Running Head: MY PHILOSPHY 1

My Philosophy

Philosophy Paper

Kyaria Walker
 MY PHILOSPHY 2

Abstract

Philosophy make us who we are. They are our moral compass. As a teacher you need a

philosophy to give you a sense of how you will teach and how you want your students to learn

from you. There are many philosophies to choose from, but when deciding what your philosophy

is, you should think about your beliefs, purpose and what your beliefs would look like in a

classroom setting as a teacher. Progressivism is the philosophy that focuses on the real world and

problem-solving activities. (pg. 74) This is the philosophy that is the most like what would want

to be as a teacher. With all my research and personal accounts, I will describe how I decided my

philosophy and why I choose it.

 MY PHILOSPHY 3

Introduction

What kind of teacher will I be? How will I treat my students? There are so many styles and ways

to teach out in the world, that’s its hard to know what’s best for you. After self-assessing myself,

I know what’s the best for me. Dewey (1897) said the following: “I believe that the teacher's

place and work in the school is to be interpreted from this same basis. The teacher is not in the

school to impose certain ideas or to form certain habits in the child, but is there as a member of

the community to select the influences which shall affect the child and to assist him in properly

responding to these influences.” I was drawn to the progressivism philosophy because of my

personal experience. Also, a teacher who teaches with progressivism at the heart of what they do,

is what best fits me and who I am.

My beliefs

I’ve always believed that school shouldn’t be as focused as it is on just the content. If you don’t

enrich the child who is learning, what is the purpose? Kids who don’t feel like they matter inside

the classroom, won’t do well in or out of the classroom. Now teachers and administrations push

for high test scores on standardized test so much they lose focus on making sure the kids that the

kids are growing into well rounded humans. I believe that a teacher whose philosophy is based

on progressivism should “help students to be evolving and active beings capable of interacting

with their environment.” (Noddings, 1995) (pg. 74). My beliefs on this philosophy come from

some of the good teachers I’ve had over the years and some of the bad ones that I’ve wished

taught like the teachers who believe this philosophy. During my time in school, a lot of teachers

wanted to immediately establish their dominance over us because they are the teacher. A teacher

who believes in this philosophy where “the teacher is the facilitator or director of learning.” (pg.

75) John Dewey, who’s the father of progressive thinking, believes that this type of philosophy is
 MY PHILOSPHY 4

hands on and this philosophy is an ongoing thing. There isn’t a time that you aren’t learning

when you believe in this philosophy. He also believes that a child who is taught through this

philosophy would be ready for the little things that happen in the real world. I believe that this

type of teaching and learning is the most effective. Without the knowledge of how to do things in

the real world, did you really grow and learn anything while in school, other than how to solve a

quadratic equation? I know for sure if I was taught through this philosophy, I would know how

to take care of my car better. Just now, at the age of 21, I learned how to check the oil in my car

and other basic things that I feel should’ve been taught to me way before now. Teaching this way

is very beneficial to anyone. One of the things that I think should change or be added to this

philosophy is the fact that people aren’t interested in the past but are governed by the present.

(pg. 74) You don’t know where you’re going unless you know where you’ve come from. Not

focusing on the past isn’t a way to progress through life, the past makes you who you are.

Purpose

Based on this philosophy, the purpose of school is to progress students, make them better social

learners. They are capable of developing ideas to help improve their learning. The purpose of

school should be to model life, especially the democratic society. (pg. 74) I believe that the

nature of kids who learn through this philosophy learn through their experiences, even though

every experience is different, learning is taking place. I believe the students should be learning

about things they will use in their lives. What they will learn should be centered around them

and what is in the best interest of the induvial learner. This type of learning is community

centered. One of the high points about the learning for this philosophy, is the learners get to

experience arts and the different cultures around them (pg. 74).
 MY PHILOSPHY 5

Methods

The best methods to teach as a progressivist, would be to include group work and having things

based off experiences and problem solving (pg. 75). In our text book, Foundations of American

Education, the author said that the best instructional strategy for the progressivist is used like the

scientific method.

Managing

Managing a classroom that is based in progressive learning is about educating the whole child

and their physical, emotional and social needs. (pg. 75) In this environment, the teacher should

practice democracy. As said by Black, things to do in the classroom as a progressivism teacher

would be to get the students involved in things like coming up with rules for the classroom and

the consequences if the rules are broken. Doing things like this help get them involved and set

standards for them to follow that they also made. So, if they disobey the rules they came up with,

they would feel bad because this is a rule that they’ve made for themselves. This philosophy has

a lot of student-based components, but as a teacher, you must find a happy medium to also make

sure you have some type of respect from your students. I strongly agree with giving the students

some input on things that go into making the classroom work in a way that’s beneficial to

everyone. Assessing students shouldn’t involve a paper and a test. In this style of teaching, that

won’t work. The best assessment for this philosophy would be something that’s ongoing and

gives students feedback about their activity. Just measuring their outcome won’t work for this

philosophy. (pg. 75) I agree with this method of testing, students get test anxiety and freeze when

a formal assessment is in front of them, and some students just don’t perform well, so things that

are ongoing with constant feedback would be extremely helpful. A downside to this method is,
 MY PHILOSPHY 6

the possible lack of concrete proof to tell if the students are improving or if they are still stuck on

a topic, since the assessments are ongoing and not measured at each topic.

