Reflection: Teachers are able to evaluate themselves.
Philosophy of Education
Echnaton Vedder
Teaching 7310
Before I start discussing my philosophy of education, I would like to say that any philosophy should be in constant motion, evolving based on the times and the needs in society and a person’s experiences within that context. Therefore, my philosophy will most likely (and hopefully) undergo many changes over the course of my educational career and my life’s experiences. Educational pedagogy has always been an issue that has raised much spirited debate. There are almost as many opinions of how to best educate, as there are teachers. This has led to educational reform being one of the slowest processes in the American political sphere. I am dedicated to sharing my beliefs on how to make the education system the best possible and working hard towards that goal.
I believe that education is the key to building a better society—one that is focused on social justice and democratic ideals. As Social Meliorist George S. Counts said, education should be focused on the “American Dream,” meaning having and working towards a vision of a society that makes things easier and enriches life for “the masses.” He went on to say that education should “be in harmony with the spirit of the ages.” For me this means that capitalism and globalization and how they intersect with or work against collectivism and cooperation should be stressed. I agree with these sentiments and believe that they can and should form a platform for the principles of education to sit on. In that sense, Social Reconstruction forms a part of my core beliefs on education.
Although I believe that education should work towards the betterment of society, I don’t believe that it should be done in a dogmatic manner. The teacher should not be a “sage on the stage.” Rather, I believe that social amelioration can and should be accomplished by educators focusing on how best to guide students to self-understanding or self-actualization.
The way I’ll address my personal philosophy of education is by answering five core questions: What is the aim of education? What is the most important content of curriculum? What is the best teaching method? What is the teacher’s role? And finally, what is the nature and role of the student?
What is the aim of education?
As previously mentioned, I believe self-actualization of the students as well as educators to be the single most important reason we engage in the process of education. This is very much along the lines of what existentialists think. Van Cleve Morris makes the claim that education must “awaken awareness in the learner … of himself…” Self-actualization is the highest level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs and I believe that the bar needs to be set that high for our education system. Of course, the other levels such as physiological (food and shelter), safety, belonging and self-esteem need to be attained before the student is able to reach self-actualization, but this should be the goal that we as educators have in mind.
Within the concept of self-actualization lies the student’s pursuit of inner talent that may very well be dormant until the child has reached this stage. What do we as educators want more than to have the students develop the ability and interest to pursue their inner talent and work towards improving on that talent? This is not an easy process and they’re not always going to be comfortable. Sometimes they will have to be dragged out of the cave, so to speak. The dragging out of the cave should be to show them how things connect to them, as opposed to telling them “how it is.”
In order to reach this goal of self-actualization, we as educators, will need to help equip students with the necessary tools to answer tough questions and tackle difficult problems. The most important tool that we can help students find or build is the ability to learn, or think. We all need to learn how to learn. School is only one part of a person’s life, and we are all life-long learners, whether we’re good at it is another question. As Mortimer Adler put it, “The schooling of a people does not complete their education.” Educators should give students the tools necessary to think through complex problems that will inevitably arise throughout their lives. This does not mean that basic skills and particular sets of knowledge should or will be neglected; they can be addressed within the framework of teaching students how to think--students can learn particular facts and skills while they are grappling with the broader concepts of how they think and learn. If we accomplish this goal, we may see our students start to tackle the most challenging questions of all: “Who am I” and “What is the meaning of life.”
The other components of Maslow’s self-actualization include creativity and fulfillment. One of the most beautiful things we as educators will encounter is students’ vibrant creativity. Setting the stage for students to feel able and willing to explore and delve into new, creative endeavors is, again, one of the most important things we can do. Fulfillment is at the pinnacle of a person’s life experience. What I view as fulfillment is having the knowledge that you are living up to your potential given your abilities. Students can feel fulfillment. This is the ultimate goal of the education system. If children feel fulfillment due to their educational experience that means that their education has been a success and that they will most likely continue their education in some positive manner: becoming life-long learners.
