The Teaching Philosophies of Mr.

Vidaurri

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The Teaching Philosophies of Mr. Vidaurri

Estevan G. Vidaurri
Chandler-Gilbert Community College

PHILOSOPHIES OF MR. VIDAURRI

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Abstract

In this paper progressivism and John Dewey are both mentioned because of their major role in
teaching philosophies. John Dewey is considered the father of progressivism and believed in
hands on work experience, and building a sense of community between students. The biggest
part of progressivism is giving the students a feeling of responsibility, and that helps them ease
into their responsibilities as an adult in their later life.

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Teachers arguably have one of the most important jobs in the world, because they are tasked with
the job of teaching the future generations. What you say to these children, and what you teach
these children will most likely stick with them for the rest of their lives. I wish to become an
educator because I believe it is what I was born to do; I love kids and I love teaching them, also
my entire family on my moms side is educators. I heard so many amazing stories about
education that I knew I wanted to be a teacher. However, the way you teach is just as important
as how you teach, and with so many philosophies how do you know which one fits you the best?
John Dewey was an educational philosopher who believed in progressivism. Teach by Janice
Koch defines progressivism as the belief that stresses active learning through problem solving,
projects, and hands-on experiences (Koch, 2016, p. 42-43). Progressivism may not be the only
philosophy, but I believe that it is the best philosophy because I believe that hands on experience
is the best way for a child to learn, I believe that what is relevant to the students is best, and I
believe that giving responsibility to the students will help them in the future.
To start, progressivists believe that teachers should focus on the children themselves, and not
the lesson. I feel like lessons only go one of two ways, either you get it or you dont. However,
through progressivism you can teach the children through active experimentation. So many
children get so anxious or so bored during lessons, and a teachers job should be to move them
around and keep them awake and active. To put in the words of a progressivist Effective
teachers provide experiences so that students can learn by doing. (Cohen, 1999) Through active
experimentation they are learning through individual experiences that the teacher is providing for
them. The children then learn that through experimentation and through experiences that they
can learn new things. In fact, that is how they will be learning things pretty much through middle

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school and all high school. Experiences and experimentation, whether something worked or
didnt work; further preparing them for life ahead.
Next, progressive educators position on what to teach is that they should teach something
relevant to the childrens lives. It is important to try and center your lessons on the abilities,
experiences, interests, and needs of the student. To make sure the students get the most out of the
lesson educators should try planning on making their lessons interesting enough to provoke
curiosity. John Dewey believed that moral value and cultivation integrally involves attention to
the present situation as both the spirit and the method through which conduct is morally worthy.
(Evens 2011) Through this, the students will then be asked to perform some sort of experiment or
asked to make a project that involves teamwork and things that they find morally fun that sparks
their curiosity, while also learning something. This will help build social qualities and more
importantly build cooperation and tolerance for anyone who has different viewpoints. Another
important factor to add is that children will learn that they can problem solve these experiments
or projects, and then use this for real life situations. What you get out of progressivism in a
classroom compared to any other theory inside a classroom is that progressivism is changing the
classroom every day and pushing for ongoing growth. Other classrooms might just be pushing
the students to pass, and then move on to the next grade without even making sure everyone
understood the lessons taught.
To finish, one of the biggest things with progressivism is that you are giving the students a
sense of responsibility. Progressive classrooms embed teaching and learning and put it into
context of daily living. John Dewey believed that students needed to participate in decisions
that affected their learning and that they should be guided by academically autonomous
teachers. (Koch, 2016, p. 43) Autonomous teachers being educators who were not being held to

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strict rules. This allows educators to focus on the talents of each individual student and build on
those strengths and talents. Through progressivism we can integrate classrooms and education
with real life. More importantly the fact that a childs curiosity could define what was being
taught in the classroom. Progressivism gives schools a vibrant look because it is showing
students that we as educators care about what they thing, and by doing so we encourage them to
become active learners and problem solve for not only schools equations, but real-life situations.
We can study the students through close observations and show the students that we are on their
side, and all we want is what is best for them.
To talk about how progressivism is going to affect my class in the upcoming years; I decided
I want to set my desks up in pods. This is so that students are looking at each other, and have a
shoulder partner to talk to and ask questions. This is important to me because I believe building
that sense of community is very important, especially because I am going to be teaching
elementary school kids. Building that sense of community in elementary school is good, because
it makes kids be social. I am going to have them talk about what they are learning with each
other in between lessons for a few minutes before moving on to the next lesson. I always
believed that sometimes it is easier for a student to understand something hearing it from another
student. Finally, I will make sure that my desk is visible to all. More importantly, I am going to
make sure all the desks can easily see the white board, because that is where I am going to be
standing in the class. I am going to be standing in front of all the kids at the start of every lesson
so I can make sure I see all their faces, and know they are paying attention. Posters and skits are
also going to be a big thing in my class because I believe that seeing something is easier to learn
than just listening. The posters will be about the lesson I just taught of course, and each student
will write something they learning on their poster from each pod. The students will then walk

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around and see what everyone else learned from their poster. This is how my classroom will be,
at least this is how I want it to be right now.
In conclusion, I believe that John Dewey hit the nail on the head with his philosophies through
progressivism. I went through all elementary school not doing a single project, and when I hit
middle school; the whole idea of a project totally confused me. Hands on experience is important
to teach in elementary school because if not taught correctly, or in some cases at all, it leaves
children feeling overwhelmed in middle school when they dont have someone holding their
hand. Finding what the students find interesting and turning into a lesson is a very rare skill that
few teachers pull off. If you can somehow pull it off though, teaching lessons will become so
much easier for you. You will not only peak their curiosity, but also teach them something about
themselves. They will learn to problem solve not only in the classroom, but in real life situations.
Progressivism is by far one of the best philosophies because it also stresses responsibility, which
is only taught very little in elementary school. Giving students that sense of responsibility is
good because it makes them feel like they are in control, and it also teaches them how to be a
responsible adult. John Dewey and progressivism really shaped my beliefs and how I thought I
was going to teach. Before I wasnt even sure what I believed about education, all I knew is that I
wanted to be a teacher. Now I have found my beliefs, and I am excited to implement them into a
classroom someday.

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References

Cohen, L. M. (n.d.). PHILOSOPHICAL PERSPECTIVES IN EDUCATION.

Retrieved November 20, 2016, from http://oregonstate.edu/instruction/ed416/PP3.html
Koch, J. (2016). TEACH. Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.
Progressive education. (n.d.).
Retrieved November 20, 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progressive_education
Progressivism. (n.d.).
Retrieved November 20, 2016, from
http://www.siue.edu/~ptheodo/foundations/progressivism.html
Evans, E. s. (2016). JOHN DEWEY AND THE ARTFUL LIFE:
PRAGMATISM, AESTHETICS, AND MORALITY. Education & Culture, 32(1), 157162. Retrieved December 1, 2016, from
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%40sessionmgr2&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=116518
657&db=eft