Summary

As a future educator, I can say this is the philosophy that best fits me and everything I believe. I

strongly disagree with the use of standardized testing and the amount of stress it holds over our

heads as teachers and the students especially. Jacobs said in 2007, “Teaching to the test" is

replacing good teaching practices with "drill n' kill" rote learning. A five-year University of

Maryland study completed in 2007 found "the pressure teachers were feeling to 'teach to the

test'" since NCLB was leading to "declines in teaching higher-order thinking, in the amount of

time spent on complex assignments, and in the actual amount of high cognitive content in the

curriculum." This statement direct reflection to what teachers go through today and as a future

educator, I don’t want to subject myself to teaching to a test. I want to teach to my students and

their best interest.

(See Appendix A and B)

 MY PHILOSPHY 7

References

Dewey, J. (1897, January). John Dewey, Pragmatism, and Progressive Education Quotes.

Retrieved March 15, 2018, from http://library.intellectualtakeout.org/content/john-

dewey-pragmatism-and-progressive-education-quotes

Webb, L. D., & Metha, A. (2000). Foundation of American education (Sixth ed.). Upper Saddle

River: Prentice Hall.

Foundations of Education. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2018, from

http://www.siue.edu/~ptheodo/foundations/progressivism.html

S., E., K., E., Leabres, D., E., . . . E. (n.d.). Progressive Education - Philosophical Foundations,

Pedagogical Progressivism, Administrative Progressivism, Life-Adjustment

Progressivism. Retrieved March 14, 2018, from

http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2336/Progressive-Education.html

Fusaro, M., & Ganly, S. (2009). (United States). Retrieved March 15, 2018, from

http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/cte/ncteb-edphil.pdf

Black, V. (1970, January 01). Progressivism Teaching Philosophy. Retrieved March 15, 2018,

from http://vbteachingphilosophy.blogspot.com/2012/04/classroom-management.html

Jacobs, B., Valli, L., & Croninger, R. (n.d.). Standardized Tests - ProCon.org. Retrieved March

15, 2018, from https://standardizedtests.procon.org/

Teaching Academy . (n.d.). 4 Major Educational Philosophies. Retrieved December 3, 2019,

from https://cer.jhu.edu/files_ta/4_Major_Educational_Philosophies.pdf.
 MY PHILOSPHY 8

Lynch, M. (2016, November 3). Philosophies of Education: 3 Types of Student-Centered

Philosophies. Retrieved from https://www.theedadvocate.org/philosophies-education-3-

types-student-centered-philosophies/.

(n.d.). Retrieved from http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP3.html.

 MY PHILOSPHY 9

Appendix A

As time has passed since this paper was originally written, spring semester of my

Sophomore year, my philosophy has changed slightly. My philosophy is still grounded around

Progressivism. I wholeheartedly believe that I am a teacher whose philosophy is built upon the

progressivism theory. I believe that teachers are the facilitator of learning in the classroom.

Apposing my previous statements, see My Beliefs, that teachers feel the need to establish

dominance in the classroom. After being in the classroom, it is important to establish dominance

or authority in the classroom from the first day of school. If teacher does not have authority over

their students, classroom management will not be successful and because of that everything else,

like behavior and academics, will start to decline. This philosophy is antiauthoritarian, which I

strongly disagree with (Teaching Academy). The teacher needs to be the authoritative figure in

the classroom. This philosophy is student centered, even though this is a great quality for this

philosophy to have, this quality is extremely detrimental to teacher doing their jobs. John Dewy,

the father of this philosophy said that one of his tenets was that the school should improve the

way of life of our citizens through experiencing freedom and democracy in schools. Shared

decision making, planning that involves teachers and students, student-selected topics are all

aspects of this philosophy. I think he was going in the right direction, but after being in the

classroom, shared planning with your students is unrealistic. Thinking about all things that go

into planning a lesson and having to stay on track with a pacing guide. Having to share planning

with your students does more harm than good. It can be done, but there is little ease of use in this

aspect of this philosophy.

 MY PHILOSPHY 10

Appendix B

Even though my philosophy has mostly stayed the same, I have added on another

philosophy that I agree with. Social Reconstructism philosophy, which views schools as

tools to solve social problems. because all leaders are the product of schools, schools should

provide a curriculum that fosters their development. This philosophy not only aims to

educate a generation of problem solvers, but also try to identify and correct many

noteworthy social problems that face our nation, with diverse targets including racism,

pollution, homelessness, poverty, and violence (Lynch 2016). This philosophy is student

centered much like Progressivism philosophy. This aims to focus on education regardless of

socioeconomic status, race and access to materials. This philosophy aligns with my beliefs,

that I didn’t address in my original paper, that students all students should be able to

receive the best education that our public schools have to offer no matter what. I am a

product of a single parent home and attended title 1 schools throughout my school history.

Even though I attended great schools, we did not have access to the same things the

students from higher income schools had. We were amongst the last to receive upgrades on

our technology and things that could’ve help make our learning experience better. As a

future educator I think it is imperative that we give our students access to the same things

and give the, the best education possible. Overall, Progressivism and Social Reconstructism

are the philosophies that align with the educator that I am and will become.