My Philosophy of Education:
When I think back on my ten years in
the classroom the word Philosophy does not come to mind. It was not
so much a “Philosophy” that drove me, my students and my
classroom environment as it was a purpose. I was driven to be the
best teacher I could be. To achieve this, I had to have the best
students. Since we all know we get what we get when it comes to
students, it was part of my job to mold them into the students I
wanted them to be, the successful students I knew they needed to be,
and hopefully by the end wanted to be themselves.
In reading though the articles and
taking the “Educational Philosophy Inventory” I would have to say
that my philosophy is truly a balanced mix. I hold tightly to ideals
in most of the categories. My results of the inventory were within 8
points of each other scoring a 20, 19, two 18s, 15 and a 12. I
believe this is what made my classroom work so well. I was not an
extreme “old school” teacher, but I was not so out in front of
the curve that it was uncomfortable and unstructured.
I place myself firmly in the
Constructivism
realm. I do wholly believe that students have to develop a solid
base. However, by the 8th
grade the students are all over the board with their developmental
bases. It was my job to assess where they were in this process and
develop them from their
starting point. This is where I as the teacher have to find the
balance from being an Essentialist and moving into being a
Progressivist. My the middle grades it is good for students to start
to question “why will I need this”, but only if they follow
through with searching for the answers. Sometimes it is as simple as
because “I have to get to the next step, and I will need the next
step for X.”
One
of the roles I took on in my school was the “Technology Guinea
Pig”. I loved this role! I would take any little gadget or
software they wanted tested and work it into my lesson plans. It was
more work at times to change up my lesson plans, but 9 times out of
10 it was well worth it. I 100% embraced Smart Software and my
wireless slate. I was able to move around the room to check my
student's work, yet I was able to run preset notes, activities or
stop everything to work out a problem if that was needed at the time.
I was able to hand the slate off to student to demonstrate their
knowledge of the given problem. It became part of our everyday
routine. The few times I was forced to go back to the board with
marker in hand, it created a different feel in the room. It was
almost like the students respected the technology, “this
information must be important, look how it is being presented”.
Using the slate also took the emphasis off of me as the “teacher”
having to be at the board in the front of the room. Since I was able
to be any where in the room, I was able to create more of a
discussion feel about a problem.
Technology
gave me the tools to move from my essentialist base to the more
progressive hook if you will, to engage the students. Being able to
manipulate the math problem on the fly as the students came up with
“what if” questions made the experience more relevant to them. I
could not hope for more than actively engaged, participating and
thinking students. One of the best compliments I could ever get from
my students was the statement “math class flies by”. This meant
they didn't have time to be bored. They were too busy focused on the
tasks at hand.
I
believe the middle grades are hard to go through and to teach. It is
a balancing act every day of moving from childhood with childhood
thoughts and feelings, to the adult world of responsibilities and a
whole need set of fears. When I think about being a guide and
ushering the students from one phase of life to another I think about
two different teachers in our building. One was our last 8th
grade science teacher, she would talk to the students about
metacognition. She used this as a way to help the students learn to
study. Making them think which way of learning was most effective
for them. She would challenge them constantly with this throughout
the year. I think she would have taken off with our one to one ipad
project. I can only imagine all of the research she would be having
them do. Not to mention the projects they would be collaborating on
with each other. Another was a lesson from our current 8th
grade health teacher, his statement was “The smarter you are the
less you realize you know.” This is a profound statement for a 14
year old to understand, it totally confronts their developing ego.
He found one of the most fascinating apps in my opinion and it is
just for the fun of pure knowledge. Wonderopolis has short summaries
of why the world is the way it is. Questions like, “Why do you
blink?”, “How does a hovercraft work?”, “What is the vernal
equinox?”. There is a new question posted everyday. He said some
they just read together, but if it does happen to have a health
related issue they talk about it further and explore the question
further. This is a great use of the technology at hand to develop
well rounded curious human beings.
I
bring up these two teachers as examples because this was always my
goal, my Philosophy if you will, to instill a solid base, then guide
them as they grow in their own direction, reaching for their greatest
potential, and having the desire to learn. I think these two teachers
nurtured the growing by trying to open their student's minds beyond
the present. The tools technology offers only enhances what we as
educators can present as options to students. It is up to the
students to make it their own and soar. It is up to me as the teacher
to use any and all tools that will support them in their learning
endeavors.