My Philosophy?

Education philosophy

Now that’s a tough one for me at least. So many different things, so many different occasions, so many influences and thoughts run through my head. I’ll start with the definition of philosophy I’ll be operating with. Philosophy, according to Merriam Webster, has several definitions, but the one that most closely pertains to my idea is: a basic theory concerning a particular subject or sphere of activity.” I choose this over the “critical study of fundamental beliefs and the grounds for them” choice because at this point, I have not pursued the study of my educational philosophy.
So, looking at my basic theory concerning education moves on to the word theory, which again has multiple meanings, of which, I choose the definition, “general principles of a subject”, which brings up principles and another definition, and another need for refinement. You see how tied up we can become. The English language is great fun to play with isn’t it?
I now move to my outlook on education (see me getting around some definitions?). I follow one basic train of thought: the thought and belief that all students can learn and grow. This learning and growing does tend to vary greatly from student to student for any and many reasons. Those, we’ll possibly look at another time.
Back to my basic belief. This growing and learning does not occur because of one person’s teaching, or activity, or even lack thereof. Learning takes place in a fluid environment with ebbs and flows. It can be moderated, instigated, invigorated or squelched and rebutted by those in charge of assisting students in their quest for knowledge. It is with these options, and several others that I’m sure you can think of, that teachers must operate, using their experiences, education and established guidelines to facilitate a positive learning environment that promotes the desired outcomes, while allowing for some variance, opinions of the learners, and new ideas that may or may not prove to be accurate.
In this fluid environment, teachers are held accountable for “meeting standards” and “annual yearly progress”, both of which are measured by single, mostly multiple choice tests given at the specified time. These are the very same tests that, as educators, we were told are not the best choice to test student comprehension of material presented. That’s a subject in itself, which I’ll leave alone for now.
I do feel that idealism, realism and pragmatism play their parts in my teaching. In day to day teaching, there are frequent life lessons that are taught, whether intentionally worked into a lesson plan, or just from opportunities that arise from some event. Being a science teacher, the realism seems to come into play most frequently, but pragmatism has to be a close second. Some things just don’t seem that relevant in today’s world. Are we teaching some things just because we had to learn it, so now it’s like the fraternity mentality: I went through the hazing, my turn to punish the pledges?
I teach eighth grade Earth and Space Science. In my district, it is the end of this learning track. It is the last these students will be exposed to many of the topics before our state testing in 11th grade, and maybe at the college level. It is the end of the line. With this in mind, my classes stress methods and skills as much as the actual science knowledge. These students are learning much more than just the curriculum that was set up when I walked through the door on my first day. This stress on the abilities is where I also need the most work. These are things that aren’t currently in the official plan, but need to be taught somewhere. When the students get to my class, they have spent to years of science without a text. Their reading of factual material, interpretation of this material and methods of organizing it on paper to be referred to later is very much lacking. I work very hard throughout the year to wean students from spoon-fed notes and ideas, to those which they form for themselves. These are the skills that will outlast and knowledge about Pluto’s new moons recently discovered, or the idea of uniformitarianism developed by Mr. Hutton, although the talk of coprolites tends to stick with students for quite a while.(Coprolites are fossilized dino droppings).
That was a pretty long-winded way of saying that I’m an educational mutt. I pull from any philosophy the tools I need, while using my choice of definitions to mold the philosophy into something that works for me. Right now, I just wish I could remember where I first heard the idea that all students can learn and grow, but do so at different rates and times. That is my guiding principle, and I very much thank the person/people who first planted that seed of knowledge in this head of mine!
Mark Hopkins