Monday, September 2, 2019
Dr. Ries and personal philosophy determinations
As you calculated your responses to the items listed in Figure 2A.1 of the text, you were given an idea of where your philosophy preferences lie with regard to school structure, at this point in your career. What did you find out about your philosophical preferences? Were you surprised? Why or why not? Do you believe that it is necessary for a teacher to have his/her own philosophy with regard to education or is it enough that our administrators have a philosophy toward the structure of the curriculum? Any thoughts?
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After calculating my responses to the questions on page 56, I found that my philosophy preference is most strongly as an experimentalist. The weakest preference that I had was as a perennialist. The calculations slowly increased from perennialist up to experimentalist and then there was a drop for the existentialist belief. The book classified my findings as “pattern 2” because I mostly had a diagonal line slanting upward. This means that I show more of a nonstructured belief. I was not surprised by these findings. In my classroom, I definitely enjoy having structure because I like for everything to be organized. This is why I believe that there was a drop in the existentialist belief. However, I try my best to allow my students to learn in a way that they are able to think freely and that they are able to share the way that they came to a solution. I like for my students to be problem solvers.
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is important for teachers to have their own philosophy rather than for teachers to just adopt the philosophy of the school. If the school provides a curriculum, it is important for the teachers to follow it, however, the teachers can use their own philosophy in their day-to-day lessons. This is important because the teachers will teach the students with more passion and they will teach in a way that is comfortable and exciting to them.
Christine Joannidis
Similar to Christine's results, I too was classified as "pattern 2", with a strongest philosophy as an Experimentalist, followed by a slight drop as an Existentialist, with the weakest presence as a Perennialists. I was not surprised by these results, but did feel a sense of reassurance when presented with them. Specifically with respect to the idea that an Experimentalist "openly accepts change and continually seeks to discover new ways to expand and improve society." Over the course of two years I have become very interested in inquiry based learning and problem-solving, using literature and technology to connect my students to worldly issues and ideas. In doing so, I have found my own agency as an educator and feel as though my philosophy is becoming more clear. While I do believe that it is important that classrooms have sets of expectations and rules for students,I also believe that the classroom belongs to our students and therefore, they too should have agency in their learning, classroom expectations and rules.
ReplyDeleteWell, here’s something I didn’t see coming when I added up my responses to the 40 questions. I have not one, but TWO highest-ranking categories: idealist and experimentalist. The fun fact about these two “isms” is that they contradict each other. Idealists believe that reality is “seen as a world in a person’s mind,” teachers model ideal behavior, and students should be passive as they receive and memorize information from the teacher. Meanwhile, experimentalists believe that reality is what is actually experienced, morality is a concept that is arrived at through public consensus, and teaching should be driven by social subjects and experiences.
ReplyDeleteThe funny thing is I actually think this test result is accurate. I believe both of these ideas. I want personal investment from my students through their caring enough about my subject to go home and memorize information. As I heard one PD presenter say once, there was a time when kids were expected to memorize their multiplication tables. When students did it, they said they knew the tables “by heart.” I like the implication of caring in that.
At the same time, I love bringing subjects to life through experiences. My AP Politics and Government class got a lot more out of organizing our school’s student walk-out against gun violence, then they did on any day in our classroom.
So how do I reconcile my idealist brain with my experimental brain? Usually through arrangements with my students like, “Memorize the Bill of Rights, and then tell me which ones you will be using before you walk out of the school calling for better gun legislation.”
P.S. – One thing I am NOT is an existentialist.