Philosophy Development - Personal Statement Example

Index Personal Philosophy Development 2 Introduction 2 Philosophy Focus 2 Personal Beliefs and Philosophy 2 Teaching and Role in Process 3 Relation to Theoretical Approaches 4 Strengths and Challenges 6 Advocacy 7 Conclusion 8 References 10 Personal Philosophy Development Introduction Humans are involved in a continuous learning process, where they learn from the environment and the specific experiences that they glean over the period. Through teaching the inherent ability of learning for students can be influenced to identify and explore specialist areas which can be appropriately explored by the students as future opportunities for careers as well as for personality development. The paper depicts the my personal philosophy regarding teaching and learning for students, and how they can be implanted to better provide learning in schools. Philosophy Focus Personal Beliefs and Philosophy I believe students are sensitive bodies of untapped potential. They are in their early stages of life, having limited number of experiences, but a broader understanding of the world, especially in the media connected environment at present. In this regard I support collaborating and working with students to aid them in developing their personalities as per their potential and highlighting their capabilities in order to make them not just good human beings, but those who are competitive and competent in learning from the environment and cognitively able to process the information for use in life. I am of the opinion that a human being undergoes many different stages in his life, and majority of the students typically are in their early few stages of development. The potential for development as a reason is significant with them and I believe we as teachers can facilitate the students in fostering knowledge through effective learning through the environment, and social collaboration. I believe humans are motivated by specific needs and these can be tapped to invoke learning in students to make them cognitively self reliant and efficient. Basically instead of simply going into class, and lecturing the students, I believe much more can be achieved in terms of their learning and development of personality if instead we as teachers work with them and help them, collaborating with them to share their views. Teaching and Role in Process Teaching in my opinion is not just about relaying information on knowledge to the students. The books are available in the market that can do the same thing. My attitude towards teaching is more personalized, and I am of the opinion that teaching is working with students, helping them comprehend life and knowledge, develop their inherent skills. The teachers are kinds of mentors to the students who learn from the experiences of others, through observations of the environment and significantly through peer and social interactions as well. My role in this is to personally enhance my teaching strategy by working with my students to develop their personality and fine-tune their inherent skills and potential through knowledge that is comprehended by them. I perceive that the aim here should be to make students ultimately cognitively competent and self reliant in order to observe, learn and process information based on knowledge to be able to effectively deduce useful findings out of it. Relation to Theoretical Approaches The following depict some of the theoretical approaches that influence my personal beliefs and philosophy of teaching. Amongst the most appropriate and influencing theoretical approach is that of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. Abraham Maslow provided that humans are motivated by distinct needs (Maslow, 1943), and there needs influence in an order of priority. He categorized these needs as physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem and self actualization, with the first three being depreciation needs and the latter being growth needs. While there are criticisms that relate to this motivational theory, it forms as one of the basis for my personal teaching philosophy. This is because students have the inherent human needs depicted by Maslow, and these needs influence their comprehension and learning ability while interacting with the environment. I realize that by focusing on the deprivation needs, especially those that are social nature, the students can be made to be satisfied, while motivated through related factors to learn effectively. The other theory which significantly influences my personal philosophy is that of Vygotsky (Social Development Theory: Vygotsky, 2008). The theory of social development as presented by Vygotsky has three main themes one of which states that that cognitive development is influenced by social interactions. Different social and cultural elements are learnt by a child to first communicate and interact in the environment and then in the cognitive learning process (Kozulin et al., 2003). The second theme of the theory relates to the MKO whereby other more knowledgeable entities can influence cognitive learning. The third theme deals with the zone of proximal development which lies between inherent ability and provided guidance, where learning takes place. Applied to learning theories, the concepts provided by Vygotsky depict that using social constructs and social interactions learning can be more effectively promoted in the students (Tharp and Gallimore, 1991). My personal development philosophy regarding teaching strongly is influenced by these concepts. As highlighted earlier, I believe in involving and collaborating with students in order to foster learning instead of transmitting knowledge on to them through one way lecture delivery. The third theory of learning that influences my personal philosophy for development is that of Erickson (Erikson’s Stages of Development, 2008), specific to the different stages which a human being passes through in his life. According to Erickson, his psychosocial theory presents eight stages incorporate environmental factors like society, norms, parents and the psychosis of the human to develop the personality. Incorporating this as a learning theory, it provides the main influencing factors that foster personality development at different stages which can be useful for teachers. I believe consulting with these stages corresponding to the students’ stage can aid in identifying the needs and requirements of