Joshua Astill

Dr. Ryan Miller

Chapter 10 Assignment
23 July 2016
My Personal Philosophy of Education
My philosophy of classroom management follows along the lines of essentialism and
consistency. Essentialism is defined as trying to instill all students with the most essential or
basic academic knowledge, skills and character development. In order for essentialism to be
effective, it is important for teachers to teach these skills and the reasoning behind why these are
taught and why they are important. When a teacher is consistent in following expectations and
procedures within the classroom, the students not only learn but they know the expectations of
how the classroom is managed.
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary to be consistent is to continue to happen or
develop in the same way. In order for students to behave in a classroom, they have to know the
rules, the expectations, and the consequences of actions they choose to make both good and bad.
In order for any students to learn and develop these important traits in the classroom, the
educator has to be consistent in teaching these values. We all know how students act both within
and without the classroom. There are all kinds of distractions and it can be hard sometimes to try
to keep a students focus on what is being taught. As an educator, it is important to be consistent
and repetitious in teaching these core values to our students.
When educators fail at being consistent in trying to teach our students these important
core values, some of our students have the potential of not becoming main contributors to our
society. I believe that our students learn the best through repetition. When students are

constantly learning the same things over and over again, it makes the lesson stick and it is
remembered better. This is why it is important for educators to be consistent in teaching their
students the importance of how your classroom is managed because students have a tendency to
forget.
While in the classroom, there are certain rules and expectations that each student will be
expected to follow. If not followed, then students will have to face the consequences of their
actions. I plan on teaching high school history and some of the rules within my classroom will
include arriving to class on time, raising your hand before speaking, be prepared, and participate.
Lets face it, students in high school should know better because these rules they learned in
elementary school. If they cant follow simple rules as these, it could affect their grades,
citizenship points etc. High school is where grades really start to matter and to have grades be
affected in different ways will also affect the student as well.
As for essentialism, it focuses on teaching students the most essential or basic academic
skills such as math, science, English, etc. No matter where you are at or where you are teaching,
it is important that students learn the basic skills and knowledge that will help our students in
becoming productive members of any society. Depending on your lesson plans, you could also
incorporate other philosophies of education that will help students who may learn differently.
Our society also has different cultural values. Essentialism focuses on these different cultural
attributes and can help students adapt to different learning techniques.
It appears that my two philosophies can join together to help students not only learn but
remember what they learn. Being consistent in a classroom can help students focus on what is
important and how those students can remember both how the classroom is organized and
remember the consequences of their actions.

Works Cited
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary and Thesaurus. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.