"Education is not preparation for life: Education is life itself." (Early Childhood Today Editorial Staff, 2000) This famous quote by John F Dewey is a representation of his well-known philosophy, on education. He thought that schools must be the place where children have the opportunity to learn how to live life successfully (Hardon, Nov).

            John F Dewey also believed that students should learn by experience Dewey even developed what we call pragmatic philosophy. Pragmatic philosophy can be defined as realistically dealing with things based on practical material as opposed to theoretical material (Hardon, Nov). Dewey’s philosophy was that students could learn vastly by participating in experiences applicable to the lesson.

I remember having difficulty learning multiplication and division by hand-written equations. Then my teacher gave us M&Ms and had us go over the math problems together. As soon as I was able to relate the and experience the concept, I was able to comprehend how to multiply and divide. Dewey’s philosophy explains that an educative experience is an experience where a connection can be made between what we do and the consequence that takes place afterward. (Pegg, 2016)

            I agree mostly with Dewey’s philosophy on education however I disagree with his belief that students are solely responsible for the quality and the quantity learned in the classroom. I believe that teachers play a big role in getting children engaged. A class that is not engaged in the lesson being taught will lack the capability of learning the material. Based on the philosophy that students learn more when they are engaged I believe that the social purpose of education is important and I wish to reflect this to my future students.

My philosophy on education, which is similar to Dewey’s, is based on previous teachers and experiences in my past. I attended a small high school where a few teachers were able to get to know me well because I had multiple classes with them. My most influential teacher was Mrs. Kilgore, my art teacher. I always enjoyed drawing and painting so by the time I graduated high school I had taken every art class offered at my school. Every quarter she would teach us a few vocabulary words and simple concepts then we would do hands-on art projects which incorporated the concepts she taught us. She encouraged things like democracy in the classroom by letting us choose the music that played in the classroom. We also stated our own opinions on artwork and shared our ideas with the class.

            My teaching philosophy can benefit my students in many ways. In teaching my students by interaction and experience, they will benefit from having the opportunity to better learn the curriculum. In teaching this to my students they not only receive immediate benefits. They will receive long-term benefits. In doing group projects they will learn teamwork and how to work with others that may be vastly different from them. I will teach them how to live life successfully by holding them accountable every day. These are all intangible opportunities I will provide to benefit my future students.

 

Discipline Model

          I will do my best to assert the authoritative discipline model in my class. I want to ensure structure on the first day of class by working with the students to set rules and expectations. I will also go over the policies, procedures, and norms for my class. It will be important that I continue to remind students of these when needed to create and maintain structure in my class. The other part of the authoritative discipline model is support. I will support my students by making them feel welcome in my class. I will also spend my time the first week of classes getting to know each student so I can support them based on their needs. This could also include attending students’ extracurricular activities.