Madison Collins

EDL 318 A B
March 27, 2016
Teaching Platform & Philosophy
The Curriculum Q-sort resulted in high scores for Progressivism (18) and Essentialism
(16) for me. The closeness in scores called for further reflection and after doing so I believe that
the philosophy of education I identify most closely with is progressivism. As a progressivist I
believe that the aim of education is to promote democratic, social living. It is our responsibility
to raise citizens who have the capacity and disposition to participate in community ties to the
best of their abilities and forge thriving democratic communities. Education should enable
individuals to continue their education after schooling. The continued capacity for growth is the
reward in education. Knowledge stimulates growth and development. Knowledge is constructed
as humans transact with the world and the world acts back; it is social. Humans are naturally
problem-solving beings. It is through problem solving we grow, our society grows and we
achieve progress. Our educational system must reflect this process in order to be effective. The
curriculum must be based on students interests involving the application of relevant
problems/matters, integrate other subject matter and be grounded in activates and projects.
Curriculum integration is of particular importance because as boundaries disappear, curriculum
integration is also likely to engage knowledge that ordinarily fall between the cracks of
disciplines and subject areas (Beane, 1995, p. 46). It is my role as a teacher to act as a guide for
problem solving and scientific inquiry. Quantz (2015) summarizes that a progressive education is
reliant upon recognizing that the knowledge is constructed through a community of learners as
they work through their situation together, that the ultimate purpose of education is to develop
adults who will participate in the democratic community as it works to address its problems, and

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that learning must arise from the students engagement in his or her world (p. 87).
Progressivism can take many forms with in a classroom, but there are always a few
commonalities.
The physical layout of my classroom would be conducive for group work, independent
exploration and creativity. Idealistically my classroom would feature Node chairs. Node school
chairs are highly mobile, similar to those we see in some classroom here at Miami, they allow for
easy changes in classroom layout. Students could transition from individual work to pod work to
entire class discussion quickly and quietly. Most of the time the students would be positioned in
pods as seen in this picture allowing them to exchange ideas and interact. Contrary to the
traditional classroom I wouldnt have my desk at the front of the room; rather Id position it at
the back or side and favor walking around the class. This would physically break the
student/teacher boundary and exemplify that I am there to be a guide, not a rule enforcer or mere
instructor. Along the walls of my classroom I would feature a current event board where students
could freely add whatever they may find interesting. I would also feature progress board for
whatever community engagement we were working on that year. As we saw in Schools that
change communities students can have major impacts on communities and its is crucial for a
progressivist classroom to integrate community engagement. We might be working on recusing a
vacant lot near the school to clear it and make a garden; readings could be integrated on the
history of the neighborhood, other example of restoration and lessons in the economical impact
this would have on the neighborhood. It would be a focus point for curriculum integration. The
board on the wall would motivate students to be actively involved and be form positive
reinforcement. I would also have a reflection library where the students and I keep journals
where we make weekly entries. These reflections could focus on any and everything as long as

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the students wrote. There would also be post-it notes in a bin on the shelf; if the student chose to
they could mark a page for me to read. This would allow students to reflect upon assignments,
activities, and my performance, without
pressure or feeling uncomfortable. I
would also be forced weekly to preform a
critical reflection of myself, which is
vital to my continual growth as a teacher
and service to the students. The need for
critical reflection can be an important
tool for all teachers Critical reflection is a personal and challenging look at ones identity as an
individual person and as an active professional (Howard, 2003, p. 201). My classroom would
model Finland, which is often cited as having the best educational system in the world, and
students wouldnt ever take a standardized and there will be great variation in assignments.
Standardized tests pigeonhole students and propel the hidden curriculum. Differing curricular,
pedagogical, and pupil evaluation practices emphasize different cognitive and behavioral skills in
each social setting (Anyon, 1980, p. 11). I hope by diversifying the curriculum students will
receive equitable opportunity to succeed. Students would be evaluated primarily through
authentic assessment. Authentic assessment locates the evaluation in a process that naturally
meshes with the project being addressed: observing the students as they congress to plan their
project, examining the work products that result from the project, asking the student to present
the results of the project to classmates or to relevant outsiders (Quantz, 2015, p. 85-86).
Students will also have the opportunity to do this through written work and other forms such as
creating a website or activity.

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My teaching philosophy and classroom design is unlike any classroom I experienced in
grammar or high school. Those classrooms were largely essentialist featuring a chalkboard and
teachers desk at the front of the classroom and rows of student desks going back. However since
being in college Im witnessing a change towards progressivism and it is my hope that in the
years to come more and more schools will be willing to transform their classroom and embrace
this philosophy. There are many foreseeable problems with my dream classroom, the two
greatest being the established curriculum and lack of funding. Currently in the United States
every single state has some form of standardized testing, and even more are adopting programs
for universal standards and curriculum. It would be a great challenge to create a classroom that
doesnt have student progress, which can be measured and turned into a statistic. Many states
rely on standardized testing for funding distribution and it would be difficult changing that.
Another challenge would also be affording my classroom and everything I hope to have within it.
Purchasing new notebooks let alone new desks can we too much to ask for in some districts.
Lastly, it takes great money and it can be a great challenge to preform community outreach as
well as getting permission from the city, parents and students. Even after acknowledging these
obstacles, I can see the possibilities are endless. We can get sponsorship from the state or even
private companies. Preforming work that benefits the entire community would apply to parents
because it could increase property value; lower crime rates and is invaluable to their childrens
education. With time we may be able to phase out standardized testing, however I dont believe
that its something that will happen soon. With that said, there are methods in preparing students
to take them without taking away from their education or merely training them for the tests. I
would try to depressurize the tests and integrate test taking skills and methodology into the
curriculum.

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Works Cited
Anyon, J. (1980). Social Class and School Knowledge. Journal of Education, 162(1), 1-12.
Beane, J. A. (1997). Chapter 3: Curriculum Integration and the Disciplines of Knowledge.
Curriculum integration: Designing the core of democratic education. New York:
Teachers College Press.
Beane, J. A. (1997). Chapter 4: In the Place of High Pedagogy. Curriculum integration:
Designing the core of democratic education. New York: Teachers College Press.
Howard, T. C. (2003). Culturally Relevant Pedagogy: Ingredients for Critical Teacher
Reflection. Theory Into Practice, 42(3), 195-202.
Quantz, R. A. (2015). Sociocultural studies in education: Critical thinking for democracy.
Boulder, CO: Paradigm.