Documente Academic
Documente Profesional
Documente Cultură
Jack Tanklefsky
Kailen Stover
Teacher Cadet
24 April 2019
of their rationale and whether or not they change throughout the piece. They might be
intentionally static where they do not change throughout the story or flat, where they do not
possess character traits that give us deep insight into their minds. Characterization could be
incidental, where an author leaves out this insight unintentionally, but more than likely, it is
focused, planned, and intentional. However, these characters can posses traits that gives us a
deep insight into who they are, thus, they become round characters. There is an understanding of
their mindset, their past, their desires, and how they have changed. They have had some sort of
experience or period of higher understanding that has led them to change at some point in the
story. Much like a round character in literature, my philosophy of teaching is round. For me, the
way I want to teach, the way I want my classroom to run cannot be described in one educational
term. Instead, my philosophy has changed, morphed, and gotten deeper, until it became the
rather than a focus on the education of the many. A student’s interests, strengths, weaknesses,
and wellbeing is the focus of the classroom, where students learn largely through
experimentation. In a progressivist classroom, the teacher poses questions for learning and the
Jack Tanklefsky 2
students, through experimentation, the students find the answer themselves, as an individual.
Personally, I align my philosophy for teaching partially with progressivism ideas. For me,
education should be almost entirely focus on the learner. Two students do not learn identically.
One may have a learning disability, or test gifted talented. One may be a global learner and the
other analytical -- there is no way to effectively teach two people the same way, effectively. For
those reasons, I feel like education should be student centric. Through laboratory and individual
discovery focused on the needs of the individual learner, students are able to learn most
effectively.
make deadlines and learn at their own pace, where the role of the teacher is as a facilitator who is
available to assist the students, but takes more of a backseat role when it comes to specific
inappropriate time to turn them in, but there is a lot of flexibility in terms of availability to turn in
assignments early. For example, in a Humanistic classroom, two assignments are given out on
the same day and both need to be turned in by a specific time, but until then, the window is wide
open on which gets done first, which is turned in first, so on, and so forth.
To get a deeper understanding of how other teachers operate, I spoke with a trusted
teacher, Mrs. Binion about her personal philosophy for teaching. Mrs. Binion is the teacher
whose teaching style I find effective, so I wanted to hear what her personal philosophy is for
education. When I asked, I was confronted with a brusque sigh and a “wow.” She continued
with, “I want everyone to have the same opportunity as those sitting around them. If English is
not someone’s first language, or they forgot to do an assignment once, I am willing to offer
Jack Tanklefsky 3
leniency. If someone has a learning disability, I want to be there to offer help and support them
with whatever they need to succeed. But I don’t want to give too much freedom, because then
student’s may not be motivated to get work on time. Like with the ten page essay. I offer help to
those who need it, but you do not need to turn it in the last day it’s due. I will help you to meet
whatever deadline you need.” It seems as though Mrs. Binion’s philosophy aligns with the
Humanist idea in the classroom. Because she allows students to make and meet their own
deadlines, she is vouching for the humanist ideas. She made it clear that even though there is a
bottom line deadline for assignments due, she is willing to work with the students to meet
whatever early deadlines they wish to possibly set for themselves. She allows them to set their
own deadlines, if they wish. As a teacher who I respect tremendously I wish to emulate her
teaching model and flexibility for assignment deadlines and leniency in for the betterment of the
students are parts of her round teaching style that I plan on exercising in a classroom of my own.
The classroom should be open to diverse ideas that are presented. Education should be
primarily focused on the needs of the individual, where the teacher is a mentor, and not a
dictionary of a subject. There needs to be a common goal that is clearly laid out for the students.
How they get there is their choice, whether they need help and come in frequently to get the help
that they need, or they choose to not get help, whether they need it or not, and turn the
assignment in at midnight on the due date. Teaching every student the same is not effective -- no
students are the exact same. The diverse learner needs help or support their academic aspirations
best.
No classroom should be flat and static with little room to adapt, grow, and change. A
one-dimensional classroom helps some, but not close to all. If a teacher can effectively integrate
Jack Tanklefsky 4
their philosophy into their classroom that focuses on the individual learner, rather than the
getting the basics off to the class, students will be able to demonstrate their strengths as an
individual.
Jack Tanklefsky 5
Work Cited