My philosophy of education is through my experience

Educational philosophy is no doubt a matter that has changed over the decades, and still today not everyone is in total agreement on the subject. However, one thing is certain philosophy is the foundation of educational styles. Today, four basic educational philosophies exist including idealism, realism, pragmatism, and existentialism. All four philosophies are very different, but all strive for the same goal, to better the educational system. Although, every teacher has a different style of teaching that can considered be their own, they all adhere to one of the four basic philosophies. However, it may take an educator many years to master, and recognize their style as one of the philosophies. In addition, I believe that my philosophy of education is that, applying the best pedagogical methods from each philosophical school would be the appropriate educational philosophy.

The purpose of education& and what are schools for: To determine what the purpose of education is, we must first know what education means. Education is not what we have learned in school; in other words, it is everything we have learned up to this point it will continue to grow until we die. Education does not occur in a vacuum, however humans are by nature social beings education occurs within social contexts that is within societies. A society is simply a system intended to provide the means for meeting the needs of its members. But overall, we can determine the success of a society by measuring how successfully it meets the needs of its members. When we analyze the notion of every great nation throughout history we will observe that, every great nation had built a strong educational foundation. In fact this concept will lead to create an excellent generation that can effectively achieve things that the last generation couldnt achieve in the history of education. The literacy rate will be the main reason that makes developing nations more successful than others because these nations have fewer problems in many simple things, such as economy, health care, employment, and violence. Any society that is to be successful for more than one generation must have education, for, without education, the society collapses as its establishing members expire. The new generation finds itself unable to keep the society operating. Education is the device that allows one generation passing on to the next generation all that it has learned through experience. Without education, each new generation would have to start all over in the process of discovering knowledge. Education, however, passes on more than knowledge. It transmits the lore, beliefs, customs, values, rites, and ceremonies that shape a society and govern its functioning. In short, education transmits culture. This transmission of culture occurs whether the society has schools or not, and it never occurs exclusively in schools. Furthermore, from the time a person is born he or she is learning, and much of what is learned is about culture. Therefore, when that person gets to school, their education is well under way. When schooling employed, it serves not only as a partial substitute for the family in educating the child, but also adds skills and knowledge in addition to refining values and beliefs. In societies that are, more primitive education of the young is better accomplished in a larger context than the school has traditionally provided, so that children have opportunities to learn about all parts of the

society. Thus, it makes perfect sense that children in most huntinggathering societies learn to function in the real world by being there, starting to work at an early age on the tasks that will promote their survival and that of their families and society. However since I talked about the purpose of schools, and in order to draw a big picture we must relate the previous topic to the next one, which is part of it. Every parent and teacher needs to ask a question, which is what schools are for. Like families, they have a unique role in reproducing human societies and in providing the conditions, which enables them to innovate and change. Without schools, each generation would have to begin from scratch or, like societies, which existed before there were schools remain largely unchanged for centuries. Both in todays world and in the past this is a fair question. The answer however, is not a simple one. But, I will say just like what others have said before me" I do not profess to have a pat answer" (Phi Delta Kappa, 1994).moreover, schools are educational institutions where educational functions should always be dominant. If we are to answer the question above, we then must define education. Once again, by saying that if we evaluate schooling only for its contribution to specific goals and objectives, we misinterpret what education is all about. Dewey felt that education was about the individual becoming; in other words, the growth taking place in each person. Regardless of definition, schools asked to be everything from agents of social change, to part-time parents, to academic machines. It is important to note that schools are not asked to do all of this alone. As a student and a future teacher, I have asked myself an important question: How will you help the community structure understand the needs of those children who are not yet successful learners. In fact, it assumed that there is a community structure in place to allow academic progress, social, and emotional health, family involvement, and personal growth to take place. Today, this can only happen successfully if the community structure and the schools work collaboratively as a team. Such team togetherness is based on relationships and can only happen if all involved are willing to process a change of thinking open up communication, and sit at the same table together to plan for the future of the communitys children

