Philosophy of Education

Through my years of being a student and now becoming a teacher, my thoughts

regarding my teaching philosophy have evolved. Firstly, as I write this, I think it is smart to come
back to my “Why?,” the reason why I wanted to become teacher in the first place. In thinking
back to my younger self, I was the kid who loved school. I was nervous at first, but after
adjusting I loved it and I did quite well in class. This, however, changed when I got to fourth
grade, when I had a teacher who changed my view of school. I began to dread going to school
and having to go to class, a drastic change from before. In the words of Willingham, “people are
naturally curious, but curiosity is fragile” (Willingham, 2009, p.6). Looking back, I understand
that teaching is not an easy job and I also understand that things could have been happening
behind the scenes, in her personal life, that contributed to the way she handled her class.
Nevertheless, this was the year I started to think about becoming a teacher, as I never wanted
other kids to feel the way that I did. In high school, this idea seemed to solidify even more in my
head. In high school, I remember taking physics, a class I did not enjoy. However, due to the fact
that I absolutely loved my physics teacher, it made the class more bearable and less miserable to
go to. I decided I wanted to become that teacher, not necessarily the style of teaching and
especially not on the subject of physics, but, instead, being the teacher that, regardless of the
subject, could bring a bit of happiness to a student’s day. I want my students to feel understood
and loved, leading into my personal teaching philosophy and what I have learned during my time
in their program.
Before this program, of course I had thoughts and feelings about how to be a teacher, but
I do not know I could have ever imagined how in depth it could really be. For instance, in this
program I learned about the more formal side of things such as teaching philosophies, also
learning I mostly aligned with the Progressivism and Essentialism philosophies (Chapter 7). In a
basic sense, it seems the philosophy of Essentialism focuses on the idea that “schooling should
be practical” (2006), which I quite heartily agree with. It seems to me that if we, as teachers,
focused more on relating school content to real-life situations, then students would be more
engaged and, thus, do better in school. As for Progressivism, the ideas seem to focus more on
emphasizing “real-world problem-solving and individual development” with teachers being
“guides on the sides,” providing more of a student-centered learning curriculum (Chapter 7).The
ability for people to solve problems and think critically are incredibly important skills that I think
can get lost in schools sometimes. Life can be chaotic, and I think it can be easy for teachers to
fall into the cycle of teaching specific content for the sake of the test or the SOL, instead of
teaching students how to reason and think through a problem. While regurgitating facts has its
place, I think being able to critically think about the facts is even more important. This idea can
even be seen in the Bible looking at the ideas of wisdom, with verses like Proverbs 16:16 which
states, “How much better s it to get wisdom than gold” (Proverbs 16). Wisdom by definition is
“the ability to use your knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgements”
(Wisdom), thus, seeming to emphasize the importance of reason.
I will also say that over the years the things I plan to do within my classroom have
changed. For example, as a student I did not like being put on the spot, however, when I got to
college, I remember a specific exercise we did in one of my classes where very person in the
room, including my professor, stood in a circle and we each did a dance move, one at a time. At
first, I dreaded this exercise but as we went around the circle, I realized no one person was being
called out, but instead we were all being absurd together. Eventually, after some studying on
classroom strategies and the like, I now plan to use things like this in my classroom, even though
a few years ago I probably would have been completely against it. Now, I realize, it is less about
what we do in the classroom, but how we do it. When calling students to the board to answer
questions, instead of lingering on the mistake or teasing them when they get something wrong,
instead, focus on the learning opportunity and then move on.
Finally, from a Christian worldview, I hope to have a light that shines through the
darkness. As it says, in Matthew 5:14, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill
cannot be hid” (Matthew 5:14-16: King James Version (KJV)). Thus, even entering into a field
where religion and personal beliefs are to stay personal, I hope to live a life in which others can
his light shine through me. I hope to be able to bring God into my classroom. Overall, I think I
can narrow my philosophy down to 2 goals that all students should feel safe, loved, and
appreciated and that students should feel capable. I want students who love learning to continue
to grow that love and for students who do not love learning to at least feel confident enough to
try, regardless of whether they succeed the first time or not.
 References

Chapter 7: Philosophical Foundations of Education. OERatMT.

https://mtsu.pressbooks.pub/introtoedshell/chapter/chapter-3-2/

Matthew 5:14-16: King James Version {KJV}. BibleGateway.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205%3A14-16&version=KJV

Proverbs 16: King James Version (KJV). BibleGateway.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs%2016&version=KJV

(2006). Educational Philosophies Definitions and Comparison Chart.

https://web.augsburg.edu/~erickson/edc490/downloads/comparison_edu_philo.pdf

Willingham, D. (2009). Why Don’t Students Like School?: Because the Mind is Not Designed

for Thinking. American Educator, 4-13.

https://www.aft.org/sites/default/files/WILLINGHAM%282%29.pdf

Wisdom. Cambridge Dictionary. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/wisdom