Daniel Bowen

6/28/2015
EDU 1010
Chapter 5 Assignment

Educational Philosophy
Educational philosophy is all about how a teacher goes about instructing a class.
Philosophy is a set of principles we choose to live by, even though we often don't consciously
think about them.1 There are four main philosophical teaching ideas: Perennialism, essentialism,
progressivism and social reconstructionism. All of these are taught by different teachers and are
liked by some and disliked by others. As I have studied these philosophies I have come to the
conclusion of the way I want to be teaching. My particular instruction would have to be focused
around essentialism and progressivism philosophies. A defining reason why I want to develop
these ideas is because they are very similar to how I was taught and raised. They are
comfortable teaching methods and I feel like they would come more naturally. They are the
teaching methods that I often don't consciously think about.
Essentialism is focused on specific knowledge and skills that need to be learned and acquired
as you go throughout school. For example, In Elementary you take classes like math, history,
english and science. These are all basic classes that teach someone basic principles that are
going to be needed in life. These classes don't have to be hard but they need to set a foundation
for students to learn from. Learning how to add numbers together in elementary set the
foundation for the math that I can do now. Essentialism is very much about setting a foundation
so that when the harder subjects come along, you have something to pull your information from.
The way that this is taught in a classroom is through lectures, questions and feedback.
Discussions are a great way to learn. When a student shares what they have learned or
expresses how they feel they in that moment are being the teacher. People learn as they are
teaching. Letting the students say what they have learned really lets you know that they
understand the subject.
Progressivism is centered around developing problem solving, decision making and
obtaining other life skills.2 At some point students are going to need to know how to learn some
life skills so that they know what to do in certain situations. The intentions with this idea of
teaching is to fully develop students as much as possible. There are constant problems that
come up throughout a persons life and solving that problem is the natural thing to do. The best

1 Introduction to Teaching pg 149

2 Introduction to Teaching pg 161

way to let kids learn this is by putting students in situations where they have to make a decision.
For example, Asking good questions that allow the student to elaborate and communicate about
the answer. The student has to make a decision and express that decision. The way these life
skills are taught is through cooperative learning, guided discovery and questions. This gives
students an opportunity to learn from each other and work with the people around them.
In conclusion, both of these philosophies are very effective ways to teach. Overall they allow a
student to learn by expressing themselves. This stays away from yes and no answers and
allows a student to explain why he or she things that way. Progressivism and Essentialism, in
my opinion, are the best ways to organize and structure your teaching habits. Although every
body teaches differently, I feel like this will be most effective for me and the students I teach.
Work Cited
Kauchak, Donald P., and Paul D. Eggen. Introduction to Teaching: Becoming a Professional.
Fifth ed. Print.