My Philosophy of Education :: Teaching Teachers Educational Essays

My Philosophy of Education Mrs. Carson stands at the front of the classroom explaining the homework she had just assigned. She hears a few muffled voices in the back and directs her attention to those students. One of the boys raises his hand in a nervous manner wondering if he should follow through with the question. Mrs. Carson calls on him to speak and he asks, "When are we ever going to use this in the real world?" This question is one that every teacher hears his or her students ask. The question for me is, Should we change the curriculum of the school so students won't be able to ask that, or should we change the method of teaching in the classroom so the students won't want to ask that question?" In my opinion, the answer lies in the philosophical approaches of behaviorism and progressivism in the classroom. There are different aspects of behaviorism in which B.F. Skinner noted, that I would like to take into my class. I am a big advocate of positive reinforcement. I see where rewarding the students for doing something correctly and doing it well encourages them to continue in that like manner. In this approach, the students will learn the material even if they are not sure what effect it will have on them in their future. The goal in this philosophy is to turn the extrinsic rewards I give the students into intrinsic rewards, over a period of time. when I was in elementary and junior high school, the only reason I wanted to make good grades was for gifts (mostly money) and praise given by my parents and teachers. As I got a little older and went into high school and later college, I started wanting to do better because of the satisfaction I would find with myself. The philosophy of behaviorism also deals with the big role environment plays in a student's academic career. I completely agree. Throughout junior high and most of high school, I had the worst science teachers anybody could possibly imagine. In the ninth grade, my teacher was always preparing a lab for us...but during out class period. Amazingly, we never did anything because he could never find the right materials.