Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Philosophy of Education

 Andrew Stutts

"Spoon feeding teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon."


        Defining my personal view and philosophy of education is primarily based on the Essentialism point of view. I say this because I believe that the primary focus in the classroom should stem from the development of the “Core Curriculum,” as described by Myra and David Sadker in the sixth edition of Teachers, Schools, and Society. I believe that the foundation of a strong education for future generations begins with math, science, history, foreign language, and literature. However, I do agree with the idea in a traditional Perennialist classroom that directly exposing children to the “Great Books,” of times long passed is essential for the mental expansion that I feel many of today’s student’s lack. I feel we need to expose our children to ideas and literature for them to contemplate on and draw out their own opinions and thoughts. I firmly believe this approach to education helps children to develop a higher level of thought.

I strongly endorse instilling core values of discipline, good morals, and mutual respect. Teachers have a duty to promote traditional moral values and qualities such as respect for authority, determination, loyalty to duty, consideration for others, and model citizenship. A student needs to have mental discipline and moral training to overcome their natural tendencies. A student that learns how to act socially in addition to learning great study habits will reap the benefits in the long run. Therefore, I feel that classroom procedures should be strictly enforced to encourage excellent behavior and excellence in all endeavors. Exposing children to fundamental knowledge, values, and encouraging them to exercising discipline prepares them for the demands of life. This empowers children to become better students, leaders, and citizens. This also prepares them for the next level of participation in academics and builds the foundation for personal success in an ever-changing world.

Now instead of just feeding book knowledge in to a child I feel that it is also necessary to address the ways in which different children learn. For example, according to Howard Gardner there are eight different intelligences: Logical mathematical, linguistic, body-kinesthetic, musical, spatial, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturist. Children can fall within one or more of these intelligences. Therefore, I feel that it is important to not only have the children read the lesson and literature but also see it, feel it, hear it, and experience it through self-discovery. I still believe that the classroom needs to be centered on the lessons that need to be addressed; however, I feel this can be accomplished while addressing the individual learning styles of a variety of students. For example, a lesson plan targeted at teaching the history of American culture can consist of a reading assignment, a book read by the teacher, a short film, a reader's theater, music from a time period or culture, and the smelling and tasting of foods within the American culture. Now by addressing a lesson from these different angels not only appeals to different learning styles but it also broadens the students' views on the subject by allowing them to experience a little bit of the culture which I believe leaves a lasting impression on that child.

In addition, I feel that it is necessary to guide children to develop the highest level in the cognitive process. It is not just enough to have student’s recall knowledge, we need to have the children move up higher and begin to think critically, solve problems, research topics, and then assess them. Bloom’s Taxonomy lists six different levels of the cognitive process, which are recall of knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. I mention Bloom because I believe these six levels of understanding are how I will focus my lessons so that I can not only instill the “Core Curriculum” as I mentioned earlier but also develop the students' level of understanding of the materials that I will be incorporating into the classroom. I will end with a quote by Edward Forster, “Spoon feeding teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.”



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