PES 3 Prelim December 20

Philosophy is "love of wisdom"

-an activity people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves, the
world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other.

-those who study philosophy are perpetually engaged in asking, answering, and arguing for their
answers to life’s most basic questions.

What is philosophy?

All teachers have a personal philosophy that colors the way they teach

It is a set of related beliefs that influence what and how students are taught

Engaging in philosophy helps clarify what they do or intend to do, justify or explain why they do
what they do in a logical, systematic manner

Some questions in framing one’s philosophy of education

What is the purpose of education?

What content and skills should schools develop?

How should schools teach the content of the curriculum?

What are the roles of the students and teachers in the teaching learning process?

How should learning be assessed?

The meaning of Philosophical Inquiry

“Whatever people choose to embrace, if their choices are made in a logical, rational manner,
they are engaged in the process of ‘doing philosophy.’”

Three specific areas of philosophical inquiry: metaphysics concerned with questions about the
nature of reality; epistemology concerned with the nature of knowledge; axiology concerned
with the nature of values

Particular Philosophies of Education

Idealism, the first systematic philosophy in Western thought…Socrates and Plato, the Socratic
method was dialogue

Generic notions: Philosophers often pose abstract questions that are not easily answered but
are concerned with the search for truth

World of matter in constant state of flux, senses are not to be trusted, continually deceive us
 Truth is perfect and eternal, but not found in the world of matter, only through the mind

Matter is not real. It is only the mind that is real

Idealism

The only constant for Plato was mathematics, unchangeable and eternal

Plato’s method of dialogue engaged in systematic, logical examination of all points of view…
ultimately leading to agreement and a synthesis of ideas…this approach known as the dialectic.

Plato believed education helped move individuals collectively toward achieving the good.

The State should be involved in education, moving brighter students toward abstract ideas and
the less able toward collecting data…a gender free tracking system

Those who were brighter should rule, others should assume roles to maintain the state

The philosopher-king would lead the State to the ultimate good

Evil comes through ignorance, education will lead to the obliteration of evil

More modern idealists: St. Augustine, Descartes, Kant, Hegel

Goal of Education: interested in the search for truth through ideas…with truth comes
responsibility to enlighten others, “education is transformation: Ideas can change lives.”

Role of the Teacher: to analyze and discuss ideas with students so that students can move to
new levels of awareness so that they can ultimately be transformed, abstractions dealt with
through the dialectic, but should aim to connect analysis with action

Role of the teacher is to bring out what is already in student’s mind: reminiscence

Methods of Instruction

Lecture from time to time, but primary method of teaching is the dialectic…discuss, analyze,
synthesize, and apply what they have read to contemporary society

Curriculum…importance of the study of the classics…many support a back to the basics

approach to education

Realism

Aristotle was the leading proponent of realism, started the Lyceum, the first philosopher to
develop a systematic theory of logic

Generic Notions…only through studying the material world is it possible to clarify or develop
ideas…matter is real independent of ideas
 Aristotle’s Systematic Theory of LogicBegin with empirical research, speculate or use dialectic
reasoning, and culminate in a syllogism

A syllogism is a system of logic that consists of three parts: (1) a major premise, (2) a minor
premise, and (3) a conclusion

For a syllogism to work, all the parts must be correct

Philosopher’s Concerns

What is the good life?

What is the importance of reason?

Moderation in all things…balance in leading one’s life: reason is the instrument to help
individuals achieve balance and moderation

Realists

Neo-Thomism…Aquinas affected a synthesis of pagan ideas and Christian beliefs…reason is the

means of ascertaining or understanding truth, God could be understood through reasoning
based on the material world…no conflict between science and religion

The world of faith with the world of reason, contemporary Catholic schools

Modern Realism

From the Renaissance, Francis Bacon developed induction, the scientific method…based on
Aristotle, developed a method starting with observations, culminating in generalization, tested
in specific instances for the purpose of verification