I don’t believe, as the naturalist Rousseau did, that a child should be sheltered from societies corrosive elements. I believe that this type of sheltering can actually backfire. For instance, I would cite the way that many young Amish react when they leave their community. Many of them have a knee-jerk reaction and get involved in things that are unhealthy for them such as heavy drug use. This often proves to be a phase, but I would think that at least a little bit of learning about the dominant culture surrounding them would alleviate some of these damaging rebellious tendencies (I don’t intend to say that rebellion is inherently bad). Another example is trying to shelter young adults from drinking alcohol. First of all, it’s impossible to control. Furthermore, the fact that drinking is illegal makes it a sexier thing. In France kids grow up with much more free access to alcohol. The drinking age is 16 while the driving age is 18. This allows for kids to explore with alcohol for a while, if so desired, before being able to drive. I’m not saying that things are perfect in France; there are definitely still many alcohol related problems there. I would say that there isn’t as much of a problem with college age binge drinking.
Within the framework of striving towards self-actualization, I believe it is important for students to learn to question authority. They should be aware that there are people who are trying to fool them in one way or another. This should be done in a manner that still allows them to trust fellow humans. Teachers should help them develop the ability to turn questions on their head to truly get at the truth of matters. As the philosophical skeptics such as Bertrand Russell would say, students should not be satisfied with “conventional wisdom.” Russell implored that people be, “…determined not to be beguiled by human pretensions to knowledge or by unbacked assumptions…about what may be said to exist.”
What is the most important component of curriculum?
I believe it is important for the curriculum to be well connected to the experiences of the student. In this sense, I adopt some of the existentialist ideas of curriculum. I believe that curriculum is a tool used to get students to the level of self-actualization. Although the subjects aren’t inherently valuable, various subjects will be valuable for different students depending on their development stage and their interests. This does not mean that teachers should give up on the subjects that students are uninterested in. Rather, we should strive to show the connections that inevitably exist between the student and these undesirable subjects while pushing them to fully realize their potential in their areas of interest.
I believe that students should help design curricula that are integrated both vertically, from one year to the next, and horizontally, across all subjects. The importance in this is that all subjects are connected to all other subjects in one way or another; therefore they all should have value. Taking this to another level, it indicates that all humans and animals and plants are related and have value. Another way this is important is that it shows how learning is not over at the end of one school year, rather that knowledge builds upon existing knowledge to form a coherent, useful mass.
The curriculum should be grounded in “real life” experiences as much as possible. The reason I put the quotes around real life is that I believe that there shouldn’t be such a contrast made between the “school world” and the “real world.” Rather, we should strive to merge the two as much as possible. The school exists within the world and is therefore part of the “real life” experience. The school community should become the greater community and the greater community should become the school community. When these are brought together more there will be better understanding amongst the various ages and amongst the various races and ethnicities and classes. If we are of the same community it follows that there will be a developing care for what happens to the others in that community. People will get closer to each other and treat each other better as a result. This is part of the process of Social Meliorism that I believe we should foster in the schools.
Finally, I believe it is important for teachers to constantly update and improve curricula. We live in an ever-changing society. It is important that the curriculum keeps up with these changes. If the curriculum were to remain stagnant, that’s when educators have abandoned the challenge of reaching every child in a meaningful manner. Curriculum needs to be something that is slightly intangible, it needs to be a plan that’s based on theory that can be changed and/or moved. In this sense, my beliefs are contrary to Plato’s Idealism which states that there is knowledge that is certain and unchanging. I believe in the evolution of knowledge.
What is the best teaching method?
First of all, I would say that there is no single best teaching method. This sounds like a cop out. But let me take a little time to explain my thinking. All students are different human beings and therefore have different ways of looking at the world around them. I believe that there are multiple intelligences as Howard Gardner has outlined in his book Frames of Mind. These various intelligences point to the fact that people learn in different ways, to some extent I would posit that everybody learns differently from all other people, although there are obvious similarities that exist amongst people. In this context, I believe it is imperative for educators to be able to change their teaching methods in order to adapt to the given day’s reality. This can literally be something that needs to change in one way or another on a daily basis.
