Cory Bixler School and Society Shannon Fitts My Philosophy of

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Cory Bixler School and Society Shannon Fitts My Philosophy of Education Many people have different views on the methods that should be used in teaching and why they should be used. In this paper I will be talking about just that my own philosophy of education. I will go over what should be taught, the methods used to teach what should be taught, and of course my own personal opinions as to why certain things should be taught. I will also cover my expectations as a teacher of my students and what I hope my students will gain on a deeper level from my teaching, or ?implicit messages that the students should get from me.? I believe in schools today it is quite hard to determine just exactly should be taught and the reasons as to why. This falls under the curricula, and in my eyes is a very broad subject.

Say I am a math teacher the curricula would be dramatically different from that of say an English teacher. But although they seem dramatically different there are still certain things that all kids should learn in the class room whether it be that of English or math. On top of the normal stuff that should be taught like say in a math class, such as times tables, addition, subtraction, and even algebra. There are other things to be learned in the class room on top of that common school knowledge. For example interaction with peers. I believe that a detrimental part of the learning experience in the classroom is peer interaction. Everybody has had a class where all you do is just sit there, take notes, and then take a test. That I believe is the worst style of teaching. If you ask kids after the semester what they learned they might know some core knowledge of the subject but what they don?t know is that they aren?t getting the full education they could be getting. Splitting up people into small groups, having class discussions which involve everybody, and letting everybody speak are all very important techniques to letting a class interact with each other and in essence they are teaching themselves with the guidance of a teacher of course but this enables people to function in debate and really get in to the subject at hand, whatever it may be. Certain virtues such as patience, waiting your turn, not calling out, and everyone raising their hands should all be applied in the classroom, teaching the children respect amongst their peers and elders alike. Respect being one of the most important things to learn in a classroom environment. If children decide to act out and not follow the specific guidelines should be spoken with and made sure that they know what is specifically right and wrong. Some children may not learn much of these virtues at home and to come into school and do things the way may cause some problems. But hopefully being treated fairly and given a common understanding of what is expected of him/her should make the student a success at learning and living by these common virtues in and outside of school. School is in fact preparation for the ?real world.? As quoted from Dewey ?In sum, I believe that the individual who is to be educated is a social individual, and that society is an organic union of individuals. If we eliminate the social factor from the child we are left only with an abstraction; if we eliminate the individual factor in society, we are left only with an inert and lifeless mass.? And I believe this holds a lot of truth to the point I am trying to make that with out social interaction amongst peers in school settings and out is one of the most important factors of education today.

I have grown up in a pretty well rounded family. My father graduated from University of Houston and my mom is a teacher for the town of Darien. So education in all aspects has been an important part of my parent?s methods of raising me. I went through a period in my life where I did not believe education to be the most important thing, but thankfully that was short-lived. But all the while I was against education I had little idea as to what exactly education is. And now I know it is more than just the classroom. Although the classroom should provide a place where in my eyes you are learning more than just 2+2 but to also be a functioning well educated member of society. Now that I realize what school SHOULD be all about all I have to do is apply what I have learned to a classroom atmosphere. This should allow the children to get a much better education than a lot of children are actually getting now a days. Now in cases of special needs children I believe that they should be in the same category as the other children and that yes some children have the ability to remember information quickly and easily this does not mean that they are learning everything they should be. And if special needs children are isolated from the normal group their social interaction will be almost none and they may not learn the ideals as to what I was mentioning prior. And also going off of what Dewey was saying that ?If we eliminate the individual factor in society, we are left only with an inert and lifeless mass.? This is very true in this case scenario. Maybe tutoring sessions or a Learning center period for about a half an hour a day may help. This way the child could be plugged into the social pipeline and still keep up with the work. And in the end feel good about who they are as a person. Perhaps they could have longer test taking times. In the classroom many times children are rewarded for their memory. An example is with someone with photographic memory they have it much easier. In my teaching style I would like to reward children equally. Not just because of their great memory. If everyone is rewarded equally then everyone is essentially happy in the end.

This is my basic philosophy on education. All in all it is not perfect, and I would like to create a school system one day where everyone graduates not based on just what grade they got but what they ?really? learned. And to formulate a test for that is still boggling my mind, so until I come up with and answer to that equation the outlined styles and ideas would be my own personal way to teach and hopefully bump out successful little boogers in to today?s society with more than just core knowledge, but a knowledge that was once said could not be taught in the classroom, but hopefully now is able to do that, and do it well.