New Philosophy

Educational Philosophy

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.

Art is one of the main classes that will help students in the future because during the course students will learn how to think outside the box, be more creative, use art as a healthy way to cope, and tap into a part of their minds they didn’t even know was there.  

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. These are thing I plan on showing inside of my art class. Even though these things need to be reinforced while the student is at home but planting these seeds inside of the art classroom is a good start to better society members. I plan on spending the first few minutes of class greeting each of my students are the door, making sure they are dressed properly for the classroom or artist work place, making sure they say hello and when it is time for them to leave saying good bye. Showing the students how to greet teacher or people in general, 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. Using the A,B or do it again method to push students to create high quality work. If they do not meet the A or B standards then they will have about two more chances to make the work meet A or B standards. 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. A few ways to help each student reach these goals are by the way their art projects art assessed. Students will use their journals as a place to reflect upon their work, their lives and how the two connect. This will be their own personal place to assess themselves. During critique each student will leave with different ways they can improve their artwork along with all the amazing things they did. I will make sure that I explain to each of my students that I am extremely proud of them and the effort they have put into their artwork.    

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 a welcoming and safe environment 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. Art classrooms are perfect for students to feel safe. The goal during art classes is to make each student feel like their ideas and artwork is respected even though everyone may not agree with the concept or way the idea was produced. The art room should be a place that students feel that they can express themselves completely and openly. Knowing that art is a safe place can help students cope better with life’s hardest situations. Knowing art is safe is also a place that can be “perfect” for each student who lives a not so perfect life. 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. These idea are easily found inside of art classes because are students may look to use for help with a medium they never used or a way to better areas of their art but this can only happen if the students start to produce. Without the student’s artwork we have nothing to teach them. They come inside the class with idea, life experiences and many more things that as teachers we use to pull from so that each student can be the best artist they can be.   

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 art 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 student’s 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. But I hope that through my teaching style, the passion I have for my students, and the way I will push them to be better will show them that someone care about them. I want my artist to know that no matter what I care for them even if they believe no one else does.

*I didn't change much because as of right now I still feel that same about my philosophy