I would like to speak at least a little bit about models of instruction. Seeing as how there are many different learning styles and that every class is different, not to mention every student, it is of utmost importance for the teacher to have many of the models in his/her tool belt. Being familiar with many different models of instruction facilitates the flexibility that is needed as a teacher—many times a particular model won’t work for whatever reason. It is important to remember that the models of instruction are just that, models. They are not the end-all be-all of how to teach a certain lesson. Many times it will prove to be effective to pair various models together. Having many models at your fingertips will enable the teacher to change plans more readily according to student’s needs.
At the moment, I believe the ideal teaching method to be the Socratic method infused within the scientific method. Each step of the scientific method should be delved into through the use of the Socratic method. Utilizing the Socratic method in this manner would help ensure that students are having as many “a-ha” moments as possible, which would in turn lead to greater value being put on the knowledge and, therefore, greater retention of said knowledge. The use of the Socratic method is also important in getting students to realize that the teacher doesn’t necessarily know all the answers, something that existentialists greatly value. This will help them realize that so-called professionals aren’t always correct in there assumptions and will also help them develop the ability to question authority.
As Dewey would say, I believe that learning should be exploratory in nature where students, to the best of their abilities, discover knowledge through analyzing experiences. This does not mean that I value science and math more than the liberal arts. I believe that all subjects can and should be explored and discovered by the students as much as possible. Rousseau was a proponent of exploratory learning. I would disagree with his assessment that teachers should only teach things that students are interested in though. This leaves out the possibility that we as educators will be able to show students that there is value in some of the subjects that they aren’t currently interested in. This might even lead to a student developing new interests and pursuing them to the fullest.
I plan on teaching middle school. There are many different developmental stages that the students are going through in middle school. I believe it is very important to let them become adolescents and young adults on their own timelines. This means that educators should avoid putting up any roadblocks to this process. I believe that letting them go through trial and error and exploration will best allow them to develop at the appropriate rate.
In terms of behavior issues and learning to respect others and carry oneself in a socially acceptable manner, I certainly believe that having students simply learn the rules of social engagement will not work. Let’s just look at the big picture of what kids are dealing with right now. One of the biggest questions that at the very least is going around subconsciously is whether killing is always wrong. We have laws that say that we can’t kill, but we have the death penalty in some states and we are engaged in wars that are causing the deaths of thousands of innocent people. This might seem like an extreme example to use, but I believe it is quite valid. Issues of war and peace are some of the most important issues that we are facing today. The question of what peace is is one that needs to be addressed in a deep and sustained manner. There are many differing views on this subject and the future of our society may very well depend on enough people developing a sound understanding of the intersecting issues therein.
What is the teacher’s role?
I believe that teachers need to be facilitators of sorts. They should set up the framework for how students will delve into the unknown and come out with the known—they should teach students how to learn. In this sense I adhere to some of the pragmatist’s beliefs. I believe the single-most important thing a teacher should focus on is finding ways to give opportunities for students to make choices about who they are and what that means as it relates to the subjects being studied. Teachers should avoid giving answers. They should instead focus on giving the right questions and problems. With these prompts, students can explore and discover and make knowledge their own as well as develop needed problem-solving skills as opposed to simply believing teachers because they are experts.
Contrary to the realists, I believe teachers need to be life-long learners who learn along with as well as from the students. This points to the fact that teachers should be ever evolving. I believe it is vital for teachers and students alike to learn from doing. What this means for me as an educator is that I need to be willing to step out of my comfort zone of solely teaching that which I already know. Teaching what I don’t know means that I will be personally invested in the teaching experience all the more because I have a personal interest in learning. Many students will react well to the fact that the teacher is learning along with them. This type of teaching fosters discovery, exploration, as well as the ability and willingness to appropriately question authority. This questioning of authority is critical to a person developing into a productive part of society—I want to teach students that truth is an elusive thing that they need to constantly be in search of as opposed to simply believing the “professionals” or everything their teachers tell them. In this modern society where there is mass deception from the highest levels of government down to the simple conman on the street corner, it is important for students to learn to question authority and think for themselves.
