Learning Module Property of SMCC

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 UNIT 1: You, The Teacher, as a Person in
Society
We live in a world where each of us has a role to play, a job to do, and a
dream to chase. Remember that the reason why you are here now is the
product of your diligence and the will to survive. Be grateful of your hard work
and dedication, be thankful as well to the people who were there with you
when you were at your lowest, you owe them the inspiration to strive.
Experience will teach us about life, people will teach us hope.

I. Sub-Topics

A. You, The Teacher, as a Person in Society

a. Your Philosophical Heritage
b. Formulating your Philosophy in Education
c. The foundational Principles of Morality and You
d. Values Formation and You
e. Teaching as your Vocation, Mission and Profession Bibliography

II. Learning Outcomes

a. summarize at least seven (7) philosophies of education and draw their

implications to teaching - learning
b. discuss and internalize the foundational principles of morality
c. embrace teaching as a vocation, mission, and profession.

III. Content

You, the Teacher, as a Person in Society

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 "Communication is the process of
sharing meaning through
continuous flow of symbolic
messages." (Froemling 5
"Communication is the process of
sharing meaning through
continuous flow of symbolic
messages." (Froemling
"Teachers... are the most responsible and important member of society because
their professional efforts affect the fate of the earth. - Helen Caldicott

We don't live in a vacuum. We live in a society. We are part of society. Our

society influences us to the extent that we allow ourselves to be influenced by it.
Our thoughts, values, and actions are somehow shaped by events and by
people with whom we come in contact. We, in turn, help shape society - its
events, its people, and its destiny.
John Donne said it in his song "No Man Is an Island": "No man stands alone...
We need one another..." In the context of your life as a teacher, we would say:
"No teacher is an island. No teacher stands alone". Indeed, you can't become a
teacher alone. Think of the many people who are helping you now become a
teacher in the near future. In fact, soon you will be called "teacher" in relation to
a student, in the same manner that your student will be called "student" in
relation to you as teacher.

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 In this Chapter, you will be made to realize the significant role that you will play
in society. This is perhaps one reason why a time the teacher is blamed for the
many ills in society. You will also come to realize the demands it will exact from
you for much is expected of you, the teacher. It is, therefore, no joke to become
one!
While teaching has many demands it also has its share of rewards. Great
teachers recite a litany of these rewards most of which are invisible to the eyes
but are the most essential.
Your influence on your students and on other people with whom you work and
live depends a great deal on your philosophy as a person and as a teacher.
Your philosophy of life and your philosophy of education serve as your "window"
to the world and "compass" in the sea of life. Embedded in your personal
philosophy are your principles and values that will determine how you regard
people, how you look at life as a whole. They govern and direct your lifestyle,
your thoughts, decisions, actions and your relationships with people and things.

Your Philosophical Heritage

To philosophize is so essentially human - and in a sense to philosophize means
living a truly human life. - J. Pieper

The Existential Question: We are heirs to a rich philosophical heritage. Passed

on to us are a number of philosophies of various thinkers who lived before us.
These thinkers reflected on life in this planet. They occupied themselves
searching for answers to questions about human existence. These existential
questions come in different versions - "what is life?", "who am I?", "why am I
here" or "what am I living for?", "what is reality?", "is the universe real?", "what is
good to do?", "how should I live life meaningfully?" and the like. In the school
context, these existential questions are: "why do I teach?", "what should I
teach?", "how should I teach?", "what is the nature of the learner?", "how do we
learn?", etc.

Seven philosophies of education

Essentialism

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 Why teach? - This philosophy contends that teachers teach for learners to
acquire basic knowledge, skills and values. Teachers teach "not to radically
reshape society "but rather "to transmit the traditional moral values and
intellectual knowledge that students need to become model citizens."

What to teach - Essentialist programs are academically rigorous. The emphasis

is on academic content for students to learn the basic skills or the fundamental
r's reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic, right conduct as these are essential to the
acquisition of higher or more complex skills needed in preparation for adult life.
The essentialist curriculum includes the "traditional disciplines such as math,
natural science, history, foreign language, and literature. Essentialists frown
upon vocational courses... or other courses with 'watered down 'academic
content... The teachers and administrators decide what is most important for the
students to learn and place little emphasis on student interests, particularly
when they divert time and attention from the academic curriculum."

How to teach - Essentialist teachers emphasize mastery of subject matter. They

are expected to be intellectual and moral models of their students. They are
seen as "fountain" of information and as "paragon of virtue", if ever there is such
a person. To gain mastery of basic skills, teachers have to observe "core
requirements, longer school day, a longer academic year..."