John Locke and tabula rasa (clean slate), things known from experience… ordered sense data
and then reflected on them

Contemporary Realists

Tend to focus on philosophy and science…Alfred North Whitehead, concerned with the search
for “universal patterns”

Bertrand Russell with Whitehead, Principia Mathematica…universal patterns could be verified

and classified through mathematics

Goal of Education for Realists

Notions of the good life, truth, beauty could be answered through the study of ideas, using the
dialectical method…for contemporary realists, the goal of education is to help individuals
understand and apply the principles of science to help solve the problems plaguing the modern
world
 Teachers should be steeped in the basic academic disciplines

Pragmatism

An American philosophy from the 19th century…Peirce, James, Dewey

“By their fruits, ye shall know them.” Pragmatism encourages people to find processes that
work in order to achieve their desired ends…action oriented, experientially grounded

Rousseau… “back to nature”, environment and experience.

John Dewey

Intellectual heir to Charles Darwin, constant interaction between organism and environment,
dynamic and developing world…child centered progressivism and social reconstructionism

Instrumentalism and experimentalism, pragmatic relationship between school and society and
applying ideas of education on an experimental basis

John Dewey’s Philosophy

Education starts with the needs and interests of the child, allows the child to participate in
planning her course of study, employ project method or group learning, depend heavily or
experiential learning

Children are active, organic beings…needing both freedom and responsibility

Ideas are not separate from social conditions, philosophy has a responsibility to society

Dewey’s Role for the Teacher

Not the authoritarian but the facilitator…encourages, offers suggestions, questions and helps
plan and implement courses of study…has command of several disciplines

Inquiry method, problem solving, integrated curriculum

Existentialism and Phenomenology

Kierkegaard, Buber, Jaspers, Sartre, Maxine Greene…existentialists

Husserl, Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty…phenomenologists

How do one’s concerns affect the lives of an individual…the phenomena of consciousness,

perception and meaning in an individual’s experience

Existentialists and Phenomenologists

Based on the earth alone, must make sense of the chaos one encounters
 “Existence precedes essence.” People must create themselves and create their own meaning…
done through the choices people make in their lives, in a state of constant becoming…an
individual can make a difference in a seemingly absurd world

Existentialists

Education should focus on the needs of individuals, include the non-rational as well as rational,
the notion of possibility

Teachers should understand their own “lived world” and help students to understand their
world

The need to be “wide awake”…the role of the teacher is intensely personal

Existentialism

Radical critique of capitalism

The role of education should be to give students the insight to demystify capitalism and become
agents of radical change

Marx believed the history of civilization was defined by class struggle

General conflict theory…the teacher is a “transformative intellectual”

Essentialism

Essentialism is a conservative view of curriculum that holds schools responsible for only the
most immediately needed instruction.

Essentialism avoids some of the waste inherent with experimentalism

But it can become so conservative that it fails to truly educate

Essentialism

Emphasis on a traditional education

Development of the mind

Core curriculum

Reality is based in the physical world

Teacher-directed learning

What would essentialists teach?

What would essentialists teach?

What would essentialists teach?

Reading, spelling, language arts

Mathematics, U. S. & World History

No vocational education!

How essentialists would evaluate student's learning?

Standardized tests

Criterion referenced tests

Not as likely to require portfolios

How essentialists would evaluate student's learning?

Standardized tests

Criterion referenced tests

Not as likely to require portfolios

How essentialists would evaluate student's learning?

Standardized tests

Criterion referenced tests

Not as likely to require portfolios

Essential (classroom management)

Using only text books

Seated row by row

Teacher lecture, students listen

Punishment--attempted behaviorism but without expertise

Orientation of Essentialism

Teach the basic civilized skills of reading, spelling and measuring.

Limit education’s responsibility--let industry teach vocational subjects

Perennialism
 Perennialism was prevalent in the early seventies in U. S.

Perennialism reveres the experience of teachers who have been there.

