Philosophies reflection Essay

Throughout my life i have had the privilege of having many great teachers but with regards to educational philosophy there are two that really stick in my mind after having learned about the different philosophies.

The first would have to be Mr. Princilus who taught 8th grade science at my middle school and was a great example of progressivism in education. He believed that his role in the classroom was not to teach but to facilitate and he made this known from day one. He would say that we were responsible for our learning and that we needed ask questions of ourselves to find the right answers. To do this effectively we would almost always work in groups and have frequent class discussions to go over our labs and to discuss the topics we were currently learning about. He would also go always make sure to tell us the significance of the things we were learning relating them to the real world and helping us to understand the impact of our growing knowledge base. In these ways he exemplified the ideals of progressivism.

The second teacher would be my 11th grade english teacher Ms. Weiner and she was the embodiment of a Perennialist educator. We would read the classics in her class focusing on the great poets and playwrights of old. This was the first class where I was exposed to Shakespeare and Keats and others. She believed that if we were going to learn about poetry we should first look at the examples of it from the past to learn how the same principles that governed them still had an effect on the art today. This approach to teaching embodies perennialism and in fact was a great way to learn about the classics. 

Education Philosophy

Education is like a garden everything needs room to grow.

We cannot close our minds to new ideas and we need to make sure that as teachers we create an environment where all of our students can grow and prosper. Just like a garden is a warm and welcoming place to grow so to should our classrooms. 

Key Player in Education

Horace Mann

My Name is Horace Mann I was born into Poverty in Franklin, Massachusetts on May 4^th, 1796. I mostly taught myself until I turned 20 years old and then thanks to my hard work I was able to gain admittance into brown university located in Providence, Rhode Island. After Graduating I practiced law before successfully running for the state legislature in Massachusetts Serving in the House of representatives and then the Senate from 1827 to 1835. In 1837, I was chosen to head the state board of education, one of the first to be created in the country. I started a Biweekly journal called the “Common School Journal” in 1838. It was during this time that I developed my six principles for education

·      citizens cannot maintain both ignorance and freedom;

·       this education should be paid for, controlled and maintained by the public;

·      this education should be provided in schools that embrace children from varying backgrounds;

·      this education must be nonsectarian;

·      this education must be taught using tenets of a free society; and

·      this education must be provided by well-trained, professional teachers.

The last of these principles was extremely important as it lead to me establishing normal schools or schools made to train teachers the first of which was in Lexington in 1839. I ended my career serving from 1848 to 1853 in the US house of representatives and then became the President of Antioch college. 2 months before my death I gave a speech where I said, “Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity”

Citation

Horace Mann. (2017, January 04). Retrieved January 18, 2018, from https://www.biography.com/people/horace-mann-9397522

First One

This is my Blog I am a Secondary Education and History Major at La Salle University my favorite subjects have always been Literature and History. History more so than literature however, mainly because I like to think of history as the greatest story ever told and most of it actually happened. I would love to one day be a history teacher at a high school so I can share what I have learned with others.