To instruct someone... is not a matter of getting him to commit results to mind. Rather, it is to teach him to participate in the process that makes possible the establishment of knowledge. We teach a subject not to produce little living libraries on that subject, but rather to get a student to think mathematically for himself, to consider matters as an historian does, to take part in the process of knowledge-getting. Knowing is a process not a product. (Bruner)
My personal philosophy of education has been changing since the first moment I stepped into an education course. However, I don't see this as something that is negative. In fact, I think that a teacher's personal philosophy of education should forever be evolving. Teachers should continually make efforts to inform themselves of new technology or innovations that help to facilitate learning in the classroom.
I believe that each student has the capacity to accomplish any goal that is set for them as long as they feel connected to what they are learning; without a link between the students and material, the interest is lost and the learning is harder and may take more time. According to Jean Piaget's theory of development and learning, a developing child builds cognitive structures, or schemes, that connect previous knowledge and/or experiences to new knowledge. This connection cultivates the student's understanding and responding to his or her environment. As a student makes progress, his or her cognitive structures increase in sophistication.
A teacher must also have positive expectations. This means believing in each student and believing that the student can learn and be successful. Students only learn as much as the teacher expects; teachers who set high expectations for their students will receive higher achievement from their students. It is amazing to see what students can accomplish when they know and sense that someone believes in them. It is my aspiration as an educator to help students meet their fullest potential by establishing an environment where my students feel safe, are comfortable taking risks with new learning, and presents them with opportunities to share their thoughts and ideas.
My philosophy of education aligns itself closely to that Jerome Bruner's Theory of Constructivism. In the Constructivist theory, the learner selects and transforms information, constructs hypotheses, and makes decisions; its focus is on knowledge construction, not recitation of knowledge. Knowledge is constructed through one's personal experiences, previous knowledge, and beliefs. For me as an educator, this means that I try and encourage students to discover principles by themselves. I give them the opportunity to have dialogue among their peers and with myself. My main task as a teacher is to present information to be learned that matches or closely matches the student's current level of learning. From what I have stated, my philosophy of education aligns itself to that of Progressivism. This philosophy greatly impacts the way in which I decide to design and develop a curriculum. My curriculum would focus on promoting progress and in improving the self and society. The emphasis would focus on the learning process; develop thinking skills, better interpersonal relationships, and meeting student interests. The students would be encouraged to be creative, express their own ideas, and appreciate the differences between themselves and others. My responsibility would be to guide and stimulate curiosity and interest in students and push them towards problem solving and scientific inquiry.
Reflection on my Philosophy of Education
One famous educator once wrote that a successful and efficient teacher is one who is anchored on truths and substantial philosophy. He must live with that philosophy and must be characterized with that philosophy. In short, a philosophy-anchored teacher is one of the essentials towards the teacher’s success. Why? It is because we can see that he has the sense of direction as to what to do, where to go and what to execute given the various problems or situations in the field of teaching.
With this, I find it an edge that I possess over the others that I have a philosophy in education which I follow. And again, I will reiterate that like the strategies of teaching, there is no single philosophy of education whioch can be considered best. Let us go back to the idea that knowledge of several philosophies is a must in order to adjust to the needs of the situation. Thus a combined eclectic approach in our daily dealings as a teacher can help a lot in order to answer the demands of this rapidly changing environment.
In the Analects, on Education, Confucius says, "Anyone learning without thought is lost; anyone thinking but not learning is in peril." I believe, as teachers-to-be, we must strive to prepare learners through academic readiness to make themselves more complete human beings. I believe that we have a responsibility to ensure for learners the most favorable environment we can for their integration of knowledge and scholarship and for the acquisition of necessary comprehension and synthesis skills. To accomplish this task we must provide for them ample and purposeful opportunities to develop and to test developing hypotheses and to encourage an advocacy of the notion that a part has coherent meaning only in the context of "the whole." If what we desire for learners is a sustained and productive response to order in flux, then we must stress the plurality of the foundations of knowledge and the diverse angles of refraction on ways of knowing.