Heavy orientation to the past 20 years--almost nil attention to the future

Perennialists like to teach time-honored curricula, including the classics such as Plato an
Aristotle

They don’t like change.

They would include subjects such as:

 Geometry

 English literature

 World Geography

 Algebra Trigonometry Ancient Geography

 World history U.S. History Bookkeeping

Perennialists like to teach time-honored curricula, including the classics such as Plato an
Aristotle

They don’t like change.

They would include subjects such as:

 Geometry

 English literature

 World Geography

 Algebra Trigonometry Ancient Geography

 World history U.S. History Bookkeeping

Perennialist Evaluation Methodology

Teacher-made tests

Standardized test

Memory work (“mind is a muscle”)

Spelling bees
Perennialist Classroom Management

Assign seats in rows.

Be strict, but not necessarily expert, with punishment and reward.

Set up classroom rules.

Perennialist Orientation Expected

Self-contained knowledge--teacher is supposed to know all the answers

Teacher is the “fountain of all knowledge.”

Students are passive listeners

Where Perennialism Shines

Perennialism does help to dampen the uncertain effects of the fads that come to education

Not every new idea is a good one, or one that will even be effective.

Perennialism plays well to traditional communities

Reconstructionism

Reconstructionists point to a time in the past when they believe that things were better

They would re-create education to be like things were back during that time

They cite research, particularly historical, to show that things are not going well now.

What reconstructionists believe

Reconstructionists point to a time in the past when they believe that things were better

They would re-create education to be like things were back during that time

What reconstructionists would teach

Reconstructionists would teach the subjects that were taught during that “golden age.”

The subjects would be those that were taught during that time.

If the 1960s, for instance, they would teach usage of the slide rule.

Reconstructionists and technology

Their orientation is very much to the past

 They and perennialists do not react immediately and positively to new technology

PROGRESSIVISM -John Dewey – Early 1900s

Major Beliefs, Values, Practices

Emphasis on learning by doing-hands on

Integrated Curriculum focused on thematic units

Strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking

Group work is emphasized

Assessment by evaluation of child’s projects and productions

Progressivism

 Education should be life itself, not a preparation for living

 Learning should be directly related to the interests of the child

 The teachers role is not to direct but to advise

 The school should encourage cooperation rather than competition

Influence on Curriculum

• Progressive Education- period between late 19th and mid 20th century

• This educational philosophy stresses that students should test ideas by active experimentation.

• Learning is rooted in the questions of learners that arise through experiencing the world.

• Effective teachers provide experiences so that students can learn by doing.

Progressivism

 Curriculum content is derived from student interests and questions.

 Insists that education must be a continuous reconstruction of living experience based on activity
directed by the child

Example

 In a Preschool classroom have themes , which are implemented around the subjects students
are learning, most of the learning/activities in preschool are active and revolve around a theme
many involve games, movement, and music.

Progressivism
 The elements of progressive education have been termed "child-centered" and "social
reconstructionist" approaches.

 More recently Progressivism, has been viewed as an alternative to the test-oriented instruction
legislated by the No Child Left Behind educational funding act.

 The term "progressive" was engaged to distinguish this education from the traditional
curriculum of the 19th century, which was rooted in classical preparation for the university

Despite the variations that exist among the progressive programs throughout the country, most
progressive schools today are vitalized by these common practices:

The curriculum is more flexible and is influenced by student interest

Teachers are facilitators of learning who encourage students to use a wide variety of activities
to learn

Progressive teachers use a wider variety of materials allowing for individual and group research.

Progressive teachers encourage students to learn by discovery

Progressive education programs often include the use of community resources and encourage
service-learning projects.
Lesson2: Formulating Your Philosophy of Education

Your philosophy of education is your “window” to the world and “ compass in life.”

It includes your concept about:

1. The human person, the learner in particular and the educated person

2. What is true and good and therefore must be taught

3. How a learner must be taught in order to come close to the truth

Example:

My Philosophy of Education as an Elementary Teacher

I believe that every child:

 has a natural interest in learning and is capable of learning

 can be influenced but not totally by his/her environment

 is unique and so comparing a child to other children has no basis

I believe that there are unchanging values in changing times and these must be passed on to every
child by my modeling, value inculcation and value integration in my lessons.

