Sub-Categories of Philosophies

Perennialism: These people believe in similar ideas to that of essentialists mainly focusing on the concept of having a set of common core informational goals. They are often practicing mental discipline but believe that learning is an on-going process where facts are constantly changing, meaning their students focus on big ideas and concepts that remain the constant focus. They teach everlasting importance to all people everywhere. Perenialists focus on the most important topics to develop a person, because they believe you must treat people as people first. It is a teacher-based system, but its importance is dependent upon the students and is open to student criticism.

 Essentialism:  They believe that one should have a common core of information and skill set. These types of people are hard workers with very strong mental ability and self-discipline. This form of sub-category is mostly teacher-centered in the classroom and draws from the concepts and ideas brought forward in idealism and realism when dealing with the four basic philosophies. They are very organized because they believe this is the best possible way for them to get the common core of information presented to their students.

Behaviorism:  This sub-category closely deals with the philosophy known as realism. This is a theory that believes ones self and behavior is based on and determined by the environment around them more so than heredity. Behaviorists believe that by controlling the learning environment teachers can significantly influence students and teach them. They believe in strong organizational skills as well as a curriculum based on behavioral objectives. They believe knowledge is a behavior that is observable. These forms of teachers use positive and negative reinforcers to get their students to behave a certain way. They believe good behavior is observed than positively reinforced to help students better understand what is good and bad.

Positivism: These philosophers believe that essences, intuition, and inner causes cannot be measured; therefore, they cannot be taught or used to teach. They believe that knowledge can only be found in statements and points of observable fact. They reject beliefs of the mind, spirit and self and only accept reality that can be explained using measurements, laws, etc. Teachers believing this philosophy often use direct instruction and do not think about student engagement. There is learning and teaching process where the teacher is expected to teach in a clear and precise manner with evidence to back up what is being stated. Teachers are expected to use repetition and memorization of fact. These are the ways in which behaviorists have an effect on the classroom in a more logical atmosphere.

 Progressivism:  this is an educational theory that through questions and experimentation students can learn. They favor human experience as the way to obtain knowledge and understanding. Progressivists believe in the scientific method, student involvement, and belief of an individual are the ways in which students are able to learn. These teachers prepare their students for change. They believe the classroom is like a democracy where the students and teachers work together to make the classroom the best learning environment.

Reconstructionism:  They tend to address this idea of being familiar with social issues and social questions. They deal with specifically looking at trying to make the society better and worldwide democracy. These students take action on social issues being presented in the world around them.

Humanism:  This philosophy deals with thinking of people as individuals. It believes that students should be treated as individuals, and it rejects group-oriented learning. This stems off the idea of existentialism. They believe that students should be actively participating in making their own choices and decisions. These teachers emphasize instruction and assessment that is based on each individual student’s interests. They believe in students having and making choices.

Constructivism:  They believe in doing hands on learning, and activity-based learning and teaching. This is closely associated with the philosophy of existentialism. They are student-based learning making it active for students to learn based on personal meaning and questions. In this form of curriculum, students are encouraged to answer their own questions and formulate their own opinions based on the answers they developed for the questions. Teachers are thought to be guides helping the students along while they embark on finding the answers for themselves.

I personally see myself as being a mixture of many different aspects of a few fields because they all have aspects I wish to implement in my classroom. As a perennialist, I have been learning in this type of atmosphere throughout my time at University of Maine at Farmington and feel as if I obtained so much information to benefit me in life. I really enjoy this method, because I feel as though it has students’ best interests in mind while also allowing the teacher to still have control, and this is what I wish to accomplish. It is the way in which I am able to learn best. The concept of thinking of students as people first is one I wish to live by making this ring true for myself.  I really enjoy the idea of teachers teaching but leaving it open to the students to be a part of the class and have a voice as well.

 I believe this is why I also feel as though I relate to progressivism in some ways. I am a firm believe in giving students choice and having their best interests in mind. The idea of observing and experimenting is very interesting. I have always been a hands-on learner while in school and this philosophy seems to focus on this idea. It is a project-based instruction with a variety of different ways to assess students. It also gives students choice and a voice, which are very important aspects I believe should be present in the classroom. I also believe that catering to students’ interests is essential in the classroom because it keeps them engaged. These are the areas of progressivism I would implement in my classroom because it works and helps my students retain more knowledge.

It is crucial to have a comfortable environment for all students. I believe that the philosophy known as humanism uses this as the key aspect to the philosophy. This deals mostly with creating a positive environment in the classroom for all students to feel good. It also deals with activity-based learning and thinking of students as individuals. This is important for teachers to remember because it is an area that seems important in the classroom because there are many students and they all learn in their own way. As a teacher these are the important aspects of this philosophy I wish to put into my classroom.