Vincent Lombardo

EDT 318M B
Teaching Philosophy

Teaching through a Progressive Philosophy

In my Cultural Autobiography I wrote about being confined by the white walls of

my schools and community, not being able to see past. I was and am guilty of having
biases, stereotyping, and having a certain degree of racism. The difference is that now I
have the ability to see these flaws in myself and therefore can reflect and act justly upon
them. One thing I have really strived to do over the last few semesters is to really grow
as a teacher leader. In his book Teacher Leadership: for the twenty-first century, Thomas
Poetter says, Your function as a teacher leader is to be reflective and to act responsibly
in that reflective practice by challenging assumptions, engaging new ideas, and helping
students and colleagues to learn in a just, safe, open, and democratic setting. This defines
the teacher leader as a reflective agent (Poetter 2014, p. 53-54). I picture myself
someday as a teacher, as Poetter said, that will be the one to challenge past assumptions,
engage new ideas, and help my students and colleagues to collaboratively achieve the
most democratic and efficient education process ever. By extension, Poetter continues,
I suggest that teacher leadership involves initially, and in the main, the commitment by
the beginning teacher to establishing a classroom learning community (Poetter 2014, p.
55). By doing this I want to essentially put my students first. I want to be able to reach
every one of my students regardless of racial or financial background. I believe this
speaks to my teaching philosophy. I am an advocate for learning through experiences,

past, present, and future. This includes the experiences of our fathers before us and their
fathers before them. Crucial experiences lie with our culture and history and while some
shamefully shut out the objective to address these cultures and past experiences, I will
strive to have my students bring these cultural experiences with them to school every
single day. Teachers must be able to critically analyze important issues such as race,
ethnicity, and culture, and recognize how these important concepts shape the learning
experience for many students. More specifically, teachers must be able to construct
pedagogical practices that have relevance and meaning to students social and cultural
realities (Howard 2003, p. 195-196). Critical teacher reflection and reflection on the
experiences of diverse cultures must be used as tools for creating culturally relevant
teaching practices. Critical teacher and cultural reflection are keys to successful and
effective teaching.
My philosophy of education is definitely a Progressive one based out of
Pragmatism. Theoretically, I believe that a teacher is a guide for problem solving and
scientific inquiry while students education should be based on students interests; involve
the application of human problems and affairs; include inter-disciplinary subject matter;
activities and projects as Poetter would say. It is the teachers job to guide each and
every student through the effective learning processes and challenges they are faced with
every day. These challenges will have to do with way more than simply academics.
These challenges will press issues of racism, stereotyping, socioeconomic status and
more on the school, teachers, students, and community. I will have to guide these
students through their academics but more importantly these issues that face their
community. This can only be done by looking through the critical cultural competency

lens at these issues and experiences and by teaching through a cooperative livinglearning process. This is the only way to achieve true learning and knowledge. Poetter
says, Knowledge lends to growth and development; a living-learning process; focus on
active and interesting learning (Poetter 2014, p. 159). A living-learning process through
active and interesting learning is a completely hands on, reflective, experienced based
learning style. By living through this learning style with our students and colleagues we
promote a more democratic, social living environment in and outside of school.
What this looks like in the school setting is very complex. I believe that for truly
effective teaching and learning we must make use of all the senses. For this reason, in
my classroom you would see an interactive floor plan for dialogue and collaboration with
peers on some days and a more lecture based floor plan on other days. On some days we
wont even be in the classroom. Instead, we will be outside whether that is on a field trip,
just outside the school, or even just outside of the classroom in the lab or something. A
key component is to be able to utilize these different tools but also be able to make
connections between them and the students. In Palmers article, The Heart of a Teacher,
she talks about these connections. She says, [Effective teachers] are able to weave a
complex web of connections between themselves, their subjects, and their students, so
that students can learn to weave a world for themselves. The methods used by these
weavers vary widely: lectures, Socratic dialogues, laboratory experiments, collaborative
problem-solving, creative chaos (Palmer, p. 67-68). This will be reflected in my
classroom.
As a progressive, I believe in the teachable moment. I believe that through
every experience, good or bad, there is some knowledge that can be gained from that

experience. I believe the possibilities of progressive instruction are endless, however I

also think that some aspects of the progressive philosophy are more difficult to
implement every day. One thing that sticks out in my mind in particular is the fact that
every student has a different combination of multiple intelligences and learning
modalities. The teacher must reach out to each and all of these intelligences and
modalities for effective learning to occur. I do see this as a large obstacle as a teacher.
However, as a teacher with a progressive philosophy of education, I will and plan to do
everything in my power to do this. In my field experience I see many possibilities to give
the students this kind of learning experience. The students I have observed over the past
week have affirmed my philosophy of education as well. I have seen first hand that when
content from the curriculum and out of the textbooks is related to the students
experiences, they really develop a deeper interest as well as a better understanding of the
content. By relating the content to the students lives, the content really grasps their focus
and the students are more motivated to learn.
As a teacher with a Progressive philosophy, my goal is ultimately a studentcentered way of teaching. To me, this means education is motivated by student interests
inside and outside of school through experiences and hands on learning. This could also
promote diversity and cultural competency in the class as well as the students work
together through each of their strengths and weaknesses. These are the characteristics of
what my philosophy and what my classroom will look like some day.

Resources

Howard, T. (2003) Culturally relevant pedagogy: ingredients for critical teacher

reflection. Theory Into Practice, 42(3). 195-202.

Palmer, J. Parker (1998) The Heart of a Teacher. 66-76.

Poetter, S. Thomas. (2014) Teacher Leadership: For the Twenty-First Century (2nd ed.).
Cincinnati, OH: Van-Griner Publishing.