Running Head: PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHING

Philosophy of Teaching
Mackenzie Wingham
Education 101
Dr. Bilz
April 6th, 2015

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ABSTRACT
Education is very important in the world today. The technology in the world today is growing
rapidly and most people to get a well paying job needs to have some form of background in
education. Teachers are a humanist, progressive/child study, social efficiency, or
reconstructionist. There are two different forms of education formal or informal.

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Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.
(Mandela). You can be one of four different kind of an educator. Being an educator can be
challenging at times and very rewarding.
Education is important in our everyday lives but many ask what education is. Education
is in its general sense is a form of learning in which the knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and
habits of a group of people are transferred from one generation to the next through storytelling,
discussion, teaching, training, and or research. Education has two different kinds of education
informal and formal.(Wikipedia, 2015) Formal education occurs in a structured environment
whose explicit purpose is teaching students.
Usually formal education takes place in a school environment, with classrooms of
multiple students learning together with a trained teacher. Most school systems are designed
around a set of values or ideals that govern all educational choices in that system. Such choices
include curriculum, physical classroom design, student-teacher interactions, and methods of
assessment, class size, educational activities, and more. (Wikipedia, 2015) Some other forms of
formal education are school, Academy College, and university.
Informal learning usually takes place outside educational establishments, does not
follow a specified curriculum and may originate accidentally, sporadically, in association with
certain occasions, from changing practical requirements. Some other forms of informal education
are unschooling, homeschooling, auto didacticism which is self-teaching, youth work, museums,
magazines, television, libraries, zoo, and video games.

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The two different ideological descriptions I would like to compare and contrast are
humanist and social efficiency. The human believes education should be a journey through a
well-rounded curriculum. This topics: a) languages, b) mathematics, c) natural history, d) general
history, and e) physics and chemistry. The humanist believes all students should be given the
same knowledge regardless of their future. An educator whose ideological perspective reflected
the humanist philosophy would also include Latin, Astronomy> algebra, Greek, and foreign
languages in their curriculum. Humanists believe the goal of education should be to give
knowledge to students in order for them to lead satisfying and happy lives. They believe
knowledge is the key to happiness. (Bilz, 2006)
The social efficiency educators believe the purpose of education is to prepare students for
all the activities in the adult world. The curriculum in the elementary schools would be primarily
the same for all students in reading, writing, and math, but when the students became older, they
would be given a differentiated curriculum determined by their academic abilities. The
curriculum is broken down into objectives and specific tasks in order for the students to focus on
one task at a time. (Bilz, 2006)
It is not necessarily planned to be pedagogically conscious, systematic and according to
subjects, but rather unconsciously incidental, holistically problem-related, and related to situation
management and fitness for life. It is experienced directly in its "natural" function of everyday
life and is often spontaneous. (Wikipedia, 2015)
Analyzing my own personal philosophy is that I am social efficiency. I believe that
students should learn the curriculum when they are in elementary and middle school but when
they get to high school that they should be prepared for what to expect when they get into the

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adult world. Students should learn things like buying a car, getting a loan, making a budget,
buying a house, getting a bank account, staying out of debt, life insurance, health insurance,
going to an interview, using technology, retirement plan, and things that will make them
successful adults in society.
School is a physical place where teachers teach and students learn. (Kauchak, 2014). A
school mission statement can help you decide if what they offer and the way they provide it lines
up with educational goals. (Teel 2015). Have you ever wondered what your classroom says
about you and your students? What would an outsider's first impression be of your classroom?
Is your room filled with engaging materials? Is your curriculum appropriate? Do you plan for
transitions? Do you use positive guidance with the children?
All of these factors work together to build a classroom that is developmentally appropriate - a
place that is comfortable, safe, and secure. The developmentally appropriate classroom is a
carefully planned room where children can initiate learning. It is a place that meets the needs of
the children and provides materials that are age appropriate, individually appropriate, and
culturally appropriate.
Research has shown that children in developmentally appropriate programs are less
stressed, less anxious about tests, better creative thinkers, and better communicators. However,
children have a number of limitations depending on their developmental level. Educators must
ensure that children are provided with an age appropriate, individually appropriate, and culturally
appropriate environment. There are many aspects involved in making a classroom
developmentally appropriate, including: the physical environment, curriculum, teacher
involvement and parent involvement. These aspects should be integrated so children get the best
experience possible from their classrooms. The developmentally appropriate classroom is a safe,

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secure, and stimulating place where each child can grow physically, socially, emotionally, and
cognitively.
Classrooms should consist of developmentally appropriate materials and learning centers
for the children to explore. The general atmosphere of the classroom should be relaxed because
children learn more when they feel psychologically safe.
Curriculum must be developmentally appropriate, fun, and challenging enough for the children.
Group direction and waiting times for young children should be limited and appropriate
transition activities should be provided. The classroom and curriculum should celebrate each
child's uniqueness and family background. Teachers should also interact with the children and
lead them in a positive manner to encourage their self-esteem and help teach them problem
solving and cooperation. Every so often, we need to take an objective look at our rooms to see if
we are doing our best in each area. (Rich, 2009).
These goals are significant because they shape the ways our schools are organized and
how this organization will influence your teaching. First, both parents and students have
historically believed that each goal is important, so teachers will be expected to address as they
work with your students. Second, the goals sometimes compete, and conflicts can occur. Third
the relative emphasis placed on each goal varies with grade level (Pearson BOOK, 2014).
Knowledge of content is the more teachers know about a content area, such as algebra, American
history, chemistry, for example, the most effective they will be in teaching it. Acquiring a deep
understanding of the content youll teach will be one of the biggest challenges youll face as a
beginning teacher.

