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Adina Tapia

Ms. Sgobba

EDU 201

5 May 2022

Educational Philosophy Paper

The first of the five philosophical orientations to teaching is perennialism. Perennialism

is the philosophy farthest to the left on the scale between teacher centered and student centered,

making it the most teacher centered philosophy. The main goal in mind of a perennialist teacher,

according to the Becoming a Teacher textbook, “is to ensure that students acquire knowledge of

these unchanging principles or great ideas,” (Parkay 113). The textbook further goes on to

describe how a perennialist teacher will favor the all-time classic novels over current bestsellers.

For example, the teacher might decide to assign the children to read a passage written by

Shakespeare rather than a more current author. A very influential figure in the philosophy of

perennialism is Robert Maynard Hutchins who created a curriculum focusing on the discussion

of classic pieces of literature (Parkay 114).

The second philosophical orientation is essentialism, which is next on the scale of being

teacher centered. Following the textbook, Becoming a Teacher, essentialist teachers aim to teach

their students, “the essential knowledge and skills… that productive members of our society need

to know,” (Parkay 116). The textbook suggests that an essentialist teacher might focus on the

core STEM subjects and encourage students to learn through repetition and practice. An

important person for essentialism is William C. Bagley, who founded the Essentialistic

Education Society as a criticism of new progressive methods (Parkay 116).

The third philosophical orientation is progressivism, which is in the middle on the scale

of teacher centered and student centered philosophies. Progressive teachers aim to center the

curriculum around students’ interests and create a bond with their students. Teachers prepare

their students to become problem-solvers in the ever-changing world around them and let

students’ interests lead the learning (Parkay 118). According to Lisa Strout, author of the study

“Philosophy Within Practice” conducted at Capella University, “knowledge is actively

constructed… and the educator is considered a guide who promotes communities within the

classroom,” (38). A progressive teacher might include an activity into the classroom where

students pick an animal to do a report on and they later present it to the class. Becoming a

Teacher includes how John Dewey’s writings from the 1920’s and 30’s greatly contributed to the

spread of progressivism (Parkay 118).

The fourth philosophy is existentialism and is next on the scale closest to student

centered. According to Jean-Paul Sartre, a French philosopher who has widely spread the ideas

of existentialism, an individual must decide on their own what the meaning of their existence is.

Therefore, existentialist teachers aim to emphasize the experiences of each unique student. An

existentialist teacher might ask students to read a passage then write an analyzation of what that

passage means to them (Parkay 120).

The fifth and final philosophical orientation is social reconstructionism, and this

philosophy is on the farthest right on the scale, closest to student centered. The idea of social

reconstructionism is that schools should direct social change and teachers should encourage

students to improve society while using problem-solving techniques. A social reconstructionist

teacher may present an issue in the community to their students and ask them to come up with

various solutions to help with this issue. Theodore Brameld is said to be the founder of social
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reconstructionism, who recognized that humans have the ability to either destroy or nurture

civilization (Parkay 122).

Profession

The philosophical orientation that I feel currently aligns with my beliefs is progressivism.

Although I’ve decided to become an elementary school teacher because I want to make a change

in my community, I also want to make a change in the lives of many young learners and show

them how fun learning can be. I want to be able to knowledge and compassion within my

community, use problem-solving skills in the classroom to help struggling students, and serve as

a role model and coach my students through the learning process.

The main experience that inspired me to become an elementary school teacher was taking

an early childhood education program in high school. My teacher for all 3 years of this program

was Mrs. Ketchum. She was a very sweet lady and really showed us the many joys of working

with children and emphasized the fact that learning should be fun! A very beneficial part of this

class was learning the stages of development that children go through so that we could better

understand their abilities and therefore teach them in the most effective way. For example, for

every activity that we created for the children to do, we would also note what ages this activity

was aimed towards, and the cognitive and physical abilities needed to do this assignment. For

example, an assignment created for kindergarteners may require coloring, cutting, and pasting,

all accurate motor abilities since most kindergarteners are able to do these things. But if

kindergarteners were assigned to learn the concept of conservation, this would be far too

advanced for them. Having this extensive background knowledge on the different stages of

development will help me as a teacher when deciding what to teach my students. I will
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understand their cognitive and physical abilities and will therefore not expect too much or too

little out of them.

The main thing that my field observation has shown me is the struggles and frustration

that teachers can face on a daily basis. The teacher I was observing often had difficulty trying to

regain the children’s attention and even had to discipline them when students would misbehave.

Not only did she have to act as that “coach” that guides them through learning and attempt to

make meaningful relationships with them, hut she also at times had to act as a disciplinary figure

and show them right from wrong.

Teaching

As mentioned, progressivism is currently the educational philosophy that most closely

aligns with my beliefs. As states by Elias and Merriam, “theory without practice leads to an

empty idealism, and actions without philosophical reflection lead to mindless activism,” (Strout

8). This quote explains the idea that you must actively acknowledge and put into practice your

educational philosophy or else it has no meaning. I plan to largely include the ideas of problem-

solving and student lead learning in my classroom and allow my students to learn about the

topics that interest them. I will openly take feedback from my students as they are the ones I am

trying my best to guide through the learning experience.

My knowledge of the historical events that took place to get us to where we are today in

the world of education will help me appreciate where I am. It took many laws to be passed and

many funds to be granted for all of my students to be able to sit in my classroom and I will do

my best to give them the best learning experience possible. With a progressive point of view, I

will teach them that just like the history of education, the world is constantly changing. So we

must use our problem solving abilities to solve the problems we face in the classroom and in life.
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Instruction

The main strategy I will implement in my classroom will be letting the students have a

choice in what they learn to maintain an exciting environment and assure them that learning is

fun! By having the freedom to learn about what they please, they will put more passion into their

work and just be more involved overall. As again stated in the study, “Philosophy Within

Practice,” a progressive teacher recognizes, “the role of the learner is one of an active participant

who is seen as having unlimited potential,” (Strout 38). Since I aspire to be a teacher in the lower

elementary grades, I think it is crucial to implement the idea that learning is fun so that students

can go into the rest of their learning career with a positive outlook.

By also emphasizing the importance of problem-solving, my students will recognize that

they have the ability to learn or solve anything. If a student is having difficulty understand a

topic, they may need for it to be explained in a different way or by one of their peers that does

understand it. But with keeping this problem-solving mentality, they will look for a solution

instead of thinking they simply do not understand.

Future

To move forward in this career, the main quality I need to possess is open-mindedness. I

should be able to take aspects from all of the different philosophical orientations and integrate

them into my teaching. Maybe this may help some students who learn in different ways than

others. But by keeping an open mind and always being open to new teaching techniques or

strategies, I can provide my students with the highest quality of education. To learn about these

new strategies, I plan to regularly hold discussions with my colleagues and search online to see

what techniques teachers around the world are using in their classrooms. If there happens to be
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classes or seminars on new effective ways to teach or so on, I will definitely be open to attend

and learn as much as I can so that transmit that knowledge to my students.

Works Cited

Parkay, Forrest W. Becoming A Teacher. 11th ed, Boston, Pearson Education, 2018, pp. 113-126.

Strout, Lisa J. “Philosophy within practice: Relationship between philosophical orientations and

teaching styles of faculty in early childhood teacher preparation programs.” ProQuest

Dissertations and Theses, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2015, Publicly Available

Content Database, http://ezproxy.library.csn.edu/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/

dissertations-theses/philosophy-within-practice-relationship-between/docview/

1759634898/se-2.