With mastery of academic content as primary focus, teachers rely heavily on the
use of prescribed textbooks, the drill method and other methods that will enable
them to cover as much academic content as possible like the lecture method.
There is a heavy stress on memorization and discipline.

Progressivism

Why teach - Progressivist teachers teach to develop learners into becoming

enlightened and intelligent citizens of a democratic society. This group of
teachers teaches learners so they may live life fully NOW not to prepare them
for adult life.

What to teach - The progressivists are identified with need-based and relevant
curriculum. This is a curriculum that "responds to students' needs and that
relates to students' personal lives and experiences."

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 Progressivists accept the impermanence of life and the inevitability of change.
For the progressivists, everything else changes. Change is the only thing that
does not change. Hence, progressivist teachers are more concerned with
teaching the learners the skills to cope with change. Instead of occupying
themselves with teaching facts or bits of information that are true today but
become obsolete tomorrow, they would rather focus their teaching on the
teaching of skills or processes in gathering and evaluating information and in
problem solving.

The subjects that are given emphasis in progressivist schools are the "natural
and social sciences. Teachers expose students to many new scientific,
technological, and social developments, reflecting the progressivist notion that
progress and change are fundamental. ... In addition, students solve problems in
the classroom similar to those they will encounter outside of the schoolhouse."

How to teach - Progressivist teachers employ experiential methods. They

believe that one learns by doing. For John Dewey, the most popular advocate of
progressivism book learning is no substitute for actual experience. One
experiential teaching method that progressivist teachers heavily rely on is the
problem-solving method. This problem-solving method makes use of the
scientific method. (You will learn more of this in your Principles and Strategies of
Teaching.)

Other "hands-on-minds-on-hearts-on" teaching methodology that progressivist

teachers use are field trips during which students interact with nature or society.
Teachers also stimulate students through thought-provoking games, and
puzzles.

Perennialism

Why teach - We are all rational animals. Schools should, therefore, develop the
students' rational and moral powers. According to Aristotle, if we neglect the
students' reasoning skills, we deprive them of the ability to use their higher
faculties to control their passions and appetites.

What to teach - The perennialist curriculum is a universal one on the view that
all human beings possess the same essential nature. It is heavy on the
humanities, on general education. It is not a specialist curriculum but rather a

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 general one. There is less emphasis on vocational and technical education.
Philosopher Mortimer Adler claims that the "Great Books of ancient and
medieval as well as modern times are a repository of knowledge and wisdom, a
tradition of culture which must initiate each generation". What the perennialist
teachers teach are lifted from the Great Books.

How to teach - The perennialist classrooms are "centered around teachers". The
teachers do not allow the students' interests or experiences to substantially
dictate what they teach. They apply whatever creative techniques and other
tried and true methods which are believed to be most conducive to disciplining
the students' minds. Students engaged in Socratic dialogues, or mutual inquiry
sessions to develop an understanding of history's most timeless concepts".

Existentialism

Why teach - The main concern of the existentialists is "to help students
understand and appreciate themselves as unique individuals accept complete
responsibility for thoughts, feelings and actions". Since existence precedes
essence', the existentialist teacher's role is to help students define their own
essence by exposing them to various paths they take in life and by creating an
environment in which they freely choose their own preferred way. Since feeling
is not divorced from reason in decision making, the existentialist demands the
education of the whole person, not just the mind."

What to teach - "In an existentialist curriculum, students are given a wide variety
of options from which to choose." Students are afforded great latitude in their
choice of subject matter. The humanities, however, are given emphasis to
"provide students with vicarious experiences that will help unleash their own
creativity and self-expression. For example, rather than emphasizing historical
events, existentialists focus upon the actions of historical individuals, each of
whom provides possible models for the students' own behavior. ...Moreover,
vocational education is regarded more as a means of teaching students about
themselves and their potential than of earning a livelihood. In teaching art,
existentialism encourages individual creativity and imagination more than
copying and imitating established models."

How to teach - "Existentialist methods focus on the individual. Learning is self-

paced, self-directed. It includes a great deal of individual contact with the
teacher, who relates to each student openly and honestly. To help students

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 know themselves and their place in society, teachers employ values clarification
strategy. In the use of such strategy, teachers remain non-judgmental and take
care not to impose their values on their students since values are personal."

Behaviorism

Why teach - Behaviorist schools are concerned with the modification and
shaping of students' behavior by providing for a favorable environment, since
they believe that they are a product of their environment. They are after students
who exhibit desirable behavior in society.

