Essay Instructions: Personal Philosophy Paper
In the Final Paper: You will write a first, formal personal philosophy of education. What you believe to be true about learning, teaching and education in addition to what you believe about yourself, others and life will determine your philosophy of education. What you believe to be true about education will help shape and clarify your beliefs.
Advanced Organization
This Paper is:
Is an opportunity for the student to apply a personal model of philosophy. The development of the philosophy is initiated in Week One and continues throughout the Course.
Review the submitted assessment activities and incorporate them into the paper as you go along.
Literature Support/Reference Page
List, using APA style, all references
Include at least five references. One MUST be an article from a published scholarly journal.
Definition of “scholarly journal”
A scholarly journal, for the purposes of the course, are those journals that are research based, may be a publication of a professional association, or may be a journal such as Journal of Education, Education, Phi Delta Kappan and are authored. The majority of research articles are primary sources that are based upon the observations and experience of the individuals. Articles from the World Wide Web generally do not meet the criteria of a scholarly journal. Some professional journals can be reached through the World Wide Web. However, data banks such as ProQuest, offer scholarly journals organized in a manner that allows the researcher to quickly find articles meeting the search parameters. Magazines and newspapers are secondary sources and are generally written for the general public, not a professional. Overall, books are secondary sources, such as a textbook. However, they may be a primary source. An example would be an author who discusses a research paper that the author conducted.
Focus of the Final Paper
The Opening paragraph (your thesis) should introduce the reader to what makes up a philosophy of education. (Assume your reader has not taken this course.) It will then tell how the paper will be organized. Be sure to personalize your paper, tell what grade level or subject you hope to teach and why.
What do you believe is the overall purpose of education? Why do schools exist? Reference historical figures, past and present educational leaders, politicians, authors etc.
Should education be the same for everyone?
Which of the classic educational philosophies and philosophers are the closest match for you and why?
Idealism, Realism, Neo-Thomism, Pragmatism, Existentialism
Locke, Rousseau, Froebel, Dewey, Montessori, Piaget and Illich
What is your role as the teacher?
What is the most important role of the teacher?
How should prospective teachers be prepared?
What is your vision of the way schools should be regarding:
Curriculum
What is the ideal curriculum?
Are there certain universal truths that should be taught?
How will you include character education in your curriculum?
Instruction
If you were to choose one method or instructional strategy, what would it be?
Assessment
How do you know when your students have learned?
What is the role of the student? (Again, speak to the grade level/subject you hope to be teaching.)
Are students intrinsically motivated to learn?
From Chapter 10, select two risk factors that are of interest or concern to you. (Again, speak to the grade level/subject you hope to be teaching.)
Consider that a child with these two risk factors is in your classroom and is doing below grade level work and has poor school attendance.
Given your philosophy of education and the philosophy most like yours, describe three interventions that you could use to facilitate a positive educational environment or experience for this child.
Provide rationale for the interventions.
Provide, minimally, one reference for this section other than the text.
The concluding paragraph should summarize the main points of your paper, linking the end to the beginning. Be creative in your ideas ??" leave the reader with a catchy thought or quote.
Final Paper Format
The Final Paper:
Must be eight double-spaced pages in length and formatted according to APA style as outlined in the approved APA style guide.
Must include a running header
Must include an introductory paragraph with a succinct thesis statement.
Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
Must conclude with a restatement of the thesis and a conclusion paragraph.
Must use APA style as outlined in the approved APA style guide to document all sources.
Must include, on the final page, a Reference Page that is completed according to APA style as outlined in the approved APA style guide.
NO PLAGERISM IF CAUGHT YOU WILL GET A 0 ON THIS PAPER!
