Starting the talk!

A beginning focus for a teaching and learning conversation often comes from the philosophical roots of our professional practice and experience. I am no different! My passionate opinions are grounded in profound and substantive educational knowledge, as well as my 30 plus years of K-Grad student and colleague interactions. Let me share with you where I am coming from. You may find something to agree with; you may find something to challenge; you may find something to provoke your professional or personal balance. All responses are welcome!

Philosophy of:

Ø Education
In his book Simple Truths, Kent Nerburn reminds us that “[e]ducation is one of the great joys and solaces of life. It gives us a framework for understanding the world around us and a way to reach across time and space to touch the thoughts and feelings of others” (p.13). Lessons about the way children learn, lessons about the way teachers practice their craft, lessons about inclusive education, collaborative culture, effective assessment, and lessons about research that change practice are all part of my “Philosophy of Education”. This “garden of education” must be cultivated in a holistic, systemic manner if we are to practice our vision of teaching and learning in a meaningful, challenging, connected, technological, and socially responsible manner.
John Dewey, in his writing and research, informs us that experience is the groundwork of learning. Our living is the foundation for what we learn and our learning allows us to scaffold new learning to create a knowing, thinking human being. Lev Vygotsky, researching and writing early in the twentieth century, also affirmed experience as a critical component of a person’s learning. He recognized that we learn when a more able peer or adult interacts with us during a time when our prior experiences have provided the foundation for the next level of learning. This social cognition I believe to be the learning structure for acquiring all knowledge. Children learn when the information is meaningful, has a relationship to prior learning, is delivered by a more able peer or adult, and is structured to engage.


Ø Teaching & Learning
I believe effective instruction must recognize that teaching needs to be based on high standards and high expectations while focusing on each student’s needs. The Deweyan influence is strongly felt in a literature-rich, discussion-based, interdisciplinary curriculum classroom where the craft of teaching is constantly being reflected upon and modified to meet the changing needs of children and curriculum.
An inquiry/discovery oriented teaching and learning environment will engage children in "...a variety of internal developmental processes that ... operate only when the child is interacting with people in his environment and in cooperation with his peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 90). Children's experiences also are critical components needed for learning to occur. The development of instruction that encourages children to venture into classroom learning based on interest and prior experience must be of primary consideration. Implicit in a child's interest area is a foundational level of experience. Involve children's minds by structuring learning opportunities to include peer interaction, exploration, and discovery.
Children construct knowledge and develop meaning from their learning by having personal and environmental interactions. By creating an environment and opportunities that engaged children in active learning, teachers will establish the ingredients necessary for learning to occur.
I feel today’s teaching and learning must move beyond the traditional segregated curriculum, the didactic instruction offering the "facts" of learning. Educators must be developing and initiating learning that is constructed so curriculum for children will be dialectic, inquiry-oriented, exploratory, challenging, and engaging. That is to say children will inquire about possibilities, select direction to discover, and choose their own methods, means, and materials for learning. We must be designing teaching and learning that encourages children to work in groups, using a range of sources of information that are relevant to the world outside of the classroom. We must be encouraging students not only to acquire knowledge but also to reflect on their learning experiencing.
Today, teaching and learning must consider the learner and encourage children to become engaged in their learning based on their own experiences and previous knowledge. Children inquire, discover, and acquired meaning from their learning when the environment and curriculum are structured for them to do so. "[I]nquiry is ... the most effective route to understanding, which should be the goal of learning and teaching at all levels in the educational system" (Wells, 1995). This kind of learning will insured that classrooms will "...resound with the voices of articulate young people in dialogues always incomplete because there is always more to be discovered and more to be said" (Greene, 1995, p.43).
Teachers and students engaged in dialogue will establish a process for learning that will create joint responsibilities and mutual growth (Freire, 1993, p.61). It is crucial for children to be part of the development of their learning by engaging in dialogues with adults about common interests. These dialogues allow the children to express personal beliefs and begin to comprehend the adult perspective. Engaging children in their learning, making them the designers of, rather than objects of instruction, and connecting their personal experiences to their needs, creates relevant, meaningful, vibrant, and substantive learning .


Suggested readings and references that contributed to the thinking behind this ‘philosophy’.

Cuban, L. (1992). Curriculum stability and change. In Jackson, P. (Ed.), Handbook of research on curriculum. New York: Macmillan, pp. 216-247.
Dewey, J. [1900, 1902], (1992). The school and society and the child and the curriculum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: Collier Books.
Dodd, A.W. (1995). Engaging students: what I learned along the way. Educational Leadership, 53, (1), 65-67.
Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: The Continuum Publishing Company.
Heald-Taylor, B.G. (1996). Three paradigms for literature instruction in grades 3 to 6. The Reading Teacher, 49, 6,456-466.
Greene, M. (1995). Releasing the imagination. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.
Levin, R.A. (1991). The debate over schooling: Influences of Dewey and Thorndike. Childhood Education. Winter. 71-75.
Nerburn,K. (1996). Simple truths: Clear and gentle guidance. Navato, California: New World Library.
Shanahan, T. (Ed.). (1994). Teachers thinking, teachers knowing. Urbana, Il: National Council of Teachers of English.
Shannon, P. (Ed.). (1992). Becoming Political. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Westhoff, L.M. (1995). The popularization of knowledge: John Dewey on experts and American democracy. History of Education Quarterly, 35, 1, 27-47.
Wells, G. (1995). Language and the inquiry-oriented curriculum. Curriculum Inquiry, 25, (3), 233-269.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.