Lesson Output (in a short bond paper)

Formulate your personal philosophy of education. You can be guided with the following questions:

How will you treat your student?

What will you teach?

How will you teach?

Lesson 3: Society and You

Community Perception on the Role of Teachers in the Community

Teachers are perceived to be:

1. very important in a community

2. respected in a community

3. help in the community to some extent

Community Perception on Beliefs and Attitudes about Teachers and Teaching

 The community respondents strongly agreed that teachers:

1. help develop the moral character of children

2. are second parents

3. are assets to the community

The community respondents agreed with 12 beliefs and attitude, as follows:

1. the most intelligent child should be encouraged to enter the teaching profession

2. teacher sets moral standard of the community

3. teachers make good parents

4. men should be encouraged to enter the teaching profession

5. the teaching profession is one of the lowest paid

6. teachers should be paragons of virtue

7. children obey and respect their teachers

8. teachers play an active role in disciplining children

9. praising boosts a child’s self-confidence

10. a teacher is a child’s model

11. child’s interest in studies depends upon his/her teachers

12. parents entrust children’s welfare to teachers

The community respondents agreed with 12 beliefs and attitude, as follows:

1. the most intelligent child should be encouraged to enter the teaching profession

2. teacher sets moral standard of the community

3. teachers make good parents

4. men should be encouraged to enter the teaching profession

5. the teaching profession is one of the lowest paid

6. teachers should be paragons of virtue

 7. children obey and respect their teachers

8. teachers play an active role in disciplining children

9. praising boosts a child’s self-confidence

10. a teacher is a child’s model

11. child’s interest in studies depends upon his/her teachers

12. parents entrust children’s welfare to teachers

The respondents of the study cut across various institutions in society – the home, represented
by the parent respondents, the school represented by the principals, assistant principals and
superintendents and the rest of society represented by the respondents from the NGOs, business and
industry sectors.

By their responses, the respondents gave you an idea on how social institutions like the family
and the school regard the teacher.

Lesson Output (Oral Recitation)

 Any realizations about teaching?

 What is your decision? Pursue the teaching profession or not?

 Explain the basis of your decision.

Lesson 4: The Foundational Principles of Morality and You

“ A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.” by Henry Brooks Adams

Morality – refers to the quality of human acts by which we call them right or wrong, good or evil. Your
human action is right when it conforms with the norm, rule, or law of morality. Otherwise it is said to
be wrong.

Foundational Moral Principle – “Do good and avoid evil.”

Four Ways of Describing Good Moral Character

1. Being fully human – you have realized substantially your potential as a human person

2. Being a loving person – you are caring in an unselfish and mature manner with yourself, other people
and God

3. Being a virtuous person – you have acquired good habits and attitudes and you practice them
consistently in your daily life
4. Being a morally mature person – you have reached a level of development emotionally, socially,
mentally, spiritually appropriate to your developmental stage

You are on the road to moral development when you strive to develop your potential, your love and
care for yourself and make this love flow to others, you lead to virtuous life, and as you advance in age
you also advance in your emotional, social, intellectual and spiritual life.

Lesson Output (in a ¼ sheet of paper)

By means of an acrostic (on the word MORALITY) give your own definition of Morality.

Lesson 5 : Values Formation and You

Transcendent Values – these are values that remain unchanged amidst changing times. The values of
love, care and concern for our fellowmen are values for all people regardless of time and space.

