This philosophy believes in the personal interpretation of the world. It is based on the view that the individual defines reality, truth and goodness. As a result, schools exist to aid children in knowing themselves and their place in society. Students learn what they want and discuss subjects freely.
CORRECT: Existentialism
This educational philosophy is a philosophy that emphasizes the addressing of social questions and a quest to create a better society and worldwide democracy. Educators focus on a curriculum that highlights social reform as the aim of education. Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) was the founder of this philosophical trend, in reaction against the realities of World War II. He recognized the potential for either human annihilation through technology and human cruelty or the capacity to create a beneficent society using technology and human compassion. Education is considered to be the means of preparing people for creating this new social order, curriculum focuses on student experience and taking social action on real problems, such as violence, hunger, international terrorism, inflation, and inequality. Strategies for dealing with controversial issues (particularly in social studies and literature), inquiry, dialogue, and multiple perspectives are the focus.
CORRECT: Reconstructionism
2 Multiple Choice Questions
believe that there is a common core of knowledge that needs to be transmitted to students in a systematic, disciplined way. The emphasis in this conservative perspective is on intellectual and moral standards that schools should teach. The core of the curriculum is essential knowledge and skills and academic rigor. This philosophy accepts the idea that this core curriculum may change. Schooling should be practical, preparing students to become valuable members of society.
CORRECT: Essentialism
This is a very conservative and inflexible philosophy of education. It is based on the view that reality comes from fundamental fixed truths. It believes that people find truth through reasoning and revelation and that goodness is found in rational thinking.
Essentialism
CORRECT: Perennialism
1 True/False Question
Progressivism → This is a very conservative and inflexible philosophy of education. It is based on the view that reality comes from fundamental fixed truths. It believes that people find truth through reasoning and revelation and that goodness is found in rational thinking.
CORRECT: This is false.
It should be Progressivism → This philosophy believes that education should focus on the whole child, rather than on the content or the teacher. This educational philosophy stresses that students should test ideas by active experimentation, constructing meaning. Learning is rooted in the questions of learners that arise through experiencing the world. It is active, not passive. The learner is a problem solver and thinker who makes meaning through his or her individual experience in the physical and cultural context. The emphasis is on process-how one comes to know. This education philosophy was established in America from the mid 1920s through the mid 1950s. John Dewey was its foremost proponent. 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 of teachers with students, student-selected topics are all aspects. Books are tools, rather than authority..
Friday, February 19, 2010
Educational Philosopies - Better late than never!
So, of course I had just a big beautiful blog written and my lap top fritzed out and I lost the whole thing! Argh! After a week of my puking toddler, big stress at work and a group presentation – that was the icing on the cake! [insert sarcasm] I miss the old days – back in third grade Mrs. Vita’s black and white marble notebooks were a lot easier! But, the design portion of these is much more fun J
Here we go again…
For the week of 2/11/10
This week we learned about educational philosophies through a jig saw learning activity (both new for me). The jig saw worked by each of us learning a portion of the necessary information, and then bringing them together in class to learn about the topic in its entirety. It was a really nice way to mix things up, bring a group of students close together, and make the topic less overwhelming for each student. The only downside is that if one of the students isn’t present for the class the information they were supposed to provide isn’t available. However, my group did a really great job at coming together and learning about the topic together. Even though we only had five minutes or so to learn about one of the theories, it still sticks clearly in my mind because we did a really nice job at deciphering it.
I love doing activities like this in class because it really gets the wheels in my mind turning about what I’ll do in my own classroom one day… one day far, far, far away from now J Immediately I thought about some of the curriculum plans I had been tossing around, and thought that having students to jig saw learning with something like the different branches of government. I could break the classroom into a few groups and assign them each a branch. If I provided them group time for a little bit every day for a week, they should be able to come up with something really great. They would be so proud of their own little mini lessons to present to the class – it would be great for every child’s self esteem. Also, promoting team work among 5th grades is a great accomplishment in itself!