Methods and curriculums I believe that the hands-on technique of a Pragmatist is essential to the students learning. Students need to be able to see what they are learning along with the teachers instruction. In my classroom I would do my best to include examples that back up what the students are learning. As a student, I remember those teachers who used examples with their lessons had great feedback from their students. I personally enjoyed them, specifically in science because at times the language can make it difficult to imagine such abstract concepts. Those teachers that brought those abstract concepts into examples that I could visualize helped me to fully understand concepts that were very difficult for me to picture on my own. In my classroom, all the subjects would definitely be hands-on. In mathematics, I would build games illustrating math problems. My classroom would be a daily store in which students would be able to buy items from the store. The students would have the opportunity to earn the money through good behavior and reaching their goals by being the best they could be. This would be a way of incorporating math into a daily habit. In social studies, I would have maps that would quiz students by putting different types of culture pictures in the area and having them guess what area they were looking at. In science, students would be able to look at a 3-dimensional model of the human anatomy and learn where the parts of the body are located. These are only a few of the practices that I would incorporate in my classroom. However, group work is also essential in my classroom. In the case of the students, it helps them develop socialization skills that will follow them throughout their life. I find group work to be beneficial to students because they can find learning more stimulating when they are working with others and they can learn from one another. Groups allow teachers to have different levels of students interact and work together to make each other understand lessons and activities that are being done. I feel that in this atmosphere it will encourage communication and foster questions that the students might want answers to. Communication is actually very important, and I do not support trying to eliminate it from the learning process. There are times when students should not talk, but there are many times when it is a learning tool. That is what I believe I would be there to do for the

students, help them learn, and I cannot conduct my classroom in a military style. Many and even all subjects could be taught in groups at one time or another. Moreover, I also feel that motivation helps students believe in themselves and excel in their learning. Horace Mann points this out in The Republic and the School when he says; Knowledge cannot be poured into a childs mind, like fluid from one vessel into another.(Mann 37) Children learn when they are motivated. Along with motivation, there are students who do not have a high self-esteem, and as a future teacher, it would be my goal to help bring that self-esteem up. Encouraging words and praise to the students takes merely seconds, but to the students it can go a long way. I can never forget those teachers who always told me that I was doing a good job and to keep up the good work, it meant a lot to me. It is also has been a motivational tool that helped me want to do my best to show them that I really was good and that I know I can do it. I am a student and I know that is how students will feel. The satisfaction they get from hearing their teacher tell them they did a great job cannot be expressed on paper. Nevertheless, any kind of educational methods from any philosophical school would not stand alone. In more explanation, enforcing a particular method without variety is an ineffectual strategy of teaching. Furthermore, as any good teacher knows not all students learn in the same way. In addition, it is common for a class of students to be at a variety of levels in any particular subject. Teachers need to use different teaching methods in order to reach all students effectively. A variety of teaching strategies, acknowledge of student levels, and an implementation of which strategies are best for particular students can help teachers to know which teaching methods will be most effective for their class. The first step to choosing a teaching method is to assess the students. This assessment can be formal or informal. Formal assessments include standardized tests, tests from the textbook or curriculum being used, or teacher created tests. These assessments can give you an idea of the previous instruction that the students have received as well as their academic level. For example, direct instruction is the most common form of instruction. This is the lecturing method of teaching. Many teachers use this teaching method almost exclusively, as it considered the simplest, and the educator can cover large amounts of material in a short period. However, this is not the most effective teaching method to reach all students, especially younger

ones, who often need a more engaging, hands-on strategy in order to learn effectively. In addition, it is hard for teachers to tailor instruction to students at different levels. As well as Cooperative, learning is another teaching method that considered highly effective when done correctly. With cooperative learning, students put in small groups to work together. They usually not grouped by ability, but put in a group with children at a variety of levels. The students then had given tasks to accomplish together. Teachers may need to monitor these groups carefully, to make sure they are staying on task and that all students are participating. This form of instruction also lends itself well to differentiation, because the teacher can assign specific tasks to children at different ability levels. On the other hand, methods will not be sufficient without a good designed curriculum that makes it easy to apply. Furthermore, education should have a pragmatic purpose education ought to be about building learners' abilities to do useful things. What is important to learn is whatever helps learners do things that they want to do or that they can be induced to want to do. Therefore, if we want to detail the knowledge students need to have, we should first detail the things students should know how to do. Then we can determine what knowledge will be useful in each case. Depending on an individual's situation and goals, there are many things that might be worth learning. In order to give a very detailed prescription for what knowledge a student should acquire, we must take into account that not every child will need or want to do the same things. A curriculum must therefore be individualized. It must be built around an understanding of what situations a particular learner might want to be in, or might have to be in later in life, and what abilities he will require in those situations. Nevertheless, for many people the notion of mandating the same knowledge for every student is appealing. Building lists of facts that one claims everyone should know is relatively simple to do. Furthermore, there is the attraction of providing standards that can be easily measured. But from the perspective of the teacher and the student, this approach spells trouble. Each mandated bit of knowledge removes more local control and drives the system towards fixed curricula and standardized tests, which not only diminishes teacher flexibility but also student choice, and therefore, student interest and initiative.

