Journal #1

After reading through the different philosophies, several times, I decided that I “borrow ideas from different perspective” which means I follow the philosophy of eclecticism. I believe that teaching encompasses many different philosophies in order to meet the needs of all students and to be an effective teacher. For example the philosophies of positivism are based on logic which is needed when teaching math, science, and even history as we teach the order of events or when archeologist are uncovering artifacts. Also, some students’ way of learning is more concrete than others and the only way to get an answer is a step by step process. Interpretivism is often used when teaching students about Ancient World History, the beginning of civilization and through artifacts there truth is created. Constructivism is often used when trying to have students make connections. Again, because I teach Ancient World History, students do not have a lot of background knowledge but if a teacher identifies objective students can then attempt to make a personal connection so that they can generate a mental model to help them understand the concept. One example is teaching the 3 branches of the government and having students play rock, paper, scissors. Then there is behaviorism and cognitivism which I believe are commonly used by teachers and learners. Teachers often use the behaviorism philosophy as a part of their classroom management while the cognitive philosophy is for content and delivering material. Students or learners are also influenced by these philosophies. Learners are influenced by environmental events (pg. 50) and by doing, engaging, and experience (pg. 49).