Goal

10 Reflective Analysis

1. Describe how this artifact relates to the knowledge you acquired in EDUC 605 –
Philosophical Foundations. What did you learn from this class that you applied in your
classroom?

EDUC 605 – Philosophical Foundations provided me with information about a variety of
philosophical viewpoints relating to education, and this information led me to think about,
develop, and eventually establish my own personal philosophy in education. After taking this
course, I became more open-minded and accepting to many of the different educational
philosophies as I realized that almost all of the philosophies have aspects that I either agreed or
disagreed with.

I believe every individual, whether it be an educator, student, parent, or community member,
has their own philosophy of education (potentially unbeknownst), and each of those individuals
are responsible for their own thoughts and beliefs. From this course, I learned that when
teaching my students, I should not be teaching them my individual beliefs about education, but
rather it is important that I provide students with strategies for how to learn content, how to
seek out information, how to be responsible individuals amongst other important character
traits, and also strategies to be successful in the classroom and outside of the classroom. The
more I discover and establish my own personal educational philosophy, the more I recognize it
is my own goal to help my students to realize their full potential, develop a growth mindset
inside and outside of school, become lifelong learners.

2. Brief description of artifact.

The artifact that I am submitting for this goal is my personal philosophy of education. My
philosophy is split into three parts – philosophy, content/methods, and assessment. My
philosophy of education evolved from several of the philosophies that I was familiarized to in in
this course. My philosophy includes a student-centered classroom that is personalized to meet
the needs of each student along with a focus on developing a growth-mindset within students.

3. Analysis of what you learned from this artifact. What did you change in your classroom as a
result of the artifact?

I never considered myself to be a very “philosophical” person and was actually a little nervous
before starting this course. At the beginning when I learned that we would be writing a
philosophy of education and then throughout the course as we learned about many of the
different educational philosophies, I realized that my thoughts and beliefs related to different
aspects of the philosophies we discussed and learned about in class. Some of the philosophies
that we learned about were in the categories of teacher-centered, student-centered, society-
centered. Overall, my philosophy fit mostly into the category of student-centered, and my
beliefs encompassed many of the specific philosophies that fell into this category.

Specifically, I found the most important philosophy I learned about and have adopted to be
Progressivism. As I took many PLS courses, I found that this philosophy was frequently
reinforced. Each class always talked about the importance of including real-life experiences
within instruction and also teaching students to be responsible individuals. I believe each of
these ideas are very apparent in my own philosophy of education and are key aspects I focus on
in my classroom to help my students become successful individuals in and out of the classroom.

4. How does this artifact relate to the goal? Refer to dispositions under each goal.

Throughout the course EDUC 605 – Philosophical Foundations, I learned about many different
philosophies of education. This provided me with the opportunity to reflect on my previous
philosophy and beliefs, and then I was able to edit and form my own personal philosophy of
education. One aspect that I enjoyed most during this course was the opportunity to have open
discussions with my classmates about the different philosophies we were learning about and
learning about each of their own belief systems. Through these discussions, it helped clarify
some aspects about my own beliefs. Overall, the course helped me articulate all of my beliefs
and viewpoints within my philosophy of education to be able to share this with other teachers
in my school.