Reflections on the following thoughts:

1. Values are both taught and caught

2. Values have cognitive, affective and behavioral dimension

3. Value formation includes formation in the cognitive, affective and behavioral aspects

4. Value formation is a training of the intellect and will

5. Virtuous versus Vicious Life

Max Scheler’s Hierarchy of Values

1. Pleasure Values – sensual feelings, experiences of pleasure and pain

2. Vital Values – pertaining to well-being, health, feeling of capability and excellence

3. Spiritual Values – aesthetic values, right and wrong

4. Values of the Holy – belief, adoration, bliss

Lesson 5 Output: The students will share something about any of the following.

1. Take care of your thoughts, they become your actions; take care of your actions, they become your
habit; take care of your habits, they become your character; take care of your character, it becomes
your destiny!

2. “Di baleng mahirap, basta’t may dangal.”

3. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul?

4. Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value.
Lesson 6: Teaching as Your Vocation, Mission and Profession

1. Vocation – it means a call

2. Mission – your mission is to teach

3. Profession – the term profession is one of the most exalted in the English language, denoting as it
does, long and arduous years of preparation, a striving for excellence, a dedication to the public
interest, and commitment to moral and ethical values

*not “pwede na”mentality

Lesson Output 6:

Test

Compare teaching as a vocation/mission/profession to something by completing this statement:

Teaching is like …….

Lesson 2 : School & Community Relations

“It takes a village to raise a child”

– African Proverb

A. The Teachers, Parents & the Community

1. Difficulties

Teachers are endowed with a caring and compassionate attitude that are expressed in their love
and unending sacrifice in guiding the young. Some of the children’s difficulties include: ability to
accomplish assignments; irregular attendance; study habits in school; negative attitudes; and problem
with self-discipline.

2. Solutions

The best way to thresh out causes and come up with solutions is to conduct a dialogue wherein
parents may be invited to drop by the school or the teacher may pay a visit to their home.

3. Values Developed
 Values and strong inclinations are instilled starting from the home and are developed further in
the school. Some of the most desirable are: respect for elders and for the rights of others; cooperation;
willingness to share; deep sense of responsibility; and persistence.

Students exhibiting exemplary traits must be given due recognition. Awards conferred upon
responsible and well- behaved students set examples that are emulated.

4. Interests

Special interest and innate talents noticed at a young age such as heightened propensity for
music and drama, athletics and the arts must be attended to by sensitive mentors and guardians in
order to provide them with continued opportunities to attain full realization of their natural gifts.

Oral Recitation:

Apply what you have learned

1. How do you “face” or dialogue with:

a. receptive parents?

b. unreceptive parents?

2. How will you deal with a student that is always involved in cases of misbehavior?

B. School and Community

1. Collaborative relationships

2. Organized Associations

3. Public Safety, Beautification and Cleanliness

4. Values Exhibited

5. Instructional Centers and Materials

Lesson 3: Linkages & Networking with Organizations

We cannot live for ourselves alone. Our lives are connected by a thousand invisible threads, and
along these sympathetic fibers, our actions run as causes and return to us as results.

- Human Melville

The school can enjoy linkages and networking activities with international, national and local
organizations in the community for mutual benefits and assistance needed.
 The first step is for the school to prepare a list of projects and activities it plans to undertake
including the much-needed assistance in terms of human and material resources, then determine the
institutions and organizations with parallel objectives and services.

The school can benefit immensely from agencies whose mission includes corporate social
responsibility.

Linkages, also termed interconnections, with institutions functioning along the same mission are
intended to serve members of both sides according to their respective needs, interest and objectives.

They create bonds together to solicit support and assistance for purposeful activities which
could be facilitated faster and better considering the doubling of energy and resources.

Republic Act 8525, otherwise known as “An Act Establishing the Adopt-A-School Program and
Providing Incentives Therefore and for Other Purposes”, was enacted to encourage private companies to
assist in the delivery of better quality education to public schools in the country, particularly in the
poverty-stricken provinces;

The Philosophy of Montessori

"Children are human beings to

whom respect is due, superior
to us by reason of their
innocence and of the greater
possibilities of their future."
-Maria Montessori
The Montessori Philosophy

• Your child has a strong sense of personal dignity. This must be respected by the adults your child
emulates and imitates.