I strongly believe, as Paulo Freire advocated in his Pedagogy of the Oppressed, that teachers need to become more culturally aware and focus on consciousness raising—consciousness that can transform reality. By culture, I don’t mean far away cultures, although that is useful as well. What I mean is the awareness of the various cultures that exist within your community, within your school, in your neighborhood—in this context it is of utmost importance that teachers get to know the students and vice versa. Teachers must become advocates for their students--giving them the opportunities that they deserve in life as opposed to giving up on them because they are “too far gone” or undeserving. Accordingly, teachers must also become advocates for social justice and civil rights in their communities—I believe this to be a moral obligation. Teaching by doing or teaching by example is one of the most power ways that teachers can promote these values. Most students look up to teachers as role models; therefore, it is crucial that teachers be active in positive, meaningful movements.
In order to accomplish all that’s needed of them, teachers need to be reflective beings. It is important for teachers to take the time to think about how things are changing around them and how that impacts the way they should set up the educational experience. Self-reflection into what methods and curriculum have and have not worked and why is crucial to the smooth running of the educational process.
What is the nature and role of the student?
Every person is different. Every student has freedom of choice, as the existentialist would say. This means that they have the freedom to make “bad” as well as “good” choices (I don’t believe Rousseau and the naturalists account of children being naturally good). Therefore, students need to be involved in making important decisions on a regular basis—to practice and hone down this important skill. Through this process the teacher can help guide them towards making healthy choices for themselves as well as those immediately around them and the broader community and world. In essence, they are given the opportunity to learn to take responsibility for who they are and therefore their actions. By enabling students to take responsibility, I believe we instill a sense of duty to be respectful and empathetic.
Students must be ready to learn from their mistakes as well as build on their accomplishments. The most important decision that they need to be making is determining who they are. Obviously, this is not one decision. Instead, it is a constant flow of decisions that they will continue to need to make throughout the rest of their lives. It is important for the curriculum to help them define who they are. They should want to find the ways that the various components of the curriculum fit into the definition of who they are.
In order to best model society, students will also need to be involved in the democratic process of their schooling. Accordingly, they should help determine the rules that they will abide by--a social contract of sorts. Furthermore, they should be involved in determining what their curriculum will be. If students are involved in these pivotal decisions there will be more buy-in with their whole educational experience. It will have turned into their educational experience, not something that is preordained.
Students need to become active learners. As Dewey and the pragmatists believe, students are curious entities and want to explore the world around them. This is something that teachers need to foster and help refine. Students need to be engaged in the whole educational process. They will need to be open to learning how to think. In order to accomplish this, students will need to become purposefully reflective. This will take practice that should be guided by the teacher. Reflection is a needed component that gets the learner beyond the stage of learning certain information solely for gratifying the instructor; it makes the learner synthesize this information into the context of their lives. Reflection helps get the learner closer to understanding who he/she is. Reflection is the vital link to enabling oneself to look at what worked in a given situation and what didn’t work and to take the time to think about how things could be done in a more effective way in the future.
Students who are encouraged to reflect on their learning on a regular basis will inevitably find important connections between the knowledge they are accruing and their life’s experiences. This will happen even when the knowledge is relatively esoteric; the mind has an amazing knack at making connections where you wouldn’t necessarily see them upon first glance.
Summary
There are many intersecting goals of education including problem solving, socialization, discovering respect, work ethic, learning how to learn, etc. My belief is that the single most important goal of education is the self-actualization of the students. I think this is best accomplished by having a teacher who is a facilitator guiding the active learner through an evolving curriculum that is well connected to the students life and the community as a whole. This curriculum is taught by giving the student opportunities to explore and discover knowledge by infusing the Socratic method within the scientific method.
If this all goes as it is loosely planned, we will have more critical thinkers out there who are able to turn questions on their ends and question authority which will lead towards a greater consciousness of justice and democracy. This will in turn lead to a more respectful, tolerant and peaceful society. This all takes a lot of time, but what are we here for anyway? I am here to work towards fulfilling this vision.
“Education is the gateway to equality.”
-Horace Mann
“There are no unteachable children. There are only schools and teachers and parents who fail to teach them.”
-Mortimer J. Adler
Philosophy of Education
Completed July 2005
I came to many realizations during my pre-student teaching experience that influenced my philosophy of education. This paper was written for a graduate level educational philosophy class and incorporates much of the reflection I engaged in during my pre-student teaching experience.
