MY
PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION PAPER
Philosophy of Education Paper
Farrow, Shalonda
University Of Missouri- Columbia
TDP 2040,
Inquiry into Schools, Communities and Society I, spring 2011
April 2011
Philosophy of Education Paper
Introduction
The
purpose of this paper is to give the reader insight as to what my beliefs of
education are. I would like to start by stating that this view is always
changing, for the simple fact that one must always consider the many aspects
that influence the outlook one has at the moment. With the world constantly
changing one has to be able to adjust their viewpoints. However with that being
said I do not profess or identify with a certain philosophy. I would like to
declare that I see parallels in what I think and what I am actively aiming to
integrate in my teaching style with the humanism and progressive
philosophies.
To
emphasis Gangè’s idea there are different conditions for each individual
student therefore different strategies should be used. (Gagné, 1985) In this paper I will take the stand that the purpose of education
is to produce understanding to one's physical, emotion, plus spiritual being,
while expanding one's perspectives, leading to a healthier approach of looking
and comprehending life and the world around them and to create an environment
where learning is fun and adventurous. With this in mind I would like to
inform you of what I believe the purpose of schools are, the ideal school, the
role f the teacher, the role of the student and my final thoughts.
The Purpose of
Schools
I recognize that a school serves many purposes, however
I believe that a schools most important purpose is to support the learners
through their journey with the education system, encourage the learners to
access their full potential, along with being invested in them, and helping them
develop the means to become critically thinking, creative, questioning,
open-minded individuals with a strong senses of self and the world around them.
Furthermore “the most important objective and responsibilities of schools and
education include: critical and effective methods of thinking, curiosity, and
creativity. (Reavis, & Good, 1996.) I
believe that if we can achieve this purpose then we can actually begin to say
that schools are built for our students and not the other way around.
The Ideal School
I envision the ideal schools as being my students second
home, a place where they are comfortable to ask question and receive answers.
The places where they are encourage to speak about their ideas. The ideal
school promotes students involvement in and out of the schoolhouse. Ranging
from lessons being taught, all the way to community involvement plans. The
ideal school would also have teachers, staff, and administration who are
passionate about seeing the student achieve their dreams, are truly invested and
believe that all students are capable of learning. Furthermore the ideal school
will have personnel who know their material, and are striving for cultural
competence. Personnel that are not merely focused on money, test scores,
grades, curriculum, assessments, the core standards, and the rest of the
Missouri standards, but the learner and their individual needs.
However, I do know that these things do have importance
yet they are not more important than what is going on with your students
overall. The ideal school appearance would be beautiful, lovely in size, but
not too overwhelming. It would be made of all brick so that it is safer. It
would always be well organized and clean. It would have a well-structured
security system, along with a marvelous outside area. The values of the ideal
school would be to promote learning as a life long process that never ends, to
believe that there is no such thing as a stupid question. That there is value
in differences, and that giving up is by no means an option. The ideal school
would value and acknowledge that the learner is capable of many amazing things
and that everyone is special and has something to offer. Lastly the driving
value behind the school would be for each student to be treated as an
individual. The students’ needs would drive the programming of the school.
The ideal school expectations is to present a safe
environment where every member is respected, and valued, a place where students
want to attend, and has the revenues to obtain the students dreams, wants, and
needs. The expectations of the ideal school would be to be a community that is
there for one another, diverse, and understanding. The curriculum that would be
valued is that of Dewey, learning through experience. (Dewey, 1902.) The academic curriculum would be designed to meet
the student needs. Which in the ideal school would not just be center around
test scores, grades, textbooks, etcetera, but child-learner center. The
curriculum should be as individualized as possible. Allowing students to pace
themselves and reflect upon the experiences in which they have.
The Role of the
Teacher
The role of the ideal teacher in the ideal school is to
inspire, motivate, challenge, engage, and simulate their students. To support
their dreams, aid them in reaching their goals, answer question that they have,
and teach them how to ask and find answer themselves. And to teach the students
how to be critical thinking individuals. The teacher also has to create a safe,
loving and professional environment, be dependable, passionate, knowable, and
there to listen when needed. They must have patience, hope, never and gives up
on their students, able to make learning entertaining and adventurous and at
the end of the day devoted to their students success. As well as treating
students as if they were you own. Teaching is stimulating the curiosity of the
students in a guided manner as to were you allow them to take action, but you
are there to assist them when need and model the ways in which to handle the
situation at hand. Just as Bandura states one learns through modeling. (Bandura, 1977)
The Role of the
Student
The role of the student is to be, engaged explores, hard
workers, with growing imaginations, who are open-minded learners, willing to
consider possibilities they did not know were possible and expand upon the
knowledge in which they already have. Furthermore I want the students role to
involve contributing to the classroom discussions, activities, and overall
environment. The students should be able to ask questions without being afraid
and answer question, along with being able to express themselves in a
respectful manner. The students should be able to self motivate themselves to
want to learn along with the teacher being just as motivate to enable this
goal. The student roles should constantly growing.
