Progressivism

3 Pages 830 Words

Progressivism: My Teaching Philosophy

As educators, I believe it is important that personal beliefs about education be explored. This should be an ongoing and evolving process; however I find the philosophy of progressivism within my fundamental beliefs about teaching. Everyone has their own opinion or ideas about how education should operate and what should be the focus of it. As someone who has just been introduced to many of the educational philosophies and ideas, it is essential that I focus on what I consider to be of value.
As a teacher in the near future, I would like to see my students find it within themselves to challenge their minds and challenge each other. It will be improbable to find a classroom full of students that all have the same goals and aspirations in mind, so my challenge is to guide them in the right direction.
Seeing that every school needs a curriculum, it is vital to understand what that curriculum is and how to approach it. With the curriculum comes different teaching methods and different approaches to passing on the information. I find that the educational philosophy of progressivism is huge. Progressivism really connects with my beliefs in teaching. This method works by allowing students to learn by doing hands on activities and challenging themselves without even knowing it. Since progressivism is a “child-centered” method, it enables the students to be free to experiment on their own. The child has a voice in what he/she is learning and that is extremely valuable. Not only does the student have a voice but, the teacher is a guide for them. As the teacher guides the students, the main emphasis is not content but process and how to think is more essential than what to think. Within progressivism, there are some things that progressivism should not be and the one that really caught my eye was that it should not use fear of physical punishment as a form of discipline. This is something that all ...