RE: Class Discussion

I'm actually looking forward to getting my philosophy of education out on paper. I feel that I have a lot of ideas about what education is all about, but they're not completely organized or clear yet. The five branches of philosophy help provide a good starting point, but there are a couple that I really enjoyed considering:

Metaphysics: I think what's important in this category is the recognition that every home environment has the potential to be different from the next, which in turn makes each child unique. The home environment can either equip the child with skills to help them succeed, or it can present them with challenges in the classroom. Either way the most important thing is for the teacher to recognize and try to understand the culture and background of each child so they can incorporate that knowledge into the classroom interaction with the child. The further question of what is reality relates to how the child views the world. I think it's important for the teacher to literally ask the students questions about how they view the world. Children, no matter how young, can form opinions about why things are or how things are the way they are. If the teacher can achieve some understanding of a child's version of reality, they will potentially be better able to relate the material to the students in a way that will make it easier to understand.

Aesthetics: I think the concept of teaching and understanding what is beautiful is so important. As I said before, children have opinions about the world, and one of the things children can describe is what they believe is beautiful. One of the best experiences I ever had in a classroom was with my second grade teacher. She was young and fresh and brought these characteristics into the classroom with such flair. She introduced me to the beauty of words by instructing a poetry unit in which we made observations and wrote poetry about them. She took our class outside and encouraged us to write down anything we saw, heard, felt, tasted, etc. and allowed us to truly absorb what was going on around us. We all wrote poems, but I was particularly satisfied with mine. My teacher seemed to like it too, and offered to have it submitted to be published. To this day I have a better appreciation of the written word and the beauty of nature because that poem was professionally published in a book of poems. To see my work displayed was not only gratifying, but enriching because it made me realize the power of words and the beauty of creativity.