My Philosophy of Education

Kathleen Nitz
May 27, 1954

A. Definition of Education

1. Objectives

2. Importance in a democracy

3. Role of teachers

B. Learning and the learner

1. The whole child

C. Curriculum

1. Planning – pupil, teacher

2. Creativeness

3. Skills

4. Materials

D. Human Relations

1. Attitude of the teacher

2. Punishment

3. Discipline

E. Evaluation

1. Common Sense

2. Children’s evaluation

3. Teachers evaluation

4. Reports to parents

5. Personal goal

My Philosophy of Education

Definition of Education

Education is one of the most commonplace activities to be found in any society today. Education of the informal character is going on all the time. There are few enterprises undertaken that some learning is not part of the incidental result. Whether the education is formal or informal, it is carried on with complete absorption in the present hurly-burly of the demands of one’s immediate situation.

Education is the preparing of the child for the reciprocal union with society. His preparation can thus help him to help his fellowmen and in return receive their help.

To me good teaching involves more than just the making of a good citizen out of a student. Teaching usually begins when a child is born, but learning cannot take place until the child is capable of understanding and willing to learn. These needs of a child, as he helps to develop them and they are being developed, should be related to actual everyday problems of living and not the great extreme either way. Some children’s needs must be found before they can be developed or satisfied and this is a task required of the teacher. The teacher also needs to motivate the child to think and work out problems for himself.

“The development of ability to think and the acquisition of useful knowledge are primary aims of the school.” I agree with Bun, Herding and Jacobs in this idea.

The purpose of education in a democracy is to develop well balanced individuals who will have a broad concept of the problems that we have today, those of the past and those in the future.

I agree with Mr. Gaughty in “that the school should be a place in which a child meets, and is helped to solve, problems which are very real and vital to him at his present stage of experience and maturity; and that the school is not properly a practice field or cramming pen where the child is prepared to begin life after he becomes an adult.”

Learning and the Learner

In the book Principles of Education by Otto, it was stated “children of the same chronological age or of the same grade differ widely in almost every measurable human trait is so well known a fact that further demonstration of it need not be presented.”

The need always arises for the teacher to be constantly alert to all individual needs and to meet these needs in the best possible way. Every child is a unique individual and should be guided as one at all times.

I believe there are five areas in which children are going to require special attention and will need some guiding in them. There are (1) physical, (2) social, (3) emotional, and (4) mental, and (5) spiritual. I want to help develop the whole child.

Curriculum

Every child is different, but children who are too different and deviate from the normal might be considered exceptional or handicapped. Differences are only in a matter of degrees, but every individual need must be guided. I believe even if a child is mentally gifted, a slow learner, physically handicapped or considered the normal or average child, he needs three basic steps to help to improve his potentialities in education. These three are as follows: a stimulation that will lead to growth, challenging materials and experiences which are practical and meaningful, and the given opportunity for practicing applications and generalizations.

Security and satisfaction of the child is provided through good learning conditions. “Since the classroom is really the school home” for children, the general appearance of every room is very important. Classrooms need to show signs of life and activity. Pictures, flowers, books, attractive bulletin boards, maps, science corners and murals are just a few of the many indications of life in a classroom. Chairs and tables should allow for flexibility in use, and children should be allowed to have freedom of use in the room.

Human Relations

“Discipline in the elementary school seeks to assist each pupil to develop the abilities, attitudes, and habits essential to an ever increasing intelligent self-direction.” I agree with the previous statement from Teaching in the Elementary School. Also, to me, discipline needs to have a goal and to do this one needs an organization of impulses to attain it. Good discipline is no longer just a teacher-control affair, but it now involves pupil self-control. I do not agree in the reward-punishment or gold star stage in discipline. By always giving a reward of some type, children tend to feel inferior or superior and this will not promote a good learning situation. Behavior in response to just a reward or fear operates upon a low level and one who finds herself in such a position should try to substitute a more effective method of control. Self discipline is to me, the very highest level of conduct. This stage can only be achieved after the child has developed worth self standards and has the desire to conform to them. It is then when a person is truly disciplined.

