This is just my first semester in the Education program, my first exposure to what I may and will face as a future teacher. And already, in two of my three classes I'm being asked to create my Educational Philosophy. My understanding is that this will be an ever evolving statement that will express to others my perceptions of education; how I will teach, motivate, assess; my expectations of my students; my views on curriculum; my methods of transferring knowledge to the minds of my students...
In the most recent meeting of my Curricular Planning class, we discussed the basic educational philosophies using a jigsaw method of teaching and learning. I enjoyed using this method and can foresee using it in my own classroom. In addition to this in class lesson, we took a brief survey to help us recognize and name our personal education philosophy. In the survey, I leaned greatest toward Humanism/Existentialism, followed in a tie by Cognitivism and Progressivism. In other words, I believe in hands-on learning, the teacher is more of a guide, and students have choices in their education based on their interests/skills. Based on the definitions for these philosophies, and what I thought my teaching style would be like, I was right on track, just not having a name until now for my teaching style.
It was intriguing to discuss how each of the basic educational philosophies are defined, and then discuss in our groups how we viewed them being used in today's classroom. My group even developed our own theory of our professor's educational philosophy based on the definitions, and how she has taught our class to date.
Reflection on where my philosophy lies as compared to how I view today's classroom, my philosophy tends to a bit more liberal view of learning than what is currently presented in public education. With the focus on standardized testing, and the push for test numbers to increase or remain high, much of the teaching occurring in today's classroom is based on the students learning what is required for these tests. Where does this lend to the students developing their creativity and interests? I understand that the students are no longer competing against the other students within their school, their district, their state, or even the entire nation; students are now competing globally. Yes, I do no deny that learning the 3 R's is essential; however, we are not educating robots. Our students must have the core curriculum components, but it will be their creativity that will help them to stand out. Look at the number of executives of innovative companies that were drop-outs. It was their creativity that helped them innovate, and become leaders.
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