Casey King

March 22, 2017

Education 201- Intro to Elementary Education

Philosophical Portrait of Myself

As the child of a single mother, I was raised with the deepest for of respect towards all people.

So was my sister, who is seven years older than me, with two children. As an uncle I must say

that I feel as though children need teachers, teachers who are committed to the job, people who

do not complain about their workload and just get what needs to be done, completed. I have been

the person who gawked at the idea of teaching when I was a little boy; I remember I had this

amazing kindergarten teacher who was kind yet, I dont know real. That impression stuck in my

head, I remember seeing those teachers who put on a smile and I could tell they were in this for,

well as a kid I did not know the word, but paycheck. I am a firm believer in the idea that if you

do not whole heartedly love this job, than be gone, others can do it better. I saw plenty of

teachers who were okay and some not as much, I had reached an age where I did not know what

I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to figure it out; I had this amazing Algebra I teacher, Mrs.

Kirsten Landau, who taught me the material as a visual learner, as well as trying to enhance my

auditory, kinesthetic, read-write learning skills. In the future my goal is to get my associates

degree in secondary education, bachelors degree in elementary education. After which I wish to

begin getting my other degree, as a Masters in Educational Administration. However, before I

become an administrator I want to be a teacher, a person who helps children learn, after that I

want to make the change to an administrator. As a teacher, it does seem a more decent idea to

maintain a well-rounded personality, such as having aspects of Essentialism, Perennialism,

Progressivism, Social Reconstructionism, and Existentialism in the classroom. And while I do

not have the perfect mindset to do all of these, because no one person does, with experience and

help any teacher can put all of these to work in their classroom.

Essentialism is defined as teaching students the accumulated knowledge of our civilization

through tradition academic discipline. This is fitting in a classroom because not every learner is

fit to one specific mold. The topic that came up in the books survey was A school curriculum

should include a common body of information that all students should know.(Teachers, Schools,

and Society 4E) I highly agree with this statement because a teacher is helping a student become

a model citizen. Citizens who can help promote the well- being of the country.

Perennialism is defined as teaching students through cultural literacy. While both Perennialism

and Essentialism are related, both promoting a teacher-centered classrooms and a taught

curriculum of moral values; however, this deal more with books, the example that the book gives

is saying that schools should promote more deep thinking, this is the greatest thing a school

could do. From an early age we are spoon fed an idea, and become conformists, which damages

the deep thinking portion of a childs brain.

Progressivism organizes around the students. I feel like this becomes an issue if you let the

students centered instruction get in the way of the teachers command of the classroom and it

becomes the issue that the teacher cannot regain this classroom. This is not the ideal classroom

for me because I believe in teacher centered class instruction with a hint of student input, for

instance, letting the students teach other students the complete lesson is WRONG, you are the

teacher, it is your job to teach.

Social Reconstructionism focuses on reconstructing the society. This again goes for deep

thinking, I am totally for this, I feel as though society can do just that, reform. And the people

who can make this happen are the students sitting in the classroom. And the teachers make this

happen!

Existentialism is the purpose to bring children their purpose and direction. I believe that the

education system does this by trying to make the students see that they are more than their home

lives and dont need to depend on that for life.

I believe in trying to be a teacher! Care for the students; remember that those students are

someones children. Those students and their parents are counting on you to propel those

students into their future.