Running head: MY EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY

My Educational Philosophy Jamie Michelle Poplin MTE/501 February 4, 2012 Stephanie Moore

MY EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY My Educational Philosophy My Beliefs about Teaching and Learning

When asked to evaluate what I believe about education, I thought, WOW! This will be a piece of cake. However, it was not as easy as I initially believed. It is hard to truly evaluate ones core beliefs about both teaching and learning. When I first stop to think of teaching, I think of my role as a parent. My son is in third grade and extremely intelligent. As a parent of a school age child, my job is to support his teachers in every way possible. Through this support I am reaffirming his lessons as well as supplementing them. By providing my child with a different approach to the same material and giving him real world views on his lessons I am helping to cement the information into his knowledge banks. The concept of it takes a village is one that is truthful. My belief about teaching and learning is one of unity. It takes a unified front to ensure the best educational experience possible. My Beliefs about Students I believe my job as a teacher is not to just relay information to my students, but also to instill a thirst for knowledge and a quest to learn. I believe students are responsible for their learning; but that responsibility is contingent upon an interwoven tapestry of the student, teacher, parent/family, peers, content, educational situation and context. It references back to the village idea. Teachers and students have to communicate, develop and negotiate their objectives cooperatively. It is my role as an educator to listen to my students and clearly express my expectations and openly listen to theirs. If my students are struggling, I need to assess why. Is it my delivery? Is it issues going on internally or

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externally? The open communication and flexibility of both the teacher and the student can help make the educational experience a positive one. My Beliefs about Knowledge Knowledge is experience; everything else is information. (Holm) Albert Einsteins famous quote holds close to my beliefs on knowledge. I have never been a proponent of teaching to the test, however there is a core bank of information every student should know. This core material serves as a foundation for all future learning. The basic core lessons are built upon, knowledge building upon knowledge. It is the role of teachers to find the best way to construct this learning scaffolding. Combining lectures, activities, experiments, musical, verbal, kinesthetic, and visual lessons, educators can reach more students and offer them as many educational experiences as possible. What I Believe is Worth Knowing I believe there is no hard, fast rule that states what is or is not worth knowing. There is a core bank of information that is necessary to compete aggressively and with success within society, but this information is something that can be built upon. If a student has a passion for a particular subject as long as the core knowledge or essential foundation has been laid, they will be able to build upon that base with any combination of learnings. Every learner is different. Because one student is passionate and excels in calculus and another student is passionate and excels in food science, it doesnt lessen the value of either childs knowledge. The idea of what is worth knowing is a subjective concept. As long as the basic essential foundation is there, the rest is just a positive addition to a wealth of expanding knowledge.

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How Educational Philosophies Relate to Classroom Practices Educational philosophies relate to classroom practice through application. The purpose of an educational philosophy is to assess an educators belief system in regards to their approach to teaching. The personal philosophy of each teacher is the reason why they teach and often the how of it also. Each philosophy differs, but they are all reaching towards the same end result, effectively teaching the student. My Personal Educational Philosophy As preparation for week two questions, we had to complete an educational philosophic inventory. The educational philosophy was a concept I had never considered. I knew who I wanted to be as a teacher. I knew what my goals were as far as conveying information as well as instilling a love for learning, I had just never thought about a formalized category for my beliefs. After completing the assessment, I found my educational philosophy was one based on progressivism. Progressivism is An educational philosophy emphasizing real-world problem solving and individual development according to Kauchak & Eggen (2011 p.204). The focus with this philosophy is on the whole child, not the teacher or the content. Active experimentation and a hands-on learning approach is the fundamental basis of the progressivism philosophy. Progressivism is active learning, not passive. Teachers need to foster the drive in students to explore learning. They need to encourage a learner to choose his or her own path, incorporating interests, cultural heritage, prowess etc. Standardized testing should not take the place of teaching. While it is important for students to have a basic foundation of information and skills, it is not

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the end all, be all. In order to produce a well rounded, life-long learner, educators need to give students a reason to want to learn, the tools to accomplish learning and a shove to get started!

MY EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY References Holm, J. M. (2010, September). Quotes Related to Knowledge Management or Collaboration. Retrieved from http://km.nasa.gov/whatis/KM_Quotes.html Kauchak, D., & Eggen, P. (2011). Introduction to teaching: Becoming a professional (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.