Philosophy of Teaching Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Philosophy of Teaching - Essay Example Progressive education, the philosophy that education needs to reflect the fact that humans are social animals and learn best through social activities, contradicts student self-directedness. This thought leads one to conclude that interactivity between student and learning material is necessary for a proper education. Rather than lecture with displays, children learn best by using their five senses, motor skill coordination, and spatial refinement. This can only happen when the children feel that they are in control of their classroom environment. Children learn best through trial and error; therefore, giving them tasks to complete and learn from their errors is vastly superior to simply giving them the right answer at finish. In many ways, the most effective way of teaching children is to give the student hands-on experience with the lesson. Getting the children active and engaged is a matter of doing activities that hold the student’s attention. By doing these specialized ac tivities, students develop the will and ability to have their own thoughts: thinking and doing independently and apart from an obtrusive teacher. This philosophy of learning accompanies a complementary philosophy of pedagogy. Because students and children in general are capable of self-directed learning, the ideal teacher is not so much a lecturer or an interferer, but rather she is a guide or a director of learning. The teacher does not give facts for rote memorization or lead students into social learning, but rather into the autonomous completing of activities. The teacher simply introduces the materials and lets students teach themselves and others, and helping when necessary. When the teacher feels that the student has mastered the current material, demonstrating this with new skills and knowledge, he or she can introduce new materials and exercises. The proper approach to pedagogy views testing and grades as antithetical to the proper purpose of education as a means of teaching