My Teaching Philosophy

By: Robert Ehrman

There are six different standard philosophies in regards to teaching. Essentialism is a

direct, old-school approach that emphasizes traditional learning and a focus on the basics.
Perennialism is much like Essentialism in its back to basic approach, however, it has a strong
emphasis on individual ideas and personal concepts. A student centered approach still has a
shadow of old fashioned teaching, but with a much more individual approach that revolves
around narrowing down a students specific needs, and finding ways to convey the lesson
through them. Progressivism takes the ideals of Perennialism and not only wants students to
answer questions through concepts but, to form whole theories and questions that are then
answered through their own active learning. Social Reconstructionism encourages students to
become active in the social inequities of our time and to reconstruct our society to bridge those
inequalities. Existentialism urges the students to find deeper personal meaning and fulfillment in
their lessons, and rejects the notion that an adult should be teaching students objective truths to
begin with.
I believe when I am begin my career as an educator, I will try to find a balance between
Perennialism and Student-centered. I think that as a literature/english teach that the strict ideals
of Essentialism wouldn't work as well as Perennialism, given the nature of the curriculum.
Literature and English require a more conceptual approach, than the stern no nonsense
approach that essentialism conveys. Perennialism will allow me to have the old school respect
for the written word that I think is needed, while also allowing the students to find their own lives
reflected in the writings, which is what I believe literature truly hinges on. My love of literature
lies in the balance between the timeless themes and lessons in the stories, while finding a
relatable truth in them that feels uniquely your own. I believe my Student-centered philosophy
will be a bit of a challenge. In theory, I see student centered as the strongest philosophy in
getting the students engaged and excited to come to class. Reaching someone in a way that
motivates them to better themselves, is what I think we are all trying to do as educators. The
challenge comes from the fact that most of the time our class will be having to review the same
material or book to make sure we are all on the same page (pun intended). Sadly, no piece of
literature is the one every student wants to examine. It’s not that they are bad readers, or that it
was written by a bad author. Sometimes the book you want to write, just isn't the one they want
to read. Outside of that hurdle, I look forward to the student centered approach in trying to get
students invested individually, and to ignite their creative spark for literature. I think between
allowing students to appreciate and feel the lesson through Perennialism, while also engaging
them on an individual level through Student-centered, will be a great starting roadmap to
success for both myself and my students.
I would have to say that the philosophy that least jumps out to me as a viable option is
Social Reconstructionism. As I read through our notes from last week's lesson, I can't help but
feel like it seems less like a philosophy and more like a political stance. Now don't get me
wrong, I encourage people to have their political beliefs and to even share them with a class
when it's appropriate to a lesson or topic. I myself fall on both sides of the political spectrum
depending on the issue at hand. I’m just cant help but see how this method of teaching could
seriously ruffle some parents feathers and cause potential issues for both the administration and
the teacher. As a parent, I would be very concerned if my son’s teacher were pushing a political
stance on him. I believe politics and religion are things that are best taught at home and through
personal experience. A well liked teacher holds a lot of power, and in the eyes of a concerned
parent the line between educating and indoctrination can get fuzzy in regards to impressionable
students. I would also have to say that Existentialism doesn't seem very appealing to me either.
I believe that there are a select group of students that may be able to guide their way through
their own path of learning, but those students are few and far between. From my experience
many students need a strong hand of guidance to help them succeed, and leaving them to their
own devices may be a recipe for disaster.
Implementing the Perennial philosophy into my teaching style is going to be very natural,
as it exemplifies what I believe to be the most important aspects of teaching english. It has a
strong emphasis on the traditional ways of how we teach, centering around the three “R”s.
reading, writing and arithmetic. Two out of three of the R’s directly pertain to my area of
curriculum. I will make sure the students have a strong understanding of the traditional themes
presented in the classic works to help gauge their comprehension of the material. Perennialism
also allows me to urge the students to form their own ideas and interpretations of the writings.
This way, I will also be able to see if the story is really resonating with them and inspire them to
think analytically about what they are reading. A nice balance between old and new. The
philosophy of student-centered being implemented will be me urging them to do creative writing
on various loosely related topics. This is important, as it will allow the students to express
themselves creatively, and ideally, keep them interested because I am allowing them to write
about almost anything they want. Engaging the students individually while simultaneously
analyzing their skills and progress as a group should assist me greatly in keeping them
interested in learning.
As a manager at my current place of employment, I have implemented several strategies
to assist with issues and also as a means of training some of my staff. I believe that i've used
the Progressivism approach as a rule of thumb when running product to the floor. My
employees had a real problem with taking out full carts of product and then bringing them back
with several items still on them. This is generally not ideal because it is a waste of time and I
don't have any place to keep the items in my back room. When asked why they keep bring
items back they reply, “There is no room”. I go to look for myself and I see that there is plenty of
room if you move a few items around and condense. So now, as a general teaching philosophy
I train them to try and solve the problem on their own. I show them what to look for and how to
make the room, but after a few times holding their hand, I tell them that it has to go out and that
there is always room if you make it. I trust them to solve problems themselves and only take
care of the issues myself in rare instances. Through this approach I have had great success,
particularly with my veteran workers who have been there awhile, After having done it for awhile
they become exceptionally skilled at solving these problems on their own, which is nice because
it saves a lot of work on my part and gives them a sense of accomplishment. This method of
coaching up my students is what I think the cornerstone of the Progressivism philosophy
embodies, self reliance and problem solving skills.