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Lilian Slater Schulz

Philosophy of Teaching

CATE 4052: Senior Seminar

Dr. Sheri Deaton

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John F. Dewey is a philosopher that reflects my own personal philosophy that I would

like to have in the classroom. Dewey’s philosophies include putting the student first and figuring

out what works not what is standard theory for learning. I agree with Dewey’s philosophies of

the hands on approaches to learning. Since my focus is Family Consumer Science, Dewey’s

more hands-on learning methods go very well with what I would like to accomplish in my own

classroom philosophies. Dewey’s pragmatist beliefs led him to develop a learning that reality has

to be experienced. With the focus on Family Consumer Science classes most of my material will

be hands-on approaches to things therefore I will apply most of Dewey’s theories such as

learning by doing. Another aspect of Dewey’s philosophies that I agree with would be that when

students work together they learn together and if you want to receive a behavior you must teach a

behavior. With this being said I want to teach my students in a way that shows them I care about

the material therefore they need to respect my role as a teacher in teaching them. I want to

minimize my role as a teacher in lessening the importance of following the curriculum based

approaches and shifting to what is best for the students overall.

Group work in cooking labs and sewing projects will help ensure that there is maximum

participation and the students keep each other accountable for their own learning. One thing I

disagree with is that Dewey’s thoughts and politics outweighed the importance of what was to be

taught in the classroom. Dewey’s beliefs in big government swallowed his need to see that the

students were to come first. Dewey was dismissive of rights and ability to think that the common

man possessed. Dewey also only supported the influences he preferred within the classroom

because he believed they were up to standard. This led to Dewey’s classroom being hands on but

structured in a way that only he got to choose what was taught and what was not. With Dewey

choosing what was taught he did not allow room for students to excel in what they knew was a
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strong suit for them. He did not put the student first rather his own methods to ensure his big

government ideas were shining through.

I believe that the most important philosophy of Dewey’s is that teachers must create a

flexible education in order to balance both student’s interests and learned knowledge. Each

student is unique and has different needs. This could mean special needs or just needs regarding

how they learn differently from others as a visual, kinesthetic, or audio learner. This is important

because in my future Family Consumer Science classroom I must ensure that all students feel

welcome and accommodations are met for each student. My career focus falls under the

Secondary School category of Dewey’s 3 core groups. This group is core content and electives

that are student driven and career oriented. Meaning that they are heavily hands on and project

and problem based. Also they are heavy on experiential learning. This will be a benefit for

students because experiential learning is the best form of learning for a Career Technical

classroom.

I hope to achieve as a teacher the respect and love that I gave my teachers growing up. I

know that they made such a lasting impact on my life that I want to do the same to my future

students. I also hope to achieve not only teaching these students but also to instruct them in life

skills that they will take with them into the real world in coming years. Something else I wish to

achieve as a teacher would be to enhance the students' social purpose in education. With this

being said I will incorporate group work into my lessons to incorporate social interaction

between students to help with social skills. By doing this in labs and other class projects students

will become comfortable with socializing and grow in their social development within my class.

Also, something else I will do to achieve prime social purpose in education would be to teach

good problem solving skills that would help students resolve conflict between others to enable

them to do well with conflict resolution activities. This will help students reflect on their
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thoughts and how they affect others in the classroom. As a teacher I will strive to earn the respect

and trust of students so that they will trust that I am doing my best to teach them the ins and outs

of life and what is needed to go into the world well prepared.

In all my years of schooling I have had multiple teachers that have made me want to

become one myself. But many events that teachers have pushed me to experience have shaped

the way I will teach and how my classroom environment will be. My Family and Consumer

Science classes influenced me to seek out a degree in Secondary Education emphasis on Family

and Consumer Sciences due to the fact that they taught me vital things in life that I would use

later down the road. This enabled me to pursue my dream of becoming a teacher that teaches

students about life skills. I was a hands-on learner all through my schooling therefore my

personal beliefs about education will be primarily hands-on approaches. This goes well with a

Family Consumer Science degree as well seeing that the class is mainly hands-on learning. One

teacher in particular shaped the way I wish to teach as well. Ms. Fink showed me the meaning of

a good teacher. Ms. Fink would go out of her way to ensure that each student was accounted for

in her lectures and that all were participating in labs and activities. This has led me to shape my

future teaching to help each student feel welcomed in the classroom and excited coming to class

everyday by investing time out of the day to just check in with everyone and meet their needs as

best as possible.

My ideal classroom environment would look very neat and organized. Since I would have

a classroom area as well as an area with 5 to 6 kitchen stations and a sewing section, the

classroom would need to be very spacious. I would love to have windows in every place possible

so that sunlight would be able to show through improving the student's mood. If students' moods

are positive they will be more likely to engage in activities and open up to the point to be most

teachable. I would like the classroom area to be lined with tables and chairs instead of individual
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desks to ensure social interaction between students instead of isolation in their own space. This

space will be clean and neat as well as colorful and engaging to maximize the space that

welcomes learning and creativity. In each kitchen station, they will have a stand mixer as well as

a microwave, range and oven, dishwasher, and fridge. Each drawer will have different utensils

such as silverware, spatulas, serving spoons, measuring tools, etc. This way each kitchen will

have ample equipment to easily conduct a food lab. Regarding the sewing section, there will be

tables with Singer sewing machines and in the middle of the tables would be an island that would

house all sorts of thread and fabric that is available to students as well as an ironing board and

different tools for sewing. As well as one embroidery machine that students can use with care to

ensure that the class keeps the equipment nice and neat so that we can continue to use the

resources given. Regarding academic ideals, I would love to see my entire classroom pass my

class with flying colors but in reality, that is not obtainable. I would love to see maximum effort

from everyone and because that looks different for each student, not hold each student to the

highest standard. If each student gives me their overall best and I know it is their best I will be

proud no matter the outcome. In regard to the culture of my classroom we will welcome anyone

that walks through the door frame. The culture of my classroom will be solely to teach students

how to provide for themselves as well as be a good steward of what has been given to them. In

my classroom hard work is required. You receive the grade you earned. In school your grades are

you paycheck and if you come out poor that is a reflection of your work ethic. Something that

my father taught me though is that if the student has not learned the teacher has not taught. In my

classroom the culture will be to learn as much as possible and enjoy it along the way.

How my philosophy of education will benefit the children of my classroom is they will

learn to work hard in all they do and that slacking off will not be accepted. If students do not

give maximum effort that they most likely will not get the result they were hoping for. Day to
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day benefits of my philosophies will be that with hands-on learning students will learn the ins

and outs of different life skills by putting their hands to work on food labs, cleaning routines, and

sewing projects. Also another day to day benefit of this class is the fun atmosphere that Family

Consumer Science classrooms provide. A long term benefit of my philosophies would be that the

students will be able to take what they learned through financial brochure and different routines

and take that into their future home. The work ethic needed in this class would hopefully roll

over into later years with jobs and other career paths. My future classroom philosophies will help

shape my students into independent individuals that value the meaning of hard work that engage

in all types of learning and know how to do a few basic life skills for their future lives. It will

help them establish themselves on a deeper level than before. They will come out of the

classroom ready to take on that recipe, or clean out their closet full of mold, or balance that

dreadful checkbook. My future classroom will prepare them for the real world and all it comes

with, benefitting the people around them with the help of my guidance.