The Student- Teacher relationship: When students first time steps in school s desks, they tries to make relationship with people around them especially the teachers. If the teacher start to understand his students there will be a good relationship, because when students have problems on school they can speak freely with their teachers, and they can find solutions together that is good for everyone. Furthermore, if that relationship and communication between student and the teacher is good the students will have more respect to the teacher and they will pay more attention to their classes. Nevertheless, if that relationship is bad then going to school and teachers classes will be the biggest nightmare for the students and for the teachers. Moreover, students have to have respect to the teachers and teachers as well have to have toleration on the students in order to build a good relationship between them. School is the place where students spend most of their day. When they come home they are tired and want to sleep, or have home works to do, or they just go out with friends. In addition, I think that makes an important role toward student development in character, and behavior. The teacher student relationship is very important for children. Students spend approximately five to seven hours a day with the teacher for almost ten months. However, from this perspective a question has drawn to my mind, which is what considered a good teacher? Moreover, all of us have gone through schooling, and if fortunate had a favorite teacher. A positive relationship between the student and the teacher is difficult to establish however, that is possible to found for both individuals at either end. The qualities for a positive relationship can vary to set a learning experience approachable and inviting the students to learn. An educator and student who have the qualities of good communications respect in a classroom, and show interest in teaching from the point of view of the teacher and learning from a student will establish a positive relationship in the classroom. Children have different strategies for learning and achieving their goals. A few students in a classroom will grasp and learn quickly, but at the same time, there will be those who have repeatedly to teach using different techniques for the student to be able to understand the lesson. On the other hand,

there are those students who fool around and use school as entertainment. In addition, teaching then becomes difficult, especially if there is no proper communication. Yet, teachers creating a positive relationship with their students will not necessarily control of all the disruptive students. The main object beyond the nature of the relationship between the both factors is how to create a learning environment approachable for the students in schools. According to the Jones, Student disruptions will occur frequently in classes that are poorly organized and managed where students are not provided with appropriate and interesting instructional tasks (101). The key is teachers need continuously monitor the student in order to be aware of any difficulties that the student is having. Understanding the child s problem, fear, or confusion will give the teacher, a better understanding of the child is learning difficulties. Once, the teacher becomes aware of the problems they will have more patience with the student thus, making the child feel secure or less confused when learning is taking place in the classroom. The communication between the student and the teacher serves as a connection between the two, which provides a better atmosphere for a classroom environment. Of course, a teacher is not going to understand every problem for children in their classroom, but will acquire enough information for those students who are struggling with specific tasks. A significant body of research indicates, Academic achievement and student behavior are influenced by the quality of the teacher and student relationship (Jones 95). The more the teachers connect or communicate with their students, the more likely they will be able to help students learn at a high level and accomplish quickly. As a student and a future teacher, I have come to learn the relationship between student and teacher can vary depending on many characteristics. For example, at one time, about five years ago, I took a linguistics course, which was at my first year in university, it apparently been taught by one of the professors who had a very reputable standing in the department of English. I would never forget how this professor always came to work looking very professional, wearing attire that did not seem to suit the environment. He was overly professional looking compared to other professors on campus, so it made him stand out. This

look apparently had students talking about how unapproachable this professor was. No one dared to approach and ask him a question because it would only make anyone appear foolish if he did. His attitude at the beginning of the year had also thrown off many students. The fact that he would say to a student just coming into the classroom wearing his hat backwards, "Those who wear their hats backwards, their brain is backwards!" I personally did not get to know this professor because it was obvious that his intent was to just lecture and leave. It almost seemed like asking him a question would only irritate him, and no one would have wanted to witness that. In addition, he gave all students the impression that he did not want to be there either, lecturing a first year student course. It is just that he had to do it because it was part of his contract and to keep his status. There were other attributes that made students not want to approach to this professor, and it was only clear that a student teacher relationship did not and would not exist in this case. That outlook, should not present him, or her as unapproachable. A smile and an invitation for questions would allow students to feel a little comfortable and feel that they can ask a question without fear and actually learn a subject in a more pleasant way. Getting to the last statement on the issue of the nature of the relationship between students and teachers that therefore, how does a teacher hold a relationship that leads effectively to teach the students the answer becomes clear when teachers interact with, and learn more about their students. Our first educational experience, which takes place in the primary years of our life, sets the principles for our future education. Every school year an elementary teacher deals with new faces and new attitudes. Some children find themselves lacking the interest in learning, others feel playing, and fooling around at school with friends is the happiest moment of their lives. The solution to inappropriate behavior will not automatically get rid of the poor attitude of these children, but is to establish a positive relationship. Teachers can establish a positive relationship with their students by communicating with them and properly providing feedback to them. Respect between teacher and student with both feeling enthusiastic when learning and teaching. Having established a positive relationship with students will encourage

students to seek education and be enthusiastic and to be in school. Remembering our favorite teacher will be recognized because they had at least in one way or another the qualities I discussed in the last three paragraphs, although we are not aware of it during the time we are in school, but teachers are well recognized at a later time of our lives.