As for the philosophies we learned about, this was also new to me. Once I learned about them I realized that I had some knowledge about them. I knew that there were different approaches to teaching, but didn’t understand that those were based on different educational philosophies. After learning about the five philosophies I would have to say that I like bits and pieces of all of them, but really agree with a mix of Essentialism and Progressivism. I like that Essentialism focuses on the five main subjects, teaches students to become valuable members of society and that students are expected to read, write, and communicate clearly and logically. I like that Progressivism allows for more creativity – it’s student involved, hands on, has lots of problem solving, and requires self assessment and reflection. I have always imagined my classroom as being a place where a lot of learning gets done, but in a very memorable and exciting way. I love hands on learning and having the kids do projects where they can learn about a topic, present it to the class and be proud of the work they’ve done. When searching for the topic for my curriculum plan I was constantly thinking… “Okay, when I do this lesson they can make this… I can ask them to incorporate this or that, and then that would lead to self reflection when they explain to the class how they came up with their finished project.” Like I stated above, I also clearly remember writing in my weekly journal in Mrs. Vita’s 3rd grade class! We all LOVED the activity. We were assigned a journal topic for the week (something to do with class or your personal life) and if we answered in our journal we were allowed to ask the teacher a question in it too. It was a great little bribe from the teacher – because we all wanted to know everything there was to know about Mrs. Vita! And, most importantly, now that I look back, it was a great way to reflect of on life and what we were learning. This is definitely something I will incorporate into my own classroom!
I have a great group, and they really brought a lot of information to the table – and for that I’m really appreciative! This week’s lesson was a lot of fun, and very informative.
Here we go again…
For the week of 2/11/10
This week we learned about educational philosophies through a jig saw learning activity (both new for me). The jig saw worked by each of us learning a portion of the necessary information, and then bringing them together in class to learn about the topic in its entirety. It was a really nice way to mix things up, bring a group of students close together, and make the topic less overwhelming for each student. The only downside is that if one of the students isn’t present for the class the information they were supposed to provide isn’t available. However, my group did a really great job at coming together and learning about the topic together. Even though we only had five minutes or so to learn about one of the theories, it still sticks clearly in my mind because we did a really nice job at deciphering it.
I love doing activities like this in class because it really gets the wheels in my mind turning about what I’ll do in my own classroom one day… one day far, far, far away from now J Immediately I thought about some of the curriculum plans I had been tossing around, and thought that having students to jig saw learning with something like the different branches of government. I could break the classroom into a few groups and assign them each a branch. If I provided them group time for a little bit every day for a week, they should be able to come up with something really great. They would be so proud of their own little mini lessons to present to the class – it would be great for every child’s self esteem. Also, promoting team work among 5th grades is a great accomplishment in itself!
As for the philosophies we learned about, this was also new to me. Once I learned about them I realized that I had some knowledge about them. I knew that there were different approaches to teaching, but didn’t understand that those were based on different educational philosophies. After learning about the five philosophies I would have to say that I like bits and pieces of all of them, but really agree with a mix of Essentialism and Progressivism. I like that Essentialism focuses on the five main subjects, teaches students to become valuable members of society and that students are expected to read, write, and communicate clearly and logically. I like that Progressivism allows for more creativity – it’s student involved, hands on, has lots of problem solving, and requires self assessment and reflection. I have always imagined my classroom as being a place where a lot of learning gets done, but in a very memorable and exciting way. I love hands on learning and having the kids do projects where they can learn about a topic, present it to the class and be proud of the work they’ve done. When searching for the topic for my curriculum plan I was constantly thinking… “Okay, when I do this lesson they can make this… I can ask them to incorporate this or that, and then that would lead to self reflection when they explain to the class how they came up with their finished project.” Like I stated above, I also clearly remember writing in my weekly journal in Mrs. Vita’s 3rd grade class! We all LOVED the activity. We were assigned a journal topic for the week (something to do with class or your personal life) and if we answered in our journal we were allowed to ask the teacher a question in it too. It was a great little bribe from the teacher – because we all wanted to know everything there was to know about Mrs. Vita! And, most importantly, now that I look back, it was a great way to reflect of on life and what we were learning. This is definitely something I will incorporate into my own classroom!
I have a great group, and they really brought a lot of information to the table – and for that I’m really appreciative! This week’s lesson was a lot of fun, and very informative.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
What does a teacher do? Simple answer, right?
