Educational Philosophy

"Mankind likes to think in terms of extreme opposites.
It is given to formulating its' beliefs in terms of Either-Ors,
between which it recognizes no intermediate possibilities.
When forced to recognize that the extremes cannot be acted upon,
it is still inclined to hold that they are all right in theory;
but that when it comes to practical matters,
circumstances compel us to compromise."
 - John Dewey, Experience and Education

What a provoking thought, and how accurately does this describes the human condition!  Many people say about themselves that they are accepting of all beliefs and totally open minded; but just because they say it, does not necessarily prove it to be true.  In fact, when it comes down to conflict, or any sort of disagreement for that matter, are not even the most open-minded of individuals biased by their own predispositions? Or as John Dewey would refer to it, their own 'extreme' belief of what is right?  So then, who can say and be justified that everyone can be right all of the time?  This has clearly failed us in the past, proving impossible. The truth is that everyone is not right about everything, but someone is right about something.  The search for 'intermediate possibilities' is an evident necessity for success, especially in educational philosophy, as John Dewey points out in this first paragraph of his book (shown above).

“I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate. It’s my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess a tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous. I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration. I can humiliate or heal. In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated and a child humanized or dehumanized.” - H.G. Ginott

My professor, Dr. James, shared this quote with our class at the very beginning of the semester and I loved it so much.  These two concepts, that I have so far briefly introduced, compose the bulk of my personal educational philosophy.  I want to be a professional educator who is willing to admit that I do not have everything figured out.  One that is willing to admit that they, like their students, are still learning.  One that stays as informed as possible about the current issues in education and changes in technology.  One who incorporates many different aspects of a variety of theories into their classroom, rather than claiming one and saying, "I don't need to change things.  This is working; trust me."  One that looks at the individual student, and actually cares enough to figure them out.  Too many certified educators are not doing this in their classrooms today, and I want so much to be a part of changing that.

So back to what I said earlier about it being impossible for everyone to be right about everything, but rather that some people are right about something.  I realize that this statement might confuse or even tick people off; because what do I know, right?  How in the world can one person be right about something, and how does she know what that is?  Well, I could go about a million different directions here but, considering the assignment, I will stick precisely to my educational philosophy.  Every student is unique in their own way.  As a special education teacher in the making, I would like to clarify that I am not referring to strictly special education students, but rather to all students.  I think we can all agree that some educational theories work better than others for one student, and fail entirely for others.  I think what John Dewey was saying about education, as well as what I am trying to say about education, is that; rather than rejecting the theory as a whole, or rather in 'extremes',  we should look at it as something to be compared, taken apart, and individualized to meet the needs of the specific students in our classroom.  Some theories of education have some seriously good ideas, but the theory as a whole would be regarded by some people as junk.  I am not saying that picking apart two conflicting theories works for every situation in life, in fact I am definitely not saying that.  There are some cases in which one 'theory' is absolutely right, and exceptions can not and should not be made.  But, in an effort to stay off of that soap box, I will divert back to educational philosophy.  Educational theory is not like that because of one factor: the individualized student.  That leads me into my next point.

Far to often we as educators group these individual students into classes, and forget about the fact that they are so different from one another.  Johnny does not have the same home life as Jill; and while James' ADHD may be a result of bad parenting and over medication, Jack is a different story.  Making assumptions about these individuals and claiming one theory, diagnosis, or label because its easy, or to justify your annoyance in the classroom, or to keep things in order, in its' entirety is doing these individuals a disservice; and yet it is happening in schools everywhere.  Instead of classifying, these professional educators should be searching to facilitate their students' learning in the LRE (least restrictive environment) while incorporating the most diverse compilation of learning theories into an individualized plan para each individual student.  This, rather than labeling them something as general and offensive as 'the BD kids', or 'that one class' what education is about.  Those 'BD kids' and 'that one class' are composed of individuals.  And those individuals have way more depth, significance, and individuals factors that are unique to them alone contrary to their type of behavior disorder or annoying class quality; and we all need to be focusing more on that.

I am just a little bit passionate on this subject if you couldn't tell.  Last point; the second quote from Dr. James' class by H.G. Ginott is incredible.  If you need to re-read it again I highly recommend it.  I have seen the truth in this quote first hand.  I have unfortunately seen teachers who take it upon themselves to humiliate their students as a method of facilitating learning.  There are other teachers who aren't using it to facilitate learning at all but rather are entirely burnt out with their job.  These are the teachers that come in with the mood "when do I retire again?" written all over their faces, and the students pick up on that.  Our attitudes and passions do transfer in the classroom.  When you really believe in a student's ability to improve, they feel it.  When you don't, guess what, they feel that too.  My hope is that I never get to that place where I resort to humiliation or submitting to a method or theory that works 'well enough' to get my students to close up silently in their seats.  I do not want to 'burn out', and I honestly don't think I will.  While I have seen my fair share of teachers I do not want to be, I have also seen my fair share of teachers I do want to be; like my Aunt Sherry.  She has taught kindergarden for 30 years with a smile, a cartwheel, and a great attitude that has never failed to bring that positive decisive element to her classroom.  I had her for kindergarden and loved it, and her kindergardeners are still loving it in her classroom today.  If you are a teacher and you can not find it somewhere within yourself to do these things every single day for your students, regardless the age, you should not be a teacher; and it's as simple as that.