In maintaining discipline the attitude of the teacher is a very important factor. Children are usually active and busy; so the teacher must see that they have many worthwhile things to do and that there is no time for destructive idleness. The teacher should and really must give each child a feeling of success, security, and confidence in his own ambitions and abilities. After a fair warning, if the situation arises where punishment is needed I believe one should punish immediately, but the punishment should be fitting to the offense and to the individual considering age, emotional disturbances and handicaps if there are any. After the punishment has been given, try to find a way to compliment the child as soon as it is possible. A smile or a few friendly words will help to prevent future trouble and show that there are “no hard feelings.”

Extensive planning cannot be done by the teacher alone because planning for a day or a unit of work must include some of the children’s own ideas and interests. In this way, by using the social planning relationships between pupil and teacher it helps to motivate the child, because his own ideas will have been used and this gives him a feeling of accomplishment. Pupils work better when goals are cooperatively planned together.

I believe teachers should plan together for unity of work, that will include every child and in such a way make him feel responsible for something definite.

Sufficient time should be spent on selecting the unit and then arousing or stimulating the class in such a way that they are eager to participate. Children should not be talked into units that they are not interested in. Units of work for the longer or shorter periods of time should be real to the child at his maturity level. A long term unit might be integrated with smaller units, because children will become extreme bored by continuously working on the same project.

Any unit of work needs cooperative planning by pupil and teacher. The trend is that children should learn through multiple doing. By doing more than a single activity at one time children acquire multiple learnings. From isolated subjects a correlation of curriculum has grown and children’s knowledge has developed from actual life experiences.

“It is necessary to have planned each unit to the extent of knowing possible approaches, worth-while experiences and activities, materials which are available and the desired outcomes in terms of abilities, attitudes, appreciations, and understandings.” This was taken from Dr. Heer’s book and I do like the definition. Planning done by the teacher acts as a “framework” for the activity, but the cooperative planning between the teacher and pupil will determine the final appearance of the activity or project.

Committee work and group discussion is an essential feature of the modern classroom procedure. Questions raised by the children should be used extensively by the teacher in planning curriculum, guiding advancement, and in guiding the activities of individual children.

Everyone is capable of creative experiences. A creative experience can take place at any time, place and with any materials. Creative activity gives the child opportunity to prove what he is capable of doing and helps to develop a broader sense of self-reliance. In creative expression children realize the goal and have more persistence and enthusiasm to reach their goal of accomplishing it.

Patrick Henry once said, “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.” Children need the actual experience of using every available school and community facility. A class may have a favorable learning situation, but very few children have the experiences necessary to build adequate responses. The teacher must be prepared to direct the in a way that learning experiences will take place.

Developing children’s skill should be another important part in education. Skills should be taught when the child is ready for them and when he will use them in a meaningful manner and situation. Standards should not be above the childs maturity level.

In the book, The Prophet, he said, “If the teacher is indeed wise he does not bid you enter his house of wisdom, but rather leads you to the threshold of your own mind.” Each child should develop his own values in reward to respecting others as equal individuals and to his cooperativeness for the good of the group.

Children need to do more than just verbalize and should be given many opportunities to express themselves through actual work. No child is too young that he cannot use paints and solid materials like blocks in expressing himself. Values are not only learned through actual doing, but values are increased and will be retained for a longer period of time through practice.

Evaluation

By using “common sense” along with other factors we usually can agree that the teacher is the most important factor in the school situation. A students learning is conditioned not only by the curriculum and subject matter, but by relationships between teachers and pupils. Teachers can be evaluated by at least two methods. The one evaluates the merit of the teacher through the changes that are produced in her pupils. The second is in accordance with Educational Measurement and Evaluation by Remmers. He stated “teachers evaluation proceeds in terms of any aspect of teachers which may be considered related to their effectiveness in producing desirable changes in pupils. Evaluation is an appraisal of the value or the worthwhileness of something. Evaluation is necessary to the school because no elementary school can have an efficient program without knowing what it is doing and what it will accomplish.

Class comparisons are not sufficient enough in evaluating children, because we need to know how the individual has grown and developed.

Parents are entitled to know just how their children are improving, but I disapprove of using letter grade. Letter grades develop more completely the idea of children comparing themselves with other and in other grades. Children should be graded as unique individuals in all phases and not just in subject matter. Charts should be kept for each child and they should include the improvements and the unsatisfactory work of the child.

I really hope to be able to teach and use my own personal ideas in teaching. I want to help, guide and teach the child in the best possible [him].

Kathleen Nitz
May 27, 1954