Voices of Educational Pioneers

I don't think that there was one philosopher that I did not find something to agree on. I'd say that my philosophy draws from each one in some way. One educator that I almost completely agreed with is Sappho. She believes in education of the whole student, including physical development. Teachers should be mentors and encourage students to develop and mature socially, mentally, and emotionally. I feel like this is most like my own view of what education should be. If Sappho was a teacher today, I think she would create real-life examples for her student and meet the multiple intelligences with her engaging lessons. She is a good example of a caring educator.

Technology in the Classroom

I enjoyed the creativity of this presentation and the fact that it was very engaging. I learned about many new websites and programs that I had not previously heard of. I would have liked to discuss more in depth ways that these sits can be used in the classroom. Still, it was an exciting and memorable presentation.

Classroom Discipline and Management

There are many different methods of classroom management style. They fall on a spectrum from laisse-faire, which involves little teacher involvement, to an authoritarian style where the teacher is the mighty authority in the class. I doubt that many teachers are far at either end of the spectrum and instead cluster in the middle. There are advantages and disadvantages to any learning style in part due to multiple intelligences. A teacher's style reflects that person's learning style, culture, etc. Students with different MI's or a different family life will have a difficult time learning from that teacher.

I enjoyed the scenario discussion at the end of the lesson. It was very thought-provoking to be placed in an uncomfortable situation and having to come up with the best plan possible to handle it. I definitely believe that it must be difficult to quickly process what to do when two students are fighting in the classroom. I think that the table discussions were very valuable.

Educational Philosophies

Essentialism focuses on a "core of information, hard work and mental discipline, and teacher-centered instruction." The goal of essentialists is to "transmit the cultural heritage and develop good citizens." Students are learners and teachers use lectures, memorization, repetition, and formal discipline to teach.

Behaviorism believes that behavior is determined by environment instead of family. Therefore, the teacher has much ability to control the class by controlling stimuli. A major goal of behavorism is to create an environment for learning that leads to desired behaviors. Teachers use reinforcement, both positive and negative, to teach which behaviors are good and which aren't.

Positivism looks at what is observable and measurable as truth and knowledge. A teacher should clearly identify what he/she is looking for and what students should know and be able to do. Repetition is stressed as a good way to teach students. Positivism carefully bases lessons on content standards,

Democracy is the main focus of progressivism. A major goal is to improve society and every person is included in the decision-making process. A learner in a progressive classroom is always learning, always thinking, and always exploring. The content of curriculum is always changing based on life events.

Humanism focuses on improving the individual. It avoids group work and is centered on student feeling. An individual relationship with students is emphasized and teachers strive to meet individual interests of students.

Contructivism employs hands on projects to teach. A teacher's role is not to lecture but to create "learning situations." Constructivists "encourage the development of critical thinking and the understanding of big ideas rather than the mastery of factual information."

Perennialists teach principles instead of facts. Vocational knowledge is less important than liberal topics. There is a focus on personal development and teacher-centered education.

Reconstructionists believe that there are many problems with society that need to be fixed. The goal of reconstructionism involves examining societal issues and discussing ways to fix them.

Out of all the methods, I feel that I agree most with progressivism. I think that it fits in well with a health curriculum and the way that I want to teach. Some reasons include the flexibility of content based on life experience, the emphasis on forever learning, and the focus on problem solving. I believe that these are all great techniques for teaching health. I also agree that learning should be a process. It is less about the outcome and more about the experience and the learning that took place before the end result.

Schools of Philosophy

There are four well-known philosophies in the education world. The first, idealism, believes that concepts are most important. It focuses on the spiritual world and absolute truths. Idealists teach about ideas or great works that existed before our time since values have remained unchanged from that time. The teacher acts as a leader and role model for students and prefers lectures and discussion

The second philosophy is realism. Realism focuses on what is real, such as "matter." These teachers are rational and their curriculum is subject-centered. Testing and experimenting are common teaching methods of realist teachers and the teacher is expected to have a broad scope of knowledge in order to assist students in making connections.

Pragmatism is the third philosophy and it stresses change. Everything is changing. There are not set values or universal laws. Pragmatists focus on knowing and believe that students will learn best through experience. Teachers use interdisciplinary methods to teach and learn through problem solving and interacting with the environment. School is viewed as a community of learners and therefor group projects are encouraged.

Existentialism believes that "reality is nothing more than lived experience." Absolutes don't exist and we all are responsible for creating our own meaning. Existentialism encourages personal reflection and empasizes the individual. The process of learning focuses on the feelings of students and the ultimate goal is to search for oneself.

After reading this, I believe that I can identify most with the pragmatic philosophy. I applied each one to my ideal health class and pragmatism was the best fit for what I would want to teach. I believe that interdisciplinary lessons are the most effective because they prove that there is purpose for school and there is a connection to the real world. Many of my health lessons involve a group projects, create an interaction to the environment, and promote lifelong health knowledge.

Empowerment

Out of all the stories, the single part of this chapter that stood out to me was the opening line of the introduction to the chapter. It said: "In the end, the sole purpose of teaching is to empower students to learn and excel on their own." As a health teacher, this is my goal as well. I remember from my own time in high school that I rarely (I can't actually remember a single time but I don't like the work never) saw a connection between what I was learning and the relevance to my life. I want my health students to not only understand how to be healthy right now but also to learn skills to remain healthy for the rest of their lives. I don't want students to think health class is a joke or a waste of time (right now I believe that is the general idea). I want each student to share my view of the importance of health and I want them to take this belief out into the real world.

Multicultural Issues Presentation

The biggest lesson that I learned in relation to diversity is to not just do it...do it everyday. Celebrating diversity doesn't mean having a special day to acknowledge everyone's differences. We should be doing this every day. Why does every author students learn about in English class have to be white? Why do history classes focus on the history of our ancestors from Europe? Education and curriculum should offer a variety of roles to learn about.

Gender roles can be such a difficult subject to discuss because I know that even I buy into the idea. I loved my barbies and dolls when I was a girl. I also adored my brother's hot wheels and train sets and played video games, which is something I always felt was weird and set me apart from most girls. Still, I enjoy the domestic, nurturing role that I have created for myself (or has been created for me...not sure which it is) and don't see anything wrong with washing my future family's laundry and cooking the meals. That said, there is no way that I will cook, clean, and put the kids to bed while my husband puts his feet up in front of the television. I do believe that gender roles have (almost) no place in schools because I don't think that gender correlates to intelligence, effort, or capability. On a side note, do schools really need to provide separate bathrooms for transgendered individuals? Can't they just choose?