Wisconsin Teacher Standard Alignment
I believe that this paper best aligns with standard 9; The teacher is a reflective practitioner who continually evaluates the effects of his of her choices and actions on pupils, parents, professionals in the learning community and others, and who actively seeks out opportunities to grow professionally.
Developing a philosophy of education is a very reflective act. There are many elements that go into it including looking at experiences one has in various areas of the educational arena such as direct instruction, project-based learning, etc. My pre-student teaching experience gave me an opportunity to look at what another teacher was doing in the classroom, as well as, a limited amount of personal experience leading the class. Reflection was a vital component of pre-student teaching.
My pre-student teaching experience was at the Wisconsin Heights Middle School which was experiences extreme budget cuts for the next year. The budget cuts made all of the teachers politically charged. This experience added to the desire to become more involved in the politics of educational reform. When I reflect on educational experiences, I look at my experiences through the perspective of how it influences my attitude about educational reform from the micro-level of how I will change my teaching practices to the macro-level of how we need to change the nation’s educational policy. I am very critical of the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation which was signed into law in January of 2002. NCLB is an unfunded mandate according to some professionals, including Todd Price of National Louis University. It has had particularly damaging ramifications to special education programs. Many special education teachers have said that they have had to spend inordinate amounts of time testing their students instead of focusing on skill and knowledge acquisition.
Students and the community are an integral part of the process of changing our educational structure. George S. Counts, progressive educator, stressed the importance of democracy being infused into our educational system. He said that the involvement of the students and community was essential to building a vibrant educational system that was based on social justice and democracy. There are many movements throughout the country that students, community members and professionals are involved in. For example, in Milwaukee there has been a continuous strong support of the public school system and opposition of the “School Choice” movement which would divert resources from the public schools to private schools. Students and community members alike have rallied to try to get rid of military recruitment in the schools. Due to their efforts, there is an opt-out mechanism for parents to go through to get their children’s name off the recruiters’ lists.
To better facilitate the needed communication between teachers, students, parents, community members, and professionals, I would host focus groups. These sessions would allow interested parties to delve into the important issues worth working on. This would help bring the needed parties together to organize and strategize how to effect change on a multitude of levels.
In order to continue my development, I will read what other progressive educators have to say about the issues that I’m concerned about. I will read selections from W.E.B. DuBois, George S. Counts, Jim Beane, Michael Apple, and many more.
One way that my educational philosophy has influenced my experience in the field of education is by pushing me to work together with other people in education. I have attended meetings along with staff from Sherman Middle School pertaining to the potential closing of middle schools in Madison. I have lobbied school board members to consider other options besides closing a middle school. Due to efforts from students, families, community activists, and education professionals, the school board decided not to close any middle schools next year.
UW-Platteville School of Education Knowledge, Skill, Disposition Statement Alignment
KSD4.e
This paper is an example of the thought that I have put into the educational system and what it means for today’s society. To be effective in my role as an educational policy activist, I need to have very well-defined notions about the history of our educational system, how it currently works, as well as my views on how it should work and how it should be changed. This is an integral part of me becoming a professional in the field of education.
What I learned about teaching
I discovered that my philosophy of education is in constant flux. I need to purposefully reflect on my experiences to be effective.. This means that I need to set times aside specifically for the purpose of reflecting. I need to use this process as a way to define goals that I have in the educational profession. Then, I can use those goals to design strategies for accomplishing them. Further reflection will tell me how I’m progressing on the various goals I have established, and how I should redirect my efforts, if at all.
I learned that teaching is a very reflective profession. I have developed a greater appreciation for the importance of reflection as it relates to professional development. To become the best teacher possible, I will need to regularly reflect on what has worked, what hasn’t and what could be done better. Through the use of purposeful use of reflection I will improve the learning experience for my students as well as myself.
What I learned about myself
I learned that I have many goals relating to educational policy reform. I want to work with others to make our educational system better than it is today. I want to get rid of military recruitment in the schools, I would like to get rid of the NCLB legislation or drastically overhaul it. I would like to bring healthy school lunches to the schools in my district and throughout the country. In essence, I have discovered that I’m a progressive educational policy reform activist. I will need to surround myself with allies as well as learn the beliefs and strategies of my enemies in order to be effective.