Michelle Wall

Dr. Ellis
Education 1302
March 26, 2017
Philosophy of Education

As in my earlier paper, I stated that the philosophy of education is a set of related beliefs

that influences what and how a student is taught. Almost 16 years ago I substitute taught in the

special service room for extended amounts of time. I went on to work full time in a mainstream

classroom. I have currently been observing in the special service department of the same

elementary school that I substitute taught almost two decades ago. There are many differences;

yet the similarities stay the same.

I began my paper with a paragraph on standardized testing and it being a balance of what

a student knows or a teacher had taught. As I reentered the special service classroom, and as

standardized testing has taken such a prevalent role, I realized the students in special services are

often the kids who WILL NOT pass a standardized test like STAAR. The teachers, however, are

held accountable for them learning as the students in a mainstream classroom would or could.

Existentialism is defined as each student learning on their own pace and direction of their

own learning. I likened this to home schoolers working at their own pace and learning at their

own speed. What happens when we are a teacher of first through fourth graders and they all have

different disabilities and we must teach them all on their own pace?

You do not. Or you try the best that you can: much like a mainstream classroom. What if

though, because of their disabilities, students are hyperactive, or depressed? If you are a talented
teacher we treat them just like any mainstream classroom. We allow the students who can model

lessons and let them mentor to those who cannot learn as quickly. Is there chaos in this process?

Absolutely. I would challenge anyone who goes into any elementary classroom and not witness

at least some controlled chaos.

In getting reacquainted with the same teacher I worked with almost twenty years ago, I

have found that she thinks progresses have been made in the curriculum and technology that

makes her job easier. The ultimate struggle is that she sees that many students in mainstream

need to be umbrellaed into the special service program and many behavioral oriented students

should be implemented back into mainstream. I agree with her statements.

I still believe that the school system should let a teachers voice be heard. We can have a

meeting every three months to discuss a students progress; but ask, listen, and let the teacher be

heard when we are deciding a students future. Teachers are the students champions, parents,

counselors, and sadly often their parents five days of a week. Teachers opinions of what happens

to a child should be revered and validated.