Before last weeks class I felt pretty confident that I knew the answer to that question! I never really put much thought into the actual definition of the word "Teacher." I guess I could say I thought a teacher was a schooled individual with a knack for getting through to kids, who was held responsible for teaching their students necessary information. I very much agree with the new definition we learned in class, and even had a hard time typing my previous idea of teaching. A good teacher will create situations for students to learn individually - makes perfect sense, but it never occurred to me before. Also, that the job of the teacher is to give the knowledge and skills and to develop the student's attitude... It is the teacher's job to make all of their knowledge and skills available for their students, but it's the student's attitude that determines whether or not they will take the time to make use of what has been provided for them. I was really surprised by how much sense this immediately made with me, and that it had never occurred to me before!
I also really enjoyed learning about micro-teaching, and watching a classmate take the plunge and go first! She did a really nice job, and provided an excellent example for us all to follow. It really got my brain running on different attention grabbers and ways to teach to different styles of learners.
Lastly, I found it really interesting to look at the outside forces that influence the student and teacher - and how many of those forces were the same for both sides. I think most people may put the student and the teacher on totally different playing fields, but they aren't really all that different. Both come to school every day influenced by family, the economy, friends, religion, society, culture and more. Maybe if we could all remember to understand that on a daily basis, the classroom might a more positive place...
Until next time! :)
I also really enjoyed learning about micro-teaching, and watching a classmate take the plunge and go first! She did a really nice job, and provided an excellent example for us all to follow. It really got my brain running on different attention grabbers and ways to teach to different styles of learners.
Lastly, I found it really interesting to look at the outside forces that influence the student and teacher - and how many of those forces were the same for both sides. I think most people may put the student and the teacher on totally different playing fields, but they aren't really all that different. Both come to school every day influenced by family, the economy, friends, religion, society, culture and more. Maybe if we could all remember to understand that on a daily basis, the classroom might a more positive place...
Until next time! :)
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Hello! This is my first blog.. As a classmate stated, I think it's hight time I jump on the "blogwagon." The class I'm taking with Dr. Smirnova this semester will be teaching me to use a lot of different forms of technoloy in order to be successful in the teaching world.
A little about me... I'm 28 years old. I graduated from Pine Bush High School in 2000, and SUNY New Paltz in 2005. I took some time off from school to start a home, get married and then had my first child August 2007. My husband, Tom, and I are each other's best friends - I think that's why we have such a great marriage. Our daughter, Kailey, is a real piece of work! She's a chatter box, a comedian and a complete love bug. She makes us laugh every day :) I work as an office manager for a small animal hospital in Walden, NY. I've been there for 5 years, and can't say I'll be very sad to leave when it's time! I've learned a lot, but it isn't the job for me.
I've recently jumped on the Twilight bandwagon... and I'm not ashamed to say I'm obsessed! They are easily my favorite books, I love then even more than Harry Potter! I also love watching Dexter, House, a lot of TLC, and watch Disney movies pretty much every day - all of us in my little family are fans :)
This is my second semester at MSMC, and so far I'm loving it. It's great to be back at school - I have a completely different appreciation for it this time around. Although it's really difficult to find time for school work with work and family, it is incredibly rewarding.
Well.... here's to happy blogging and a good semester!
A little about me... I'm 28 years old. I graduated from Pine Bush High School in 2000, and SUNY New Paltz in 2005. I took some time off from school to start a home, get married and then had my first child August 2007. My husband, Tom, and I are each other's best friends - I think that's why we have such a great marriage. Our daughter, Kailey, is a real piece of work! She's a chatter box, a comedian and a complete love bug. She makes us laugh every day :) I work as an office manager for a small animal hospital in Walden, NY. I've been there for 5 years, and can't say I'll be very sad to leave when it's time! I've learned a lot, but it isn't the job for me.
I've recently jumped on the Twilight bandwagon... and I'm not ashamed to say I'm obsessed! They are easily my favorite books, I love then even more than Harry Potter! I also love watching Dexter, House, a lot of TLC, and watch Disney movies pretty much every day - all of us in my little family are fans :)
This is my second semester at MSMC, and so far I'm loving it. It's great to be back at school - I have a completely different appreciation for it this time around. Although it's really difficult to find time for school work with work and family, it is incredibly rewarding.
Well.... here's to happy blogging and a good semester!
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