When I Become a Teacher...

Educational Philosophies Self-Assessment

It is incredibly important to develop your own teaching philosophy. This is because your philosophy is what rules over what you do and teach and how you teach it. If you are using someone else's philosophy or you don't have one, being a teacher will feel like wearing shoes that are too big; it will be awkward and difficult to navigate. With your own philosophy, you will be comfortable where you stand and know where to go when you have questions about what you should be doing.

After taking a self-assessment of what my educational philosophy is (link above) I found out that my philosophy does not just fall under one category. Reconstructivism, cognitivism, and progressivism were all of the results I got when I took this test, and I am not surprised at all. Having multiple types of philosophies about how you teach a classroom to provide a well-rounded education for your students and its a belief that I have always held.

Reconstructivism is focused on teaching students to be productive members of society so that democracy and society are made better and "reconstructed" and transformed as the generations go through.
Cognitivism is based on the idea that students develop their own knowledge by taking in the world around them and building onto what they already know. If the student doesn't understand something that is going on in their environment they will ask questions about it due to their natural curiosity so they can understand and learn.
Progressivism is dedicated to focusing education on the children as individuals. The main idea of this philosophy is that the student is the focus and school should be dedicated to the students as individuals and their curriculum should be shaped to fit their needs.

Now, all of these philosophies when used as the only philosophy a teacher is focused on may seem a little extreme, but when several are used throughout the school year they can balance each other out. Each teacher should find their own perfect balance of these philosophies and engage in all of them together, and not let one overtake the other.