Educational Philosophy from being LTC
class
The primary focus of U.S. schools should be to educate, better
each student so they can become great members of society, to help each student
reach their full potential and to be a safe heaven for every student. The point
of a school is to educate a student in core subjects and then later during
college years help students specialize in a certain subject. Students should be
taught how to critically think through problems, how to appeal textbook
information to everyday life, and to find information outside the given
information to build on top of a known or unknown topic. These skills will
prepare students for life outside of school.
School should be a place that students learn how to come better
citizens. Students spend so much time
inside the classroom each day that it is possible to teach each student how to
be polite, courteous, civil, accepting of others and so much more. Even though
these things need to be reinforced while the student is at home but planting
these seeds inside of the classroom is a good start to better society members.
Showing the students how to say thank you and your welcome or how to help other
students when it is needed can do this. If students are shown this behavior at
an early age then it has a better chance to grow within them as they grow in
age. Schools should be a place that students are pushed to be the best they can
be. Teachers should never let a student say they can’t do something and should
convince students to at least try something when it is presented to them.
Students should know that the teacher is proud of them and their progress. Each
student should also leave the classroom knowing that they can do anything that
they put their mind to. There are some students who need school to be a safe
heaven. Things are not always perfect at home or safe on the streets, because
of this school should be welcoming and safe environments for students. Although
there are bullying issues at school and it is hard to control every student,
the schools should try their best to stop any violence that is happening during
the school day. Each teacher should ensure that their classroom is a safe place
for students before, during and after school. These four things are what the
primary focus in schools should be. These things will create effective learning
environments for each student and prepare students for the real
world.
The four primary focuses I believe a school should have are
because of my two philosophies. Pragmatism and Existentialism are the two
philosophies that I identify with as a future teacher. Both are student-base
authority philosophies and leaned themselves to focus more on the knowledge
that the student creates for themselves not the knowledge that the teacher
present during lecture time.
Pragmatism is a philosophy that believes that education is rooted
in experience. It is said that we learn best while applying textbook
information to life experience. This theory was built on the teachings of
Charles Sanders Peirce. He felt that thought should produce action instead of
lying around the mind doing nothing. John Dewey applied pragmatist philosophy
to his teaching methods. He felt that learning is depended on hands on
experience with textbook information. I believe this applies to my teaching
style because a hand on application seems to be the best way for a student to
learn. It is one thing to retain, practice and memorizes information but to be
able to apply information shows that the student has the information down
–packed and is able to use the information in everyday life experiences. This
allows the student to think critically, creates problem-solving skills and the
able to take past information and information at hand to build better
understanding of a certain topic.
Existentialism is the thought that all individual understanding is
created and started within a person not by anything outside human existence.
“We define ourselves in relationship to that existence by the choices we make.
We should not accept anyone else's predetermined philosophical system; rather,
we must take responsibility for deciding who we are.” (Cohen, p.2). The biggest
focus in this philosophy is on freedom of the individual, developing the
purpose of an individual, and creating meaning for life. The question for
existentialist is “Who am I and what should I do?” As a future teacher I
believe that it is my student’s personal choices is what matters. Students
should create their curriculum, within reason to ensure that state requirements
are meet. From there a lesson plan can be created that is surrounded around the
students making the lesson plan student-directed.
Pragmatism and Existentialism are student base philosophies. Each
student constructs their own knowledge and makes the decision to learn creating
who they are in the world. Under these two philosophies there are three
subscripts philosophies. These three are progressivism, humanism, and
constructivism.
Progressivism views learners as individuals who learn by
exploring, experiencing and critically thinking. Students use the scientific
method to come to conclusions, problem solving skills, and projects to reach
needed information in all subject matters. This will be essential in art
education. Students will need to be able to think critically about artwork, and
solve problems they may encounter while creating artwork. This will help
individuals gain information on their own allowing them to create work that
conveys views to critically think. Humanism is an educational philosophy that
believes each person has innate goodness within him or her. Each person is born
free but because of institutional ideology. An educator should start with the
individual student not with the ideas of the world, mankind or universal
thoughts. This is perfect for art education because art is the expression of
self not universal ideas but what these ideas mean to the person themselves.
Constructivism is the idea that a student creates their own knowledge by hands
on learning and activity based teaching and learning.
As an educator my main goal is to help students be come the
best person they can be and to express themselves through different art forms.
I care dearly about children; I’m passionate about helping students set goals
for themselves and making sure they reach those goals. The reason I want to be
an educator is because I want to give students that one person who cares. Show
them that when they think they have no one that I am in their corner. I have
encounter many children who are unable to express their emotions or are in
unfortunate living situations; because of this I want to teach art to help
students use it was a way to focus their angry, sadness or any other emotions
that need to be expressed. I want to help students use art as a stepping-stone
to solving bigger problems and dealing with future issues. I hope to grow in my
ability to tell the difference between students who really desire help and to
do better versus those who are so comfortable with where they are they desire
no help. I can get emotionally connected deeply with children who I see great
potential in. Because of this it is hard to handle when students don’t believe
enough in themselves to do better.
The first draft of my educational philosophy was created
during a beginning LTC class. It doesn’t have a focus on Art Education but the
next draft I will be sure to focus it on my content area along with adding my
answers to the following questions and go more in depth.
What do you believe about teaching visual art? : My idea of
teaching visual art is that students should be able to learn about art through
“play”, open discussion sessions about different art pieces or ideas, and the
construction of their own “textbook” type artist journal. Students should come
to conclusions on their own instead of being told “This is art and this is what
you should think of it.”
What will you need to know and be able to do to be an
effective art teacher? : To be an effective art teacher I feel that I need to
know different mediums and how they used, stay updated on current art movements
or artist, have a good foundation of historical art, and I have to know that I
don’t know everything about art, there is always room to earn more. As for
things to do to be an effective teacher I’m not really sure as of right now but
I know that I need to always have an open mind and allow my students to use
their creativity to the fullest and push them to expand their artistic bubble.
What evidence will you need to demonstrate your ability to
teach? : The first thing that comes to mind when I think of this question is my
student’s work. If the work that is produced shows the things the students have
learn, how they express their feelings, and shows improvement with every new
piece I feel that I have done my job.
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