Maggie Hauser

Educational Philosophy Paper

Margaret Hauser
Educational/ Teaching Philosophy
EDU-101-101: Foundations of Education

Maggie Hauser

Educational Philosophy Paper

I was sixteen and in my junior year of high school when I was asked two
extremely important questions about education. Why do you want to be a teacher? What
is your educational/teaching philosophy? The answers to these questions have always
been changing. When I was younger it was because I wanted to inspire children and I
wanted it to be like it was when I was in elementary school, where the teacher stood up
front of the classroom and there was a question and answer process of learning. At
sixteen, almost seventeen years old, my answer changed. I wanted to encourage students
to love learning the way I did. I never really knew what I wanted out of what I was
training to do. Now though, as a twenty year old, third year second semester Elementary
Education major, I think I might have actually begun to figure it out.
As I prepared to write this paper, I reread and reflected on my Teaching Academy
Philosophy paper, and I also reflected on an assignment we completed in class. When
asked to list five things I believed to be true about education, my answers were simple:
1) Everyone has a right to an education. 2) There is more than one form of education, and
the classroom isnt the only classroom- the world is a great teacher. 3) Academic
education is important but it is not the only education students should receive. 4) It takes
more than just government laws/acts to fix a broken system and 5) students can teach
their teachers just as their teachers teach them. Mentioning these things might seem
unnecessary, but I believe these five answers truly outline what I believe about education
and how I think learning should happen. Explaining my beliefs on education is simple,
but explaining why I have those specific beliefs can sometimes be tricky.
When given this assignment, of actually writing out my philosophy of education, I
got a little nervous. This happens every time Im asked why do you want to teach? Or

Maggie Hauser

Educational Philosophy Paper

what is your educational philosophy? I get this feeling because Id never really known
how to explain my answer without sounding cheesy. I want to change the world. It
sounds like a monumental task, but in reality, its not. When I would say I wanted to
teach because I wanted to change the world, I didnt mean in some extravagant way- I
just wanted to change the world by changing the lives of my imaginary future students,
thus in turn making it possible for one of them to one day maybe change the world.
Determining the way we teach our students is a decision that is very much
debated in our society, because there are so many philosophies on the topic. For me, I
dont find one philosophy that completely encompasses my thinking and beliefs. As a
base for my philosophy, I would say I fall into the Essentialist philosophy. From this
though, I only find a few pieces that I follow. Following a set curriculum is extremely
important in my eyes. By having a curriculum that is followed by everyone, it is easier to
evaluate student achievement and understanding. I also find the idea that the teacher is
the expert of the curriculum to be half true. Learning shouldnt be structured to where
students dont do anything but worksheets or instructional-guided tasks, they should be
learning through hands on activities that help them fully understand the curriculum.
The next two philosophies I subscribe to are Progressivism and Existentialism. In
progressivism, I find the idea of the teacher being a form of a mentor to their students
extremely intriguing. The process of using hands on activities and learning by doing is
extremely effective in my mind. If you want students to learn in great quantities, but
dont want to lose the quality of what they are learning, combining the ideas of a teacher
as a facilitator and learning through activities that keep the students engaged and
interested, if the way to do so. The main portion of the Progressive Philosophy that Im

Maggie Hauser

Educational Philosophy Paper

not completely sure of is the way that it derives the curriculum mainly from the students
interests. While being aware of what each student is interested in is a key factor to
gaining students trust and respect- it shouldnt totally dictate what they learn.
When it comes to existentialism, the idea of freedom of choice and responsibility
is a large part of my ideas towards teaching. When I was in high school, being told I was
to do a project on a certain subject and not being given any true guidelines on how I was
supposed to complete the project, was terrifying. Ive realized that this reaction came
from the over use of rubrics and procedures on how to complete schoolwork. Now, when
Im not given strict guidelines, I relish it because it gives me an opportunity to play to my
strengths in a way Im not always able to. This is what I really enjoy about Existential
Learning/Teaching. A student-centered idea, where the teacher truly is very much a
facilitator only, and students are able to choose the process in which they learn, truly
speaks to me. I like this idea because it allows for students to explore multiple methods of
learning and to find which one works best for them, instead of doing what everyone else
is even if it doesnt work for them. I think that while teachers should be the leader of a
classroom, and should be a knowledge holder for their students, I dont think that a
fully teacher centered classroom is the way to go. At the same time, a completely studentcentered class isnt either. A class should be a partnership, where there is mutual respect
and everyone is willing to help everyone. A classroom should be fluid, and students and
teachers should work together to find the ways that they all learn best.
In education, being able to evaluate students progress is extremely important to
understand how much they are learning. When I look at the way we evaluate progress, I
find a few things I would change. I believe that standardized testing is the most efficient,

Maggie Hauser

Educational Philosophy Paper

but I dont think it is totally effective. Testing can be a viable option in examining
progress but I think that there needs to be more involved. If we were able to create an
exam similar to the PISA test, I truly thing wed not only be able to evaluate
achievement, but we would also be able to help our students prepare to compete on a
global scale in ways we havent in the past.
In the realm of evaluation, what should we evaluate? The students overall
achievement, for one- but I also think that there are many things we could test our
students on. As Ive previously mentioned, I want to help students prepare to take on the
world in ways they never imagined they could. This requires me to not only teach my
students the academic subjects, but to also teach them to be good human beings and how
to live in our ever- changing society. The way students think in society should be
evaluated on, through critical thinking questions, like on the PISA, educators will be able
to ensure their students are becoming well rounded people through their schooling. This
being said, I dont think we should completely get rid of multiple choice standardized
testing, because it is efficient and for the most part- effective as well. If I could be the
deciding factor on how students were tested, Id create an exam where the students could
complete tasks and activities that played to their strengths instead of just having all
students complete the same couple of hours long, stressful, standardized tests. I would do
this because not every student can test well, even if they are high achieving, and if we
were able to find a way for students to take tests without take a real test, I think we would
definitely see our achievement levels rise.
Thinking about the future can be exciting, and scary too. Thinking about your
future classroom and teaching practices are just as scary, if not more. Being a teacher is

Maggie Hauser

Educational Philosophy Paper

such a gift, and it is also an extreme blessing. As teachers, we are able to help create the
future of our world by helping students learn. It can also be very difficult, because of the
internal pressure from myself (at least for me) and from the pressure that the outside
world from the classroom puts on the profession, without knowing much about how
teaching works. For me, when I being to feel like Im not sure of myself and what I want,
I think about the first time I wrote a paper like this one. I was only sixteen, had no real
experience in education besides the occasional babysitting job and a summer or two as a
counselor in training, and didnt really know how much I actually wanted this. When I
think about that point in my career, I begin to remember my initial answer to that timeless
question: Why do you want to be a teacher? To inspire, to encourage growth, to help
other learn to love learning.
After I reflect on that, I think about why I want to teach, four years later and three
fieldwork experiences later. I find that my answer is not that different, I still want to
inspire others, help them grow and teach them to love learning the way that I do. The
only thing that is different is that I now have a basic understanding of how much work
goes into that, and the amount of work that our system of education needs in order to give
our students the best chance they can have to reach their full potential. Knowing the
amount of hard work that goes into being a teacher may scare some people away, but it
only makes me want to do it more. Not everyone can be a teacher; I think thats
something any teacher- no matter their philosophy- can agree with. It takes a special type
of person to truly be an educator and I have found that when people realize that sort of
thing, it doesnt matter their philosophy because everyone is just trying to do the same

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Educational Philosophy Paper

thing- ensure that our future is bright and our children will be able to keep it that way and
maybe even make it better.