Reflection 8

When taking the educational philosophy Survey, I wasn’t shocked to see that my results barely changed over the semesters. This was the third time that I have taken this survey in the past year or so. My results have remained pretty constant. The highest score on my survey was Progressivism. It was 83 % of my results. I decided to research a little more in depth to why I have gotten this result over and over. Progressivism is based on the principles of humans learning in real life activities. What was very intriguing about this information was that progressive teachers believe that students are like a scientist, they need to be aware of the problem, question it and come up with the answer themselves. To progressive teachers, the students learn more through testing and “Learn by Doing”. They let the students learn through hands on experiments and problem solving techniques. They use collaborative learning to stimulate the students integration. Textbooks are not the main learning source in this type of classroom setting. Other learning resources such as magazines, internet, computer exploration, charts and projects are used more instead. I really believe that this survey got me on point. I truly believe that this teaching style is going the direction of my own ideals. The teacher not only provides the students with materials they need to learn, but the they integrate real world knowledge. My belief is children need to learn what’s going on in the world. They need to see with their own eyes something outside of their little boxed minds. With this type of knowledge they will be prepared for any thing. Many ideals came out progressivism such as : women’s suffrage, civil liberties, social justice, fair trade, feminism, and ethical conservation to name a few. I really liked learning about this style in more depth. I have really understood why I am the way I am. Why I think they way I do and why I feel so strongly about becoming a teacher. Some famous progressives were Francis Parker, a superintendent of schools, Philosopher John Dewey, Stanwood Cobb who founded the progressive education association, and Herb Kohl who founded the open classroom movement. All these people made progressive education possible in schools and universities around the united states. I am glad to have found out what kind of teacher I will be based on this survey.