DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY

DOROTHY M. BUSH COLLEGE OF EDUCATION

MY PHILOSOPHY

OF

EDUCATION

SUBMITTED

IN PARTIAL REQUIREMENT
FOR THE COURSE EDUC 3312
EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATIONS
FOR
INSTRUCTOR
ROBERT D. BURGIN

BY

AMELIA WOOD
MARCH 22, 2014

My Philosophy of Learning:

I side with the Progressivism philosophy in my view of learning. I believe that asking
questions and conducting experiments is the best way for students to learn material and really
remember the concepts they are being exposed to. When a child is able to ask and answer
Socratic style questions about the subject matter, they truly understand what they are learning. I
think that students learn best when they are not spoon-fed information, but rather, are able to
draw their own conclusions and be involved in the learning process.
My Philosophy of Teaching:
When it comes to teaching, I am an Essentialist. I believe that there is a standard to
which educated people are held, and it involves a common core of learning outcomes. I
believe that students need to be up to par with the rest of the country and world in what they are
learning, and in order to do that, we need to train students in several basic subjects. I think that
teachers are the best people to equip learners in the essential learning objectives and teachers
must be trained in the best ways to teach growingly diverse classrooms.
My Philosophy of Classroom Management:
In the issue of Classroom Management, I am an interventionist. I believe that it is a job
of schools to equip students with strong self-control and personal discipline. If those things are
not explicitly taught to a child, they will never develop it on their own. There is nothing engrained
in human nature that leads to naturally good behavior, it must be introduced and cultivated in a
childs life by repeated instruction and intervention.
My Philosophy of Learning Environment:
To couple my Progressivism philosophy of learning, I believe students will learn best in
an environment that is suitable to experimentation and not restraining in any way. I do not think
that the traditional classroom set up where the teacher is at the front, all tables and chairs facing
forward, is the only good learning environment. I think that students would feel more willing to

express their ideas and figure out their thinking through experimentation. This means open
spaces, centers and grouped desks would probably foster the best learning environment.
My Philosophy of Instructional Technology:
Technology is very important to incorporate in classrooms, and that will only become
more of a truth as time goes on. In order to equip students fully for a world that is relying more
and more on technology, we must be able to utilize it in the classrooms. Technology is a great
blessing and we must teach children to use it for the gift that it is. As a teacher, there is no valid
excuse for not using technology in your lessons. I believe that technology will encourage
students to diversify their way of thinking and encourage them to seek creative solutions to
problems.
My Philosophy of Evaluation:
I believe that there are multiple ways to assess students, but that evaluation is
absolutely necessary. We must be sure that we are checking the progress of our students
learning or we will not know how much we are benefitting them (or not). I think that traditional
evaluations like quizzes and tests are good, but are not sufficient alone. Students need to be
taught to express their ideas and learning in more ways than just answering multiple choice and
true/false questions. Sometimes, projects and essays may be more valuable to assess what a
student is learning.

My philosophy of learning coincides with the first InTASC standard which states:
the teacher understands how learners grow and develop, recognizing that

patterns of learning and development vary individually within and across the cognitive,
linguistic, social, emotional, and physical areas, and designs and implements
developmentally appropriate and challenging learning experiences. Being a
progressivist toward learning styles, I believe that asking questions and experimenting
in different ways is what is going to allow my students to learn best. Realizing that
children learn and develop differently is a key contributor to my progressivist thinking.
Secondly, the fourth competency listed in the inTASC standard states: The
teacher understands the central concepts, tools of inquiry, and structures of the
discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning experiences that make these
aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of
the content. I believe that my philosophy of teaching coincides with this standard in that
it seeks to know and understand a core of central concepts. As an Essentialist, I will
want my students to have content mastery, so of course it will be in my best interest to
have my central concepts and structures mastered before I attempt to teach them.