Philosophy Essay

By: Brooke Hardesty

Knowing how to teach your students is crucial in becoming a successful future educator.

Every teacher has their own philosophies and values which make their teaching abilities unique.

I knew I wanted to be a teacher ever since I was a little girl. As I grew older, and became a

mother, I have developed my own style of learning and what I believe what works best when it

comes to how students learn. In this essay, I will explore my thoughts, values, and philosophies

that I believe that make me a successful future teacher.

There are many different philosophers and many different philosophies that have been

established regarding education. I have found a handful of philosophies that I agree with and will

be using in the classroom when I am an educator. One of the philosophers and what he stands by

that I agree with the most is John Dewey. Dewey’s philosophy Progressivism is something that I

have seen first hand and something that I will continue to put fourth in classrooms in the future.

The definition of Progressivism is “An educational philosophy that stresses active learning

through problem solving, projects, and hands-on experiences.” (Koch, 2016) I got an amazing

opportunity to become a preschool teacher at a local school. I worked with older two’s and

three’s classroom and quickly went from an assistant to a full on lead teacher. I would plan all of

the lessons, projects, and curriculum that students would engage in. I can tell you first hand that I

could see that students were learning best through engaging, doing, problem solving, and through

hands-on projects. Progressivism is something that I will incorporate into my future curriculum

by letting children engage in age appropriate projects, hands-on learning, and setting children up

so they are able to problem solve.

 Knowing how students learn is important but knowing how students learn and

comprehend learning at certain ages is crucial as well. John Piaget developed his idea of Stages

of Development and this quickly caught my attention. I believe, knowing how to teach children

through age appropriate activities is key to becoming a successful teacher. As I mentioned, I was

a preschool teacher and created my own lesson plans and projects. I did have a guide or a general

layout that I had to abide by and stick to. I remember “sensory” being a huge part of my lessons

plans, (I taught two’s and three’s) which is exactly what John Piaget says is what works best for

kids when it comes to learning in that age group. Piaget believes that from ages birth-2 years old

that children are in a sensory stage or know as “sensorimotor”. Sensorimotor is described as,

“learning occurs mainly through sensory impressions and movement.” (Koch, 2016) After

Sensorimotor, it continues to Preoperational, Concrete operational, and lastly, formal

operational. All of these stages describe how students think and learn as they get older. As a

future educator, I feel like being familiar with these stages is crucial to being able to understand

students and knowing how to teach them.

Along with knowing how students learn, I think classroom management is critical for

being able to create a welcoming environment that will help students flourish and grow. If you

are unable to manage your classroom, your students might loose interest or not look at you as a

leader. An effective teacher will make sure that they stick to a routine, procedures and rules

without being too dominating. I really agreed with a program that a group of educators came up

with that is called, Responsive Classroom. Responsive Classroom is defined as, “An approach to

teaching and learning, developed by the Northeast Foundation for Children (NEFC), that seeks to

bring together social and academic learning. One of the principles in this program that stood out

to me most is, “Knowing children individually, culturally, and developmentally is essential to

good teaching.” (Koch, 2016) I think this principle is so important and it is something that I will

take with me on this journey to become an educator. Not only do you need an understanding of

how children learn but you also need to be able to get to know each and every student

individually, not just the class in its entirety. When I become a teacher, I will do my best to learn

about and engage with every student individually so I can know how to teach them and be able to

connect with them to gain trust.

Overall, I believe that there is a lot that goes into teaching children and being a strong

educator. Being able to identify what children need and be able to teach them appropriately and

have them engaging in a well managed classroom is a great foundation to becoming a successful

teacher. With the knowledge of these philosophies, ideas, and principles, I know that I am on a

good path of becoming a great teacher for the kids of the future.

References

Koch, J. (2016) TEACH. Boston, MA, Cengage Learning