Teaching Philosophies: Voices Response

         When reading The History and Philosophy of Education Voices of Educational Pioneers by Madonna Murphy, there was no one philosopher who stood out as someone I clearly identified with. It was more so that in each of these philosophers’ views on education I found aspects that I could relate to my views on education. As I look at what I want for my classroom, I see many different aspects that should be implemented in the classroom. For instance many of the philosophers including, Confucious, Augustine, Sappho, Socrates, Aquaina, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Rousseau, Dewey, and Pigat, believed that students are the most important part of the classroom. They all seemed to have a focus amongst students and making sure we shape curriculum around our students, what they are capable of doing, their interests, and a teacher-learner relationship. We must make the learning environment a comfortable and safe place for all students. They believed in equality amongst all students; however, as teachers, we need to make sure we are paying attention to all students individually as well as treating them all equal. Our information and instruction should be based on the students needs not what we as the teacher think is most important, but more so about what the students need help on comprehending. As teachers, we must be role models as Augustine states, making sure we are compassionate to our students. We should challenge our students to think and go beyond basic recitation and instead encourage them to ask questions and delve deeply into the material. Confucius’s thought about how we should inspire students with great ideas and such. As teachers, this is what we should strive for to inspire and encourage students to learn by being passionate and making the classroom a safe place.

            I found myself interested in the idea presented by Socrates as the thought that students cannot simply learn from a teacher projecting information. Students must discover and question with the teacher to help learn and achieve an education. In this aspect of understanding one needs to explore further to really develop a strong education for students I related to many different philosophers once again gripping on to small portions of their beliefs that made the most sense to me. In Jesus’s philosophy the concept of having many activity methods seems crucial in the classroom. As teachers, we need to engage our students in a variety of ways so they are able to have ample opportunities to delve deeply into a subject and gain knowledge from it. As educators, we need to take into consideration the knowledge students already have and grow off of this so there is this progression in learning making students engaged and alert. Augustine touches upon this in the philosophy of education. Hilegard also touches upon this saying that education should be more active allowing students to dive into diverse topics in new ways using art and truth and culture to discover something. The idea of allowing students to move past initial knowledge into a realm of more possibilities is present in Aquina, Eramus, Comenius, Jefferson, and Dewey where they believe an education should focus on inquiry and a comfortable atmosphere in which students can ask questions and delve deeper into topics. As seen in many of the philosophers we need to encourage students to go further using hand on activities, questions, multiple ways of learning, and comfortable atmospheres. If we want the best results in the classroom, we need to find what fits our way of teaching and remember to look at the many options and piece together the best possible way to educate students.

            Throughout the reading of this text I found myself finding commonalities amongst the philosophers as well as common themes I really enjoyed. Though I did not relate personally to one philosopher, I found myself piecing together what I wanted through their examples. It gives many options for what a classroom could like showing the diversity in learning environments and philosophies for education. This allows us as future teachers see that there are endless possibilities and we just need to find the right fit.