Introduction
What makes a teacher? Teaching is like a salad. Think about it. If you
were to attend a party for any given holiday, the number of and variations to
each salad recipe that might be present for consumption could outnumber those
present at the party. There are so many different ways to teach, varying
circumstances to take into account, and philosophies to apply to each
classroom. And what better way to have a positive impact on the world than to
offer knowledge for consumption? The term ‘teacher’ can be applied to anyone
who imparts knowledge of any topic, but it is generally more focused on those
who are hired to do so (teach, n.d., n.p.). In imparting knowledge to our
students, it is inevitable that we must take into account our own personal
philosophies, or pedagogies, and determine not only how we decide what our
philosophies are, but also how those impact our consumers.
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Philosophy
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General Education
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Music
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Arts
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Physical Education
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Health
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Perennialism
Perennialists believe that one should teach the things that one deems
to be of everlasting pertinence to all people everywhere. They believe that
the most important topics develop a person.
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Perennialists
are instructors who feel that the knowledge that has been passed through the
ages should be continued as the basis of the curriculum, like the classic works
of Plato and Einstein. Perennialists base their teachings on reason, logic,
and analytical thought. Only information that stood the test of time is
relevant. They do not illicit student input. The classes most likely to be
considered under this approach would be history, science, math, and religion
classes (Educational Philosophies in the Classroom, pg.1).
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In
teaching music a perennialist teacher uses traditional techniques, old book
references and classical music genre in the classroom and they will not let
the choice of music by the students be presented in the classroom.
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The
teacher as a perrenialist teaches the widely used techniques in artworks that
has been used years ago by artist. They will
not let the students do use contemporary artwork techniques.
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The
P.E teacher will not recognize the new kinds of exercises instead they make
use of old ways to do a warm-up exercise.
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The
teacher may use old textbooks in health education compared to the new
information in the internet.
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Pragmatism
Pragmatism
is a rejection of the idea that the function of thought is to describe,
represent, or mirror reality. Instead, pragmatists develop their philosophy
around the idea that the function of thought is as an instrument or tool for
prediction, action, and problem solving.
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Instruction is organized around
problem-solving following the steps of the scientific method - emphasizes the
need to act on concepts by testing them (Ornstein, 2003, p.104).
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The
teacher is focus on the step by step process in learning certain music from a
single beat to a complicated song by doing a practicum.
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The
teacher uses the method of doing a project example a sketch project after
learning from a lecture about sketching techniques.
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The
P.E. teacher will be first discuss the important concept of doing warming up
and cooling down before and after a extreme exercise and after that act on
the concept learned
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The
teacher will let the student do a research activity about a science
experiment and will let them know the concept of scientific steps in solving
a problem and do an own research experiment.
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Idealism
Idealism is a philosophical approach that has as its central
tenet that ideas are the only true reality, the only thing worth knowing. In
a search for truth, beauty, and justice that is enduring and everlasting, the
focus is on conscious reasoning in the mind. Plato, father of Idealism,
espoused this view about 400 years BC
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Focuses on a
subject-matter curriculum emphasizing the great ideas of the culture. Teaching methods focus on handling ideas through lecture,
discussion, and Socratic dialogue (a method of teaching that uses questioning
to help students discover and clarify knowledge). (Ornstein, 2003, p.99).
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An
idealist teacher will make the topic be more focused like in Music the
teacher will give a lecture and will let the student do a collaborative work
on discussion about a topic example a topic about melodies.
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An
idealist teacher will most likely do a lecture before an assessment of how
well the student learn the topic like when the topic is about basic form of
art. An idealist teacher will first hold a lecture o the topic and afterwards
do an assessment like a pen and paper test, not necessarily the practical
assessment.
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An
idealist teacher in P.E. classes will most likely do a lecture on the topics
than let the students do a practical activity. Like a warm up exercise the
teacher will first do lecture then let the students perform their own
exercise.
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The
Body Systems be first be lectured in the classroom and a dialogue or a
brainstorming of ideas in the class as an assessment in how well they learn
the topic will be the strategy of the teacher.
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Realism
Realists believe that reality exists independent of the human
mind. The ultimate reality is the world of physical objects. The focus is on
the body/objects. Truth is objective-what can be observed. Aristotle, a
student of Plato who broke with his mentor's idealist philosophy, is called
the father of both Realism and the scientific method.
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A subject-matter
curriculum stressing objective knowledge and values. Reality is objective,
meaning everyone should obtain the same results regardless of what he does or
how he consider concepts (Ornstein, 2003, p.101)
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A
realist teacher often gives lectures about music from books with unified
handouts in order to attain the same outcomes.
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A
realist teaches arts to students by giving emphasis on the knowledge about
the topic and integrate it in the values formation of students.
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A
realist P.E. teacher introduces unified warm up exercises and explains its
importance in doing a work out.
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A
realist Health teaches students by discussing its topic and assess student earning
after the demonstration.
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Constructivism
Constructivism, a perspective in education, is based on
experimental learning through real life experience to construct and
conditionalize knowledge.
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Active
participation is the key to this teaching style. Students are free to explore
their own ideas and share concepts with one another in nontraditional ways.
“Hands on activity […] is the most effective way of learning and is
considered true learning” (Educational Philosophies in the Classroom, pg.1).
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As
an activity before a lecture the teacher will let the student make their own
music by inspired by past events of their lives.
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The
teacher will make group the students and will let them explore the history of
arts throughout the world by doing research before a discussion in the
classroom.
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The
teacher will let the students decide on what kind of dance steps in the
contemporary dance craze activity which will be performed in culmination of
their Mapeh class for the school year.
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The
teacher will let the students videotaped or record on the importance body
systems and effects of the malfunction of it on the human body system through
a short film.
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REFERENCES
