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Jerrica Jones
Professor Sgobba
EDU 201
30 March 2021

Progressivism Philosophy

My education philosophy is progressivism. My philosophy is that education should be

centered around the student rather than the content area. A student should be guided to learn and

not pushed. With progressivism teaching, I feel that the connection between student and teacher

is an important one. Some progressive teachers are driven by a quote from former Theodore

Roosevelt quoted

"Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care." (Parkey 118)

This quote is a valid reason for me picking progressivism as my philosophy. I want to be a

teacher because of my love for children and knowledge. I have always had a passion for teaching

at a young age, and I knew someday that I wanted to teach for a living. A big reason for this is

that I had teachers that I connected with in elementary and wished I could be. I can only believe

that their teaching style was progressivism because I remember the great connection I had with

my teachers, and they made learning fun.

The idea of working with children and guiding them into discoveries and learning seems

like the best way to teach. I have always been good at working with children, and I always have

patience and imagination, and a deep passion for seeing children learn. One of the central

assumptions for progressivism philosophy is

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"learning is essentially active rather than passive." (Parkay 118).

If you can connect with your students, they will become more engaged and learn more. With

this philosophy, you can take an active role in your student's life while teaching them the

knowledge they will need in life.

The progressivism philosophy of teaching began sometime around 1917-1957; this was

called The Progressive Era in Education. (Tremmel) Knowing historical events of education will

help you better understand how far education has come and constantly changing. Even though

the philosophy of progressivism has been around for a long time, it is still an effective way of

teaching. As technology takes over, we need to remember how to connect with students, and this

philosophy is the way to do that. In my field observation, I learned that a teacher's job does not

end at the school bell rings, but you continue to prep for your student day and night. When You

make the student-teacher relationship, you change your teaching and lesson plans to adjust to

your student's learning styles.

Building a solid student-teacher relationship is very important in the progressivism

philosophy. Since I come from a very diverse background, I know 1st hand that if you don't have

a teacher that is willing to get to know you and your skills, you can feel left out and maybe even

fall behind. But I think it will help students immensely if the teacher is there to connect with the

students to see what they need to do better in class. Teachers should educate their students based

on their knowledge and adjust to fit the class needs.

Now that I have learned the history and which teaching philosophy I will use in my future

classroom, I will need to plan for my future education to become a teacher. I am now more than

ever determined to reach my goals. I strive to be a role model for my children and show them
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that anything is possible, and college does not have to be a dream but a reality. I will be the 1st in

my family to graduate college, which also makes me more determined to reach my goals. I plan

to get my bachelor's in elementary education and get a master's degree in child psychology. I

would want to start my dream career by teaching for any grade starting from k-3rd grade. With

my progressivism philosophy of teaching, I would excel in these grade levels. I plan to teach as

long as possible, maybe ten plus years, before pursuing my final dream of being a school

counselor.
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Works Cited

Tremmel, R. (2010). On the horns of a dilemma: Deweyan progressivism and English teacher
education. English Education,  42(2), 121-147. Retrieved from
http://ezproxy.library.csn.edu/login?url=https://www-proquest-
com.ezproxy.library.csn.edu/scholarly-journals/on-horns-dilemma-deweyan-
progressivism-english/docview/214374032/se-2?accountid=27953
Parkay, Forrest. Becoming a Teacher, Pearson education, 2020, 11th ed., (p99-136)