the students. The theory provides insight into human behavior in the different stages, highlighting possible causes of the behavior, and how the psychology of the human at the stage primarily works. These help in identifying with the students and providing them with learning alternatives that best suit their needs. The specific factors can be used to assess their personality, and further foster learning and development in them using strategies for satisfaction and motivation. Strengths and Challenges When dealing with children, especially with those who are in their early stages, it is important for a teacher to be patient, knowledgeable, and competent in the required vocational skills, observant and analytical, compassionate, empathetic as well as physically active. Of these the skills that I have pertain to being compassionate and being competent in the required vocational skills while being observant and analytical as well. These three characteristics are my main strengths as a teacher. Through competency in skills and an observant and analytical personality I am able to determine the problems faced by children, despite them being hesitant to communicate or share. This allows me to better associate with them. Secondly through compassion I am able to share their point of view and perspective, therefore better being able to understand how they think, and ultimately effectively learn. The main weakness that I face is having an impatient personality. Working with children of a young age requires significant amount of patience. I am not patient, and therefore will have to improve on this discrepancy. The strategies that I have mapped out for this is to drink water every time I feel I am starting to become impatient, or to commence a new activity or project in the class to avoid the emotion. Advocacy Practically in the class rooms it has been observed that children are often significantly influenced by their peers and empathetic with each others problems. As a result they often help out their peers that might involve deceiving the teacher or going against school rules and policies. Some of these incidents include the likes of cheating or sharing home work assignments. This while on one hand depicts negative behavior by the students, also elaborates on how social, gregarious and involved they are in their external environments thus supporting the theories of Vygotsky and Erickson (Wood and Wood, 1996). In this regard I believe that my development philosophy can aid in eliminating this issue while using insights from this behavior to better enable students to learn and build their cognitive abilities. Instead of restricting this behavior, I would change the format of teaching. Using more activities and projects that involve the student in the learning process instead of them acting as an audience, they will be physically as well as mentally involved in their work. Moreover in class projects should not be assessed on the basis of results, but rather on the basis of competency and effort of the student. In class debates make students think, while in class activities make them interact with their class mates and peers in a social setting therefore invoking learning through the activity as well as through fostered peer based learning (Cate and Durning, 2007). This increases the skills of the students, often reducing the need to cheat for them. Students are humans, and have an inherent need to be social seeking love and belonging as depicted by the Maslows’ theory (Weiler, 2005). This makes them often forgo the right under peer pressure. This desire to be social can be tapped through group based assignments and projects where the students are made to interact with their peers thus satisfying their belonging and social needs. In addition students need to be understood; therefore one of my personal propositions is to make each student prepare a teaching session or activity for the class every semester, where for one hour they are the ones who are teaching, while everyone else including the teacher are in the position of the students. This helps lighten the mood in the class, while gathering significant insight into the thinking and perceptions of the students. Moreover it helps me as a teacher better comprehend them while they also trust and appreciate me working with them to foster their learning and development. Conclusion Conclusively I would like to state that teaching is a sensitive field, with high level of responsibility on the teacher. The teacher is not just responsible for educating the students, but also for developing their personalities in a positive way, acting as a mentor to the students. Simply imparting the information does not invoke learning in the students, as depicted by psychological and learning theories. Out of the box strategies and motivational and learning theories need to be employed practically by the teacher in their learning methodology. My philosophy of being transformational by working with the students involved sharing information with the students, getting their feedback and collaborating with them through activities and discussions to invoke cognitive learning that develops their skills as well as forms their personalities. References Cate, O.T., Durning, S., (2007), Dimensions and psychology of peer teaching in medical education, 29(6), pp 546-552, available at Kozulin, A., Gindis, B., Ageyev, V.S., Miller, S.M., (2003), Vygotsky's Educational Theory in Cultural Context, Cambridge University Press, available at Maslow, A.H., (1943), A Theory of Human Motivation, Ed. Green C.D., in Classics in the History of Psychology, available at n.a., (2008), Social Development Theory: Vygotsky, Learning Theories Website, available at n.a., (2008), Erikson’s Stages of Development, Learning Theories Website, available at Weiler, A., (2005), Information-Seeking Behavior in Generation Y Students: Motivation, Critical Thinking, and Learning Theory, Journal of Academic Librarianship 31(1), pp 46–53, available at Wood, D., Wood, H., (1996), Vygotsky, Tutoring and Learning, Oxford Review of Education 22(1), p5-16, available at < http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0305498960220101> Tharp, R.G., Gallimore, R., (1991), Rousing Minds to Life: Teaching, Learning, and Schooling in Social Context, Cambridge University Press, available at < http://books.google.com.pk/books?id=9D3Ab88Sco0C&dq=vygotsky+learning+theory+teaching&lr=&source=gbs_navlinks_s> Read More

