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Assignment 6 CTE

This document discusses the author's philosophy of education after taking a course on principles of career and technical education. The author believes that education should be viewed as a lifelong, contextual process of constructing knowledge rather than simply acquiring it. The author most closely aligns with constructivism and social constructivism, which state that learning occurs as individuals and groups actively make meaning from experiences. The author has applied these philosophies in their English language teaching by ensuring lessons are meaningful and catered to students' specific needs and goals. Having a clear educational philosophy is important for effective career and technical instruction and teaching in general.

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Marina Kennedy
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43 views

Assignment 6 CTE

This document discusses the author's philosophy of education after taking a course on principles of career and technical education. The author believes that education should be viewed as a lifelong, contextual process of constructing knowledge rather than simply acquiring it. The author most closely aligns with constructivism and social constructivism, which state that learning occurs as individuals and groups actively make meaning from experiences. The author has applied these philosophies in their English language teaching by ensuring lessons are meaningful and catered to students' specific needs and goals. Having a clear educational philosophy is important for effective career and technical instruction and teaching in general.

Uploaded by

Marina Kennedy
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Assignment 6 – Philosophy of Education

Marina Ferreira de Melo


UW-Stout 2019
Professor Matthew Simoneau
Principles of Career and Technical Education has been a trail blazing experience for me as an

English for Speakers of Other Languages professional. Having the chance to know more about the

guiding pillars that sustain CTE and its aspects will definitely impact my personal philosophy of

education in a positive way.

Historical, political and economic events have shaped CTE to adapt to an ever changing reality

in instruction and it shows that this is an ongoing and growing area, where professional challenges are

the norm. As educators, we must be open-minded and ready for changes in all spheres, from legislature

to classroom management, the field is vast and in constant evolution. Keeping up with all this new

influx is key to providing a high standard instruction to an increasing population.

Personally, I believe that public instruction is one of the most potent ways to support a healthy

society, one that works for everyone. I view learning as a lifelong path that humans feel compelled to

follow, regardless from age, gender, social status or ethnic background. I believe education should

viewed as an ongoing construction and diversification of knowledge and I easily recognize my thoughts

align mostly with Constructivism when it comes to philosophy of education.

Constructivism states that learning is an active, contextualized process of constructing

knowledge rather than acquiring it. Philosophers who defend this view believe that knowledge is

constructed based on personal experiences and hypotheses, or questioning, of the environment. Another

important assumption is that each person has a different interpretation and therefore, process the

construction of knowledge in unique ways. As opposed to Behaviorism, the learner is not a blank slate

(tabula rasa) but a cognitively capable individual who brings past experiences and cultural factors to a

situation. This is especially relevant when we consider Andragogy, once every adult undeniably has

vast and unique experiences that will play a role throughout the learning process. Educators must be

aware that all this baggage a learner brings to the table are precious characteristics that can help design

and implement instruction that is inclusive and diversified, and that, above all, caters to specific needs,

so that the process of constructing knowledge will not be interrupted.


In the ESL/ELL classroom, Social Constructivism is particularly adequate. Vygostsky devoted

his research and career to develop Social Constructivism. He believed that “tasks that are too difficult

for an individual to master alone, but can be mastered with the assistance or guidance of adults or

more-skilled peers (Vygotsky, 1962).” Hence, students should ideally work together to construct their

knowledge and complete their assignments. By working in pairs and groups, students can construct

knowledge together. This practice will lead learners to become more engaged in their own education

and more aware of the process of cognition, including what works best for them.

Teachers/Instructors should encourage their students to question each other’s ideas, using

critical thinking skills and try to develop a creative path to problem solving. Self-direction is a crucial

concept within this philosophy. Students who have a clear idea of their educational goals tend to have

more successful outcomes. Adding to this, the TESL Canada Journal presented on the article A

Sociocultural View of Language Learning: The Importance of Meaning-Based Instruction shared the

view that “through the concept of mediation, Vygotsky was able to answer the complex question of

how human development occurs. Mediation refers to the process by which socially meaningful

activities transform impulsive, unmediated, and natural behavior into higher mental processes through

the use of instruments or tools.” It is undeniable that for language learners as a whole, not only of the

English language, the more realistically language is used in the classroom, the more relatable they are

to real life problems. Content becomes useful and usable, which is one of the main goals when one

decides to learn a second language.

Personally, I have been using this concept as my north when lesson planning and teaching. If a

particular topic is not able to satisfy a need the students has, it might not be the most adequate.

Aligning content with a methodology that guarantees “usability” is crucial. With a student who is a

Dermatologist, I would have to convey meaning and content through meaningful artifacts that would

cater to his/her needs to establish communication forecasting future scenarios, such as using a second

language effectively enough so he/she could participate and lecture in a professional conference, for
instance. With a student who is preparing to apply for university, whose first language is Japanese and

has just landed from Japan with very limited pronunciation skills, I would have to scaffold teaching and

use more visually appealing materials, as well as design a time frame that would allow more dedicated

work on associating spelling and sounds, to enhance pronunciation step by step.

Using graphic organizers are a great way to make lessons more visual. The artifact below (a Venn

Diagram) is an example that could be used when teaching comparative adjectives:

Having a clear and justifiable philosophy of education is essential for the development of a

consistent and meaningful practice in CTE and basically any instance of instruction. My understanding
of the theories learned throughout this course added to my empiric classroom practice have and will

keep impacting my teaching in ways that make me feel more prepared to deal with diversity in

Andragogy, aiming at achieving positive outcomes.


Reference

http://blog.tesol.org/4-strategies-for-scaffolding-instruction-for-els/

https://teslcanadajournal.ca/index.php/tesl

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