• Listen to your child when he wants to tell you something. Bend or sit so that you are on his level
& you have eye contact.

The Montessori Philosophy

• Try to understand your child’s ideas and feelings and consider them in your family life. Things
which seem trivial to you can be very important to your child.

• Include your child in family plans and decisions whenever possible. Help her feel that she is an
important member of her family.

• No human being is educated by another person. The entire method is based on Montessori’s
observations and understanding of the child AS HE IS, not as adults imagine he might or should
be.

• He must do it himself or it will never be done.

• Goal of early childhood education is to cultivate the child’s own natural desire to learn.

The Absorbent Mind

• From conception to age 4, the individual develops 50% of his mature intelligence, from ages 4 -
8 he develops another 30%…(Bloom)

• Children absorb information from the environment.

Sensitive Periods

• The young child has certain sensitive periods when it is easiest for her to learn some particular
things.

• Oral Language Development

 • Muscular coordination

• Concern for Order in environment

• Refinement of senses

• Writing

• Reading

Goals of the Montessori Classroom

• Order

• Concentration

• Coordination

• Independence

Order

• The classroom environment provides the sense of order critical for young children.

• The responsibility for getting & returning work from the shelves reinforces this sense of order.

• The works themselves provide order in learning concrete concepts.

Order at home

• Provide low shelves for toys and games instead of a box or basket so child can see available
choices.

• Limit the number of things on the shelves & trade them out as child loses interest in some. Keep
the extras in that old toy box.

Concentration

• Working individually at tasks that interest her, the child is allowed to develop concentration and
work habits necessary for later learning.

Con at home

• Television & computer games do not encourage concentration - there is too much going on
visually for the brain to truly concentrate.

• Free play, outside or inside, alone or with others, allows a child to become absorbed in their
own thoughts & increases concentration.
Coordination

• Materials used in the classroom develop the muscle coordination needed for later learning.

Coor at home

• Outside play at parks and playgrounds improves coordination of large muscles.

• Playing in a sandbox with tools like scoops, spoons, & funnels improves small muscles
coordination.

• Encourage your child to use scissors, markers, pencils, crayons, etc.. to make art.

Independence

• “I can do it myself!”

• Activities and expectations in the classroom environment foster independence.

Ind at home

• Arrange the home environment to allow your child to function independently as much as
possible. Bowls, plates, cups at his level. Healthy snacks that he can get for himself.

• Don’t do anything for your child that he is capable of doing himself. Clothes, shoes, etc..

The Work of the Developing Child

• Children enjoy the process of doing, not necessarily the end-product.

• Contributing to her own well-being and that of society builds a child’s skills and sense of
confidence and esteem.

• Children prefer meaningful, purposeful activity over play. Let them help set the table, fix dinner,
vacuum, etc.. WITH YOU.

The Work of the Developing Child

• Children learn through their senses - the hand is the chief teacher of the child.

• Children learn from watching and imitating.

• Children learn through repetition.

• “They (children) are not understood because adults judge them according to their own
standards.

• They believe that a child is concerned with external ends, and they lovingly assist him to attain
them. Instead, a child is dominated by an unconscious need to develop himself. He consequently
 condemns anything that has been attained and longs for that which is still to be achieved. For
example, he would rather dress himself than be dressed, even magnificently. He prefers washing
himself to the pleasant feeling of being clean. He would rather build a house than own one. And
he is thus disposed because he must first form his own life before he can enjoy it. In this self-
formation is his true and almost sole delight.”

• Maria Montessori, Discovery of the Child

Pes 3 prelim 5 separated

PRELIM PROJECT IN PES 3 – The Teaching Profession

Due on Dec. 20, 2017

In a long bond paper, encoded, ring bound or softbound

Make a tabular presentation of the different educational philosophies (at least 10). You can refer to
suggested format below.

Beliefs/ Curriculum Teaching Evaluation Philosophers

Background/ Methods/
Principles Approaches