Now that I have discussed the role of the student lets
next look at what skills I expect students to obtain. Their current
instructional level, learning style and their post secondary goals would
dictate the student’s accomplishments. Therefore the techniques and endeavors
would vary students to student, but the underlying goal for the ideal student
would be to become a self-thinking individual. The technique that I will use to
make this possible would be real life experience.
The Classroom
I see the ideal school classroom size being no bigger
than 24 students. Where every classroom would have a teacher and teacher’s
assistant. The classrooms would be fully equipped with all the material
essential to teaching the subject at hand. The ideal classroom would have
comfortable seating for the students to seat in, an amazing lunchroom that
provides real and healthy food. An enormous auditorium for the events that the
school will host, with a phenomenal stage for the student’s usage, spacious
classrooms full of color and widows to allow students to feel more at home than
in a prison. The classroom would have lots of fun lighting and saying around.
Furthermore the it ideal classroom would allow for the students to engaged with
one another while not taking away from lessons being taught.
Conclusion
All in all becoming a great teacher comes with great
responsibilities. And with saying that I believe no matter what, the world will
need great teachers, just as our book states “although schools are not the only
means to educate people they are still important institutions for learning” (Provenzo, 2002.) Throughout this paper I
hope that you where able to get a glimpse as to what my philosophy is on
education. I know that we have a lot to deal with before the ideal student,
school, or classroom can manifest, but if we could all learn to come together
and not play the blame game then maybe we can attain true victory. Finally I
want to leave you with a few of my favorite quotes and poems when it comes to
education.
“The function of
education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically...
Intelligence plus character - that is the goal of true education.”
-Martin Luther
King, Jr. quote
“Coming together
is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Embracing everyone is
success.”
-Henry Ford
Don’t Blame Me
The girl’s mother
said, “Don’t blame me.
Her father left
when she was three.
I know she don’t
know her ABCs, her 1,2,3s,
But I am poor and
work hard you see.”
You know the
story, it’s don’t blame me.
The teacher shook
her head and said,
“Don’t blame me,
I know it’s sad.
He’s ten, but if
the truth be told,
He reads like he
was six years old.
And math, don’t
ask.
It’s sad you see.
Wish I could do
more, but it’s after three.
Blame the mom,
blame society, blame the system.
Just don’t blame
me.”
The judge was
angry, his expression cold.
He scowled and
said, “Son you’ve been told.
Break the law
again and you’ll do time.
You’ve robbed
with a gun.
Have you lost
your mind?”
The young man
opened his mouth to beg.
“Save your
breath,” he heard instead.
“Your daddy left
when you were two.
Your momma didn’t
take care of you.
Your school
prepared you for this fall.
Can’t read, can’t
write, can’t spell at all.
But you did the
crime for all to see.
You’re going to
jail, son.
Don’t blame me.”
If there is a God
or a person supreme,
A final
reckoning, for the kind and the mean,
And judgment is
rendered on who passed the buck,
Who blamed the
victim or proudly stood up,
You’ll say to the
world, “While I couldn’t save all,
I did not let
these children fall.
By the thousands
I helped all I could see.
No excuses, I
took full responsibility.
No matter if they
were black or white,
Were cursed,
ignored, were wrong or right,
Were shunned,
pre-judged, were short or tall,
I did my best to
save them all.”
And I will bear
witness for eternity
That you can
state proudly,
“Don’t blame me.”
‐ By Geoffrey Canada
February 2007
References
Gagné, M. (1985). The Conditions of Learning.
Reavis, H., & Good, V. (1996). An
Educational Platform for the Public Schools. Bloomington: Phi Delta Kappa
Educational Foundation.
Dewey, (1902). The Child and the Curriculum.
Bandura. (1977). Social Learning
Theory.
Provenzo, F. (2002). Teaching,
Learning, and Schooling a 21st Century Perspective.
*p.s. Still developing, but see the growth lol!
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