EDFD 459 Teaching Philosophy Paper

Andrea Hegna

There is a continuum of various teaching philosophies that Teachers may believe and use

to influence and shape their pedagogy. When reading through the various philosophies and

reflecting on my own beliefs in regards to children and the best ways to help them learn and

grow, I determined that I am the most closely aligned to progressive education, including both

elements from romantic naturalism as well as experimentalism. Progressive education lays

directly between radical and conservative on the teaching philosophy continuum. With radical

education focusing on significant challenges to society and with conservative education focusing

on traditional humanism.

I believe that I am the most closely aligned with the philosophy of progressive education

for various reasons. In regards to romantic naturalism, I agree that there should be an emphasis

placed on both the learning environment of the children as well as an emphasis on the child’s

ability and interests in the classroom. I think that a learning environment, like a classroom for

example, should be inclusive, safe, and structured to fit the learning and social needs of the

students. I think that when an environment is all of these things, it benefits both the instruction of

the content to the students, as well as benefits the overall learning, growing, and retention of the

students in that environment. I think that a learning environment could also be seen as, for

example, taking the children on a field trip to a farm when they are learning about farm animals

or something of that similar nature, which I also think is a very valuable way for children to

learn. I also like that there is an emphasis placed on the ability and interests of the children in

romantic naturalism. I think that when ability levels and interests these are both considered when

planning lessons or creating activities, you are able to best suit the lesson or activity to the needs
of your individual students which I think is incredibly important. When you are giving students

activities and lessons that also fit their interests and include the things that are important to them,

you are helping to ensure that your students will be actively engaged and interested in the

material.

I think that there are also elements in experimentalism that I agree with in regards to the

philosophy of progressive education as well. For example, in experimentalism it is believed that,

“subject matter should be connected to students’ experience in such a way that it fosters a new

understanding of their experience and a propulsion toward better understanding for future

experiences.” I like that experiences are being valued as an educational tool in this philosophy

and I think it is important to build off of and connect learning to a student’s own experiences. I

think that by doing this we are making learning relevant to them. The concept of relevancy was

also talked about in regards to essentialism. It stated that essentialism serves “the interests of the

students and society by making the subject matter intellectually relevantly applicable” and I

really like the idea behind this. I think that this idea can be tied back into some of the ideas in

romantic naturalism as well in regards to emphasizing a child’s ability and interests. I also like

the use of the scientific method inquiry in experimentalism. With this style of teaching and

learning, a teacher proposes a problem to the students, allows them space to form a hypothesis,

helps students create generalizations about the problem and then focuses on using this

knowledge to help with subsequent experiences. I like that this style is more open-ended,

student-led, and engaging rather than simply having them read something in a text book and

expect them to understand.

Overall, I believe that on the continuum of teaching philosophies, I land on progressive

education with elements of both romantic naturalism and experimentalism as a part of my

philosophy. I believe this because I think an emphasis should be placed on learning

environments as well as on children’s abilities and interests and I also believe that subject matter

and content should be relevant to students and should be connected to their experiences as a way

to help foster their learning and growth.