PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION GUIDELINES
This is the benchmark assignment. It is a statement of your personal philosophy of education. As an academic paper, it is to be supported by the body of knowledge in the field which is to include references to the literature from educational philosophy, psychology, curriculum, and learning theory. Write 6-7 pages, use current APA format, and include a minimum of 6 scholarly references. A grade will not be assigned unless the paper is submitted in both locations.
Headings: There is a grading rubric that will be used in grading (see below). To ensure that your paper meets the requirements of the rubric, the following elements must be clearly identified with headings and are to be placed in the same order in your paper as they appear in the outline below.
1. Title Page
a. Title: Consider the title of your paper to be your motto, slogan, or bumper-sticker version of your philosophy. It must be clear enough to give the reader some idea of what you believe about education. Avoid statements that sound vague or flippant.
b. APA Style: Make sure your title page is formatted in current APA style, including a running header.
c. Other Information on Title Page
• Student Name
• Student ID#
• Course# and Section
• Professor's Name
2. Abstract
• Write this paragraph last but place it after the title page and before the introduction to the paper.
• This must be what you would write on an employment application or what you would say verbally in an interview if asked directly about your philosophy of education.
• Consider this an abridged version of your full philosophy statement. Some call it a vision or mission statement.
3. Introduction
• In this section, you will introduce your thesis statement that will be developed throughout the paper.
• It's always best to place the thesis statement at the end of the introduction. This serves as a transition into the rest of the paper, which supports the thesis statement.
4. Worldview abd Philosophy of Life: This is what you KNOW and BELIEVE about the world and life. This section must flow smoothly into and be consistent with your thoughts about schools and learning (The questions listed here are to provoke thought and to help you know how to focus your writing. Do NOT write your paper as a list of direct answers to these questions, but you do need to include each element in your paper with transitions to make it flow smoothly). How would you describe your view of life in general? How will your worldview influence your practice as a teacher?
• Metaphysics: What is ultimately real or true? What gives life purpose or meaning?
• Axiology
o What do you most value?
o What do you want your students to value most?
o What ethical principles will guide you?
o If appropriate to your content area, what principles of beauty do you hope to instill in your students?
5. Philosophy of Schools and Learning
• Epistemology: How do learners come to know truth? What causes learning to occur?
• This is what you KNOW and BELIEVE about schools and learning. It must connect with the previous section and flow smoothly into the next section about instructional practice. Avoid the common error of fragmenting your paper into sections that do not relate to one another. Each section must build on previous ones and support the others.
• Identify key theories from your courses that will impact your teaching. In this section, describe the theories and, in the next section, discuss how you would practice the theory in your instructional methods.
• How will professional knowledge guide your practice?
• Refer to the knowledge base in teacher education that includes educational psychology, philosophy, and learning theory. Do not try to cover everything; just identify two or three key theories you espouse.
• From what specific professional knowledge will you draw in your practice? Whose theories, ideas, etc. are meaningful to you? Be cautious about assigning to yourself a label that you do not fully understand. This could be potentially embarrassing once you discover everything the label entails.
6. Instructional Practice
• This is what you will IMPLEMENT in the classroom.
• This section must flow smoothly from the previous one. In the previous section, you must have identified and briefly discussed what theories you plan to implement. In this section, you will explain how you will put those theories into instructional practice.
• What pedagogical practices or methods will you tend to use most frequently? Why?
• What instructional strategies will you value and implement?
• What do you hope to accomplish by using these strategies?
7. Teacher-Learner Relationships (Remember that the questions listed in this guide are only to stimulate thought. You are not required to answer them systematically. That might make your paper too rigid.)
• What is the role of the learner?
• What is the role of the teacher?
• How should they relate to each other and why?
8. Diversity
• What diversity factors need to be taken into account by the teacher?
• How will you effectively meet the needs of all of your students in the classroom?
• How should teachers differentiate for English Language Learners, students with disabilities, gifted learners, and various learning styles?
• How should teachers integrate multicultural connections into their classrooms?
• How do factors of student diversity impact instruction?
9. Your Choice of Headings (optional)
• You may insert optional headings here to address issues that are important to your philosophy of education.
• Here are some ideas you might want to consider:
o My calling
o Classroom management philosophy
o Content/subject-area philosophy
o Assessment philosophy
o Parent role and relationship with teacher
o Current critical issues in education
o Etc.
10. Conclusion
• Your conclusion must tie in with the introduction somehow so that your paper displays coherence.
• If your introduction included a metaphor, quote, theme, etc., it would be appropriate to tie back into that.
FAQ
Q: I would like to use a paper or parts of a paper I wrote for another class. Is this okay?
A: No, this should be an original philosophy of education written for EDUC 305. You can use ideas from previous papers/courses, but any prior information should be revised to fit the requirements for this paper.
Q: I feel called to teach in a public school, so should I not mention anything religious in my paper? I'm afraid that a principal will see it in my portfolio and won't hire me if it contains religious content.
A: This paper will be viewed only by LU personnel and those to whom you choose to show it.
Yes, you will include the paper in your student teaching portfolio. However, that portfolio is for your student teaching only. If a potential employer wants to see a digital portfolio, we recommend that you click COPY in LiveText and edit the copied portfolio to market yourself to the school where you are applying. The LiveText visitor code you provide to your prospective employer will be to your copied and edited portfolio only. Therefore, the employer will not see the paper you write for this class.
Most principals want to see only the abstract of your paper anyway, so you should target the abstract toward either a public or Christian school. Some students choose to write two abstracts so they are ready with a philosophy statement in case they choose to apply both to public and Christian schools. Whether you choose to write two abstracts is up to you.