The Statement Of Teaching Philosophy - 1775 Words

My Philosophy Introduction â€Å"The statement of teaching philosophy (also called the teaching statement or teaching philosophy statement) promotes reflective practice by encouraging instructors to describe their teaching methods, to justify why they use those methods, to analyze the effectiveness of those methods, and to consider how they might appropriately modify those methods in future courses.† (Schà ¶nwetter et al., 2002) Stake holder motivation, engagement, cognitive associations, and personal values are the principal elements of education. The attainment of knowledge, standards mastery, and the ability to reason come second to a student s overall well-being. Elements of behaviorism, essentialism, progressivism, existentialism and†¦show more content†¦For example, many first drafts include general statements about learning goals as well as teaching practices.† (Kearns Sullivan, 2011) Teachers are encouraged to systematically change declarative statements about their passion f or teaching moments in the classroom that speak of learning goals and personal qualities. It is through reflection of experiences that teachers can build personal expectations of themselves. Review of the Literature Within a framework of teaching, educators focus on the nature of knowledge and how students gain that knowledge. There are five established, major educational philosophies. They are behaviorism, essentialism, progressivism, existentialism and perennialism. These philosophies greatly focus on what should be taught. Behavioral learning theories are simply explained as reinforcing behaviors one would like to see repeated. Slavin states, Reinforcement will increase the frequency of a behavior with positive or negative consequences. (2012, p. 120) The student environment impacts student decisions and learning. Positive reinforcement is the application of a stimulus. Negative reinforcement is the application of a punishment. The role of teachers in behavioral learning theories is to provide immediate and concise feedback of behaviors. Teachers should provide tasks with small,