Running Head: MY GUIDING PHILOSOPHIES

My Guiding Philosophies: How I Envision My Own Classroom and Instruction Caitlyn Mauck Bridgewater College

MY GUIDING PHILOSOPHIES Teaching has always been one of my goals in life. Over the past few years I have been given the chance to develop my own personal philosophy about education by learning about various theories and the INTASC Standards. To help me determine which philosophies my own viewpoints corresponded most closely with, I took the McGraw-Hill Educational Philosophy Assessment. The results of the quiz showed me that I relate most closely with the progressivist and essentialist perspectives of education. I feel that those two perspectives both fit my own philosophy. My main concerns with teaching are that students have equal opportunities to learn and meet the standards they need in order to grow and develop further in their school careers. I believe that it is one of the teachers main responsibilities to prepare an environment and instruction that will be the most helpful, accessible, and influential to each students own needs and interests. It is also important for students to be engaged in their learning and feel responsibility for the learning they participate in. As a prospective ELL teacher, I value the individuality and uniqueness that each student brings to the classroom. If there was one word to describe my philosophy toward learner

differences, it would be differentiation. Every student comes into the classroom with his/her own experiences, knowledge, and skills that need to be utilized to their full potential in order to meet state standards and participate later on as functional and productive members of society (Brief Overview, 2002). My own belief is that every child has the ability to learn the core standards for their age, they just need a teacher that can find the students strengths and focus instruction based on individual needs. Based on this ideal of differentiation, I fall into the essentialist view of education that students need to know and understand a curriculum of essential knowledge and academic rigor (Cohen, 1999). I can see and value the need for students to meet a baseline for content standards, which is why I feel it is so important to differentiate instruction and provide

MY GUIDING PHILOSOPHIES

students with a way to meet and surpass goals (both the teachers and their own) by encouraging them to use their skills and stretch their abilities. One way I will practice differentiation is by using small groups that have students with similar abilities for my instruction at various times throughout the year. By meeting with small groups I will be able to provide students with more individual attention and therefore meet their needs specifically. Also, by working in small groups, students will have more opportunities to discuss and share their various perspectives with each other. Another element of education that is important to me is that students build positive character traits and learn more than just content during their time with me. Often times, I feel that it is easy to get lost in content and meeting standards and some teachers neglect character development. Students in elementary school are at a crucial point in their lives where they learn by example of other peoples behavior to help shape their own personalities and behavior. My goal as a teacher is to role model the behavior I expect from my students such as responsibility, care and compassion, honesty, and positive work ethic by providing them with a positive, safe, and encouraging classroom environment. I want my students to grow into successful and productive members of society. As I work to develop the whole student through their character, I am exemplifying the foundations of progressivism (Cohen, 1999). It is important to me that students take more from my classroom than just some facts they learned. I want students to remember my role modeling and grow up to be responsible, compassionate, honest, caring, and work hard at whatever career life leads them to. Teaching character is much trickier than creating a perfect lesson. Students look up to their teachers as an example and role model to follow. Part of the essentialist theory is that students need to be as productive as possible and learn to be valuable to the society in which they live by learning respect, perseverance, and consideration

MY GUIDING PHILOSOPHIES (Educational Essentialism). I need to show my students responsibility by helping them work through problems and completing my own work in a timely manner. I will teach them compassion and care by listening to their concerns and showing interest and understanding. Honesty will be a top priority in my classroom for everyone because dishonesty quickly spirals out of control and students need to learn that sometimes the truth is hard to share or deal with and it is okay. Enthusiasm for classwork, lessons, and everything I do will help inspire students to take pride in their own work and always do their best.

Learning is a part of life. No matter how old, there is always something to learn, whether it is a new technology, training for a job, or just a new life experience. Students need to have an enthusiasm for learning throughout their whole life, not just while they are in school. As a teacher, I want to develop learners who have a mindset and passion for lifelong learning. Progressivism focuses on learning through experiences and embracing the learners experiences to guide learning (Cohen, 1999). I plan to instill a lifelong desire to learn by demonstrating enthusiasm for everything we do in the classroom and sharing my own research with the students periodically. Another way to encourage students to love learning is to help them establish connections between the curriculum and their own experiences and give them a stake in their own learning. Creativity plays a major role in my educational philosophy because teaching takes time, effort, and creativity in order to reach all of the students with a meaningful lesson that they can understand that connects to the standards they need to learn. Applying content and student learning is more than just memorization; students need to retain the skills and knowledge they learn in elementary school to be successful in their further education and careers. Progressivism really champions the idea of learning by doing and integrating creativity and hands-on activities

MY GUIDING PHILOSOPHIES into learning (Brief Overview, 2002). Students have an opportunity to get personal with the

content when there is an engaging activity that they can manipulate. In my own classroom, I will incorporate activities that appeals to visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners by varying each days instructional strategies. We will do experiments, book discussions, journal writing, model building, and many other projects to engage students in learning. Teaching students is a team effort, after all there is the saying that it takes a village to raise a child. Students learn through their experiences, which include their school and home lives. As a teacher, I want to build and maintain a positive collaborative relationship with parents so that we can support each other and keep the best interests of the student at heart. Parents know their childs personality, strengths, and weaknesses much better than me as their teacher, especially in the beginning of the school year, so we are both in a position to enlighten each other about the childs needs. The parent-teacher relationship fits most closely with progressivist theory because of the emphasis on meeting student needs and teaching the whole child (Cohen, 1999). Students learn skills that they may not be able to learn at school through their parents, and parents are a great way for teachers to continue instruction by supplementing practice activities for parents to do together as a family. Such supplemental instruction may be as simple as reading together before bedtime or as detailed as completing a science fair project or model of an Indian home. Collaboration with parents will also allow me to be more creative with my lessons and instruction because parents will be more supportive of my plans for student success. In closing, my own personal philosophy on education is a mash-up of progressivism and essentialism. While these theories focus on very different aspects of educational theory, I use pieces that fit well together by highlighting learner differences through differentiated instruction, providing an encouraging learning environment, developing a desire to learn over a lifetime,

MY GUIDING PHILOSOPHIES applying content in creative lesson planning and activities, and collaborating with parents to provide optimal student instruction.

MY GUIDING PHILOSOPHIES References A Brief Overview of Progressive Education. (2002, January 30). University of Vermont. Retrieved February 15, 2014, from http://www.uvm.edu/~dewey/articles/proged.html Cohen, L. M. (1999). Philosophical perspectives in education. Oregon State University. Retrieved February 13, 2014, from http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP3.html Educational essentialism. (n.d.). Princeton University. Retrieved February 17, 2014, from http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Educational_essentialism.html