivism really promotes the viewpoint of students “learning by doing,” and focusing on the whole child (Radu, 2011).   I believe it is essential for students to be active learners in today’s society because the world is constantly changing and as an educator I will be preparing students for jobs that do not yet exist.  Thus, my students need to be active problem solvers in the classroom to build their problem-solving skills for future unknown situations.  As the teacher, I will need to educate my students on how to build and ask inquiry questions to demonstrate their ability to deepen their understanding of topics.  According to Radu, Dewey is an active advocate of probing students with problems to build interest in a lesson and engage them in order to expand their learning (Radu, 2011).  I will constantly question and challenge my students to find the answer to questions on their own through doing research and discovery providing text-based evidence. 

To challenge my students’ inquiry skills, I will implement a learning environment that engages students in the scientific method.  I believe it is important for students to experiment with hands-on activities and test different hypotheses to discover solutions.  I will challenge myself, to let students make mistakes and realize on their own what went wrong and discover, with support if needed, how to find a solution.  In addition, I will transfer these skills to different subject areas.  For example, mathematics often allows students to solve problems in multiple ways.  In my classroom, I will strive to let students make connections between different types of problems and justify those solutions with evidence before providing direct instruction.  I believe students learn more effectively when they discover connections and information on their own.  There is a time for direct instruction in the classroom, but I will strive to let my students lead their own learning as often as possible while still gathering evidence of student growth. 

            To conclude, I will do my best to differentiate instruction for all of my students’ abilities and adhere to their interests.  My students and I will set high individualized goals to promote students’ belief in themselves and their future performance.  For my students, I will build a trustworthy relationship with each student in order to gain a fully rounded perspective on each students’ environment outside of school to help them succeed as best I can.  I will take advantage of teachable moments as they happen, and adjust my schedule as needed.  In addition, I will strive to always implement inquiry skills in as many lessons as possible and let students’ interest lead them to solutions.   My philosophy is to be the best I can be for my students, and use my students’ interests to make learning important content fun and meaningful to them.

References 

Cohen, L.M. (1999). Section III – Philosophical Perspectives in Education Part 3. Retrieved November 17, 2017, from https://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP3.html

Radu, L. (2011). John Dewey and Progressivism in American Education. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Retrieved from http://webbut.unitbv.ro/BU2011/Series%20VII/BULETIN%20VII/03_4%20Radu.pdf