My role in this is to personally enhance my teaching strategy by working with my students to develop their personality and fine-tune their inherent skills and potential through knowledge that is comprehended by them. I perceive that the aim here should be to make students ultimately cognitively competent and self reliant in order to observe, learn and process information based on knowledge to be able to effectively deduce useful findings out of it. Relation to Theoretical Approaches The following depict some of the theoretical approaches that influence my personal beliefs and philosophy of teaching.

Amongst the most appropriate and influencing theoretical approach is that of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. Abraham Maslow provided that humans are motivated by distinct needs (Maslow, 1943), and there needs influence in an order of priority. He categorized these needs as physiological, safety, love and belonging, esteem and self actualization, with the first three being depreciation needs and the latter being growth needs. While there are criticisms that relate to this motivational theory, it forms as one of the basis for my personal teaching philosophy.

This is because students have the inherent human needs depicted by Maslow, and these needs influence their comprehension and learning ability while interacting with the environment. I realize that by focusing on the deprivation needs, especially those that are social nature, the students can be made to be satisfied, while motivated through related factors to learn effectively. The other theory which significantly influences my personal philosophy is that of Vygotsky (Social Development Theory: Vygotsky, 2008).

The theory of social development as presented by Vygotsky has three main themes one of which states that that cognitive development is influenced by social interactions. Different social and cultural elements are learnt by a child to first communicate and interact in the environment and then in the cognitive learning process (Kozulin et al., 2003). The second theme of the theory relates to the MKO whereby other more knowledgeable entities can influence cognitive learning. The third theme deals with the zone of proximal development which lies between inherent ability and provided guidance, where learning takes place.

Applied to learning theories, the concepts provided by Vygotsky depict that using social constructs and social interactions learning can be more effectively promoted in the students (Tharp and Gallimore, 1991). My personal development philosophy regarding teaching strongly is influenced by these concepts. As highlighted earlier, I believe in involving and collaborating with students in order to foster learning instead of transmitting knowledge on to them through one way lecture delivery. The third theory of learning that influences my personal philosophy for development is that of Erickson (Erikson’s Stages of Development, 2008), specific to the different stages which a human being passes through in his life.

According to Erickson, his psychosocial theory presents eight stages incorporate environmental factors like society, norms, parents and the psychosis of the human to develop the personality. Incorporating this as a learning theory, it provides the main influencing factors that foster personality development at different stages which can be useful for teachers. I believe consulting with these stages corresponding to the students’ stage can aid in identifying the needs and requirements of the students.

The theory provides insight into human behavior in the different stages, highlighting possible causes of the behavior, and how the psychology of the human at the stage primarily works. These help in identifying with the students and providing them with learning alternatives that best suit their needs. The specific factors can be used to assess their personality, and further foster learning and development in them using strategies for satisfaction and motivation.

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