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Four different kinds of knowledge which are pedagogical content knowledge, general
pedagogical knowledge, knowledge of learners and learning and knowledge of the profession.
Children in todays society need to have some skill to service at whatever they are doing. When
you have skill you can excel at things better than others who do not have any skill. Also,
childrens attitudes in the classroom have to be respectful. The children who obey and are
respectful to their peers and to their teachers are the ones who succeed more because the teachers
trust and give them more responsibility to grow and learn things for when they are older in
society. The children who are disrespectful and do not obey usually are the children who grow up
doing things that they should not be doing. Having a good attitude in society is very important
for school and when children grow up to be adults in the work place.
One approach to learning styles distinguishes between deep and surface
approaches to processing information. For instance, when educators study a new idea, do they
ask themselves how it relates to other ideas, what examples of the idea exist, and how it might
apply in a different context. If so, one might be using a deep-processing approach. On the other
hand, if one simply memorizes the definition, one might be using a surface approach. As one
might expect, deep-processing approaches result in higher achievement if subsequent tests focus
on understanding and application, but surface approaches can succeed if tests emphasize learning
and memorizing facts. Other learning styles are contrast analytic and holistic, and visual versus
verbal approaches to learning. (Berk, 2012).
Multiple intelligences, these preferences, or styles make intuitive sense. Multiple
intelligences are overall intelligence that is composed of eight relatively independent dimensions.
Those different intelligences are: Linguistic, Logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodilykinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. There is also emotional intelligence

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which is the ability to manage our emotions so we can cope with our world and accomplish
goals. (Berk, 2012)
Learning disabilities can be very difficult for children to deal with while in class trying to
learn at the pace of other children that is why one might think really think it is important to work
with them one on one or in special small classes. A learning disabilities is the most frequently
occurring, involve difficulties in acquiring and using listening, speaking, reading, writing,
reasoning, or mathematical abilities. There are other disabilities which are communication
disorders, intellectual disabilities, and behavior disorders. (Berk, 2012).
Development refers to the physical changes in children as well as changes in the way
they think and relate to their peers that result from maturation and experience. For example, 10th
graders are bigger, stronger, and more coordinated than 5th graders; theyre physically more
developed. Similarly, 10th graders think differently from 5th graders, who also think differently
from kindergarteners. And differences also exist in social development differences in students
abilities to relate to their peers and work collaboratively in groups. (Beck, 2012)
These developmental differences influence how schools are organized. For example,
students in elementary schools, and particularly in kindergarten and first grade, are typically
assigned to one teacher who monitors the cognitive, social, and emotional growth of students in
their classroom. In some schools, looping, the practice of keeping a teacher with one group of
students for more than a year is used to help teachers better nurture the development of
individual students. Older students are more capable of learning on their own and fending for
themselves, so they are assigned a number of teachers who also serve as subject matter
specialists. This is the common arrangement in middle, junior high, high schools. (Beck, 2012).

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Collaborating in schools is very important to make sure your parents, students, and
colleagues are on the same page. Parent- teacher collaboration can also have long-term benefits
for teachers. Teachers who encourage parental involvement have more positive feelings about
teaching and about their school, and they have higher expectations for parents and rate them
higher in helpfulness and follow-through. (Beck, 2012)
Collaborating with colleagues is a third essential teacher role. When teachers begin their
career, they will become part of a team, and they will collaborate with their colleagues in
decisions about curriculum, assessment, and teaching strategies. Teachers want to be involved in
their schools decision making; when asked how the profession could be improved, nearly all in
one poll said they wanted a greater role for teachers at the school level. Many principals view
collaboration as one of the most essential characteristics of an effective teacher, and interviewers
will try to assess your ability and inclinations to work with others during your initial job
interview. (Beck, 2012).
Having an education is important so no matter how hard you have to work or how long it
takes one to get a degree always remember that in the end it will be worth it when one will land
that dream job.

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References

Bilz, Julie. (2006) Curriculum Theory and Design. Teacher Development Series: Teacher
Training in Curriculum and Instruction.
Wikipedia. Formal vs. Informal Education (2015). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education. (April
5, 2015)
Kaucha. D, & Eggen, P. (2014). Introduction to Teaching, New Jersey: Pearson.
Our Mission. (n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2015, from
http://www.missionstatements.com/missionstatementresources/about.html
(n.d.). Retrieved April 21, 2015, from https://www.cceionline.edu/newsletters/August_09.html