What to teach - Because behaviorists look at "people and other animals... as

complex combinations of matter that. act only in response to internally or
externally generated physical stimuli", behaviorist teachers teach students to
respond favorably to various stimuli in the environment.

How to teach Behaviorist teachers "ought to arrange environmental conditions

so that students can make the responses to stimuli. Physical variables like light,
temperature, arrangement of furniture, size and quantity of visual aids have to
be controlled to get the desired responses from the learners. ... Teachers ought
to make the stimuli clear and interesting to capture and hold the learners'
attention. They ought to provide appropriate incentives to reinforce positive
responses and weaken or eliminate negative ones." (Trespeces, 1995)

Linguistic philosophy

Why teach - To develop the communication skills of the learner because the
ability to articulate, to voice out the meaning and values of things that one
obtains from his/ her experience of life and the world is the very essence of
man. It is through his/her ability to express himself/. herself clearly, to get his/her
ideas across, to make known to others the values that he/she has imbibed, the
beauty that he/she has seen, the ugliness that he rejects and the truth that
he/she has discovered. Teachers teach to develop in the learner the skill to
send messages clearly and receive messages correctly.

What to teach – Learners should be taught to communicate clearly – how to

send clear, concise messages and how to receive and correctly understand
messages sent. Communication takes place three (3) ways verbal, nonverbal,
and paraverbal. Verbal component refers the content our message, the choice

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 and arrangement words. This can be oral written. Nonverbal component refers
to the message we send through our body language while paraverbal
component refers to how we say what we say – the tone, pacing and volume of
our voices.

There is to teach learners language that correct, precise, grammatical, coherent,

accurate so that are able communicate clearly precisely There to expand their
vocabularies enhance their communication There need teach learners how
communicate through non-verbal consistently though para-verbal means.

There is to need caution the learners of the verbal and non-verbal barriers to
communication.

Teach them to speak as many languages as you can. The more languages one
speaks, the better he/she communicate with the world. A multilingual has an
edge over the monolingual or bilingual.

How teach - The most effective way teach language. and communication is the
experiential way. Make them experience sending and receiving messages
verbal, non-verbal and para-verbal should make classroom for interplay minds
and hearts. teacher facilitates dialogue among learners and between him/her
his/her students because the exchange words there also exchange ideas.

Constructivism

Why teach – to develop intrinsically motivated and independent learners

adequately equipped with learning skills for them to be able to construct
knowledge and make meaning of them.

What to teach - The learners are taught how to learn. They are taught learning
processes and skills such as searching, critiquing and evaluating information,
relating these pieces of information, reflecting on the same, making meaning out
of them, drawing insights, posing questions, researching and constructing new
knowledge out of these bits of information learned.

How to teach -. In the constructivist classroom, the teacher provides students

with data or experiences that allow them to hypothesize, predict, manipulate
objects, pose questions, research, investigate, imagine, and invent. The
constructivist classroom is interactive. It promotes dialogical exchange of ideas

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 among learners and between teacher and learners. The teacher's role is to
facilitate this process.

Knowledge isn't a thing that can be simply deposited by the teacher into the
empty minds of the learners. Rather, knowledge is constructed by learners
through an active, mental process of development; learners are the builders and
creators of meaning and knowledge. Their minds are not empty. Instead, their
minds are full of ideas waiting to be "midwifed" by the teacher with his/ her
skillful facilitating skills.

Assessment/Activity: An Exercise to Determine Your Educational

Philosophy
Directions: Find out to which philosophy you adhere. To what extent does each
statement apply to you? Rate yourself 4 if you agree with the statement always,
3 if you agree but not always, 2 if you agree sometimes, and I if you don't agree
at all.

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 1. There is no substitute for concrete experience in learning
2. The focus of education should be the ideas that are as relevant today as
when they were first conceived.
3. Teachers must not force their students to learn the subject matter if it does
not interest them.
4. Schools must develop students' capacity to mason by stressing on the
humanities.
5. In the class, students must be encouraged to interact with one another to
develop social virtues such as cooperation and respect
6. Students should read and analyze the Great Books, the creative works of
history's finest thinkers and writers.
7. Help students expand their knowledge by helping them apply their previous
experiences in solving new problems.
8. Our course of study should be general, not specialized; liberal, not vocational;
humanistic, not technical.
9. There is no universal, inborn human nature. We are born and exist and then
we ourselves freely determine our essence.
10. Human beings are shaped by their environment.
11. Schools should stress on the teaching of basic skills.
12. Change of environment can change a person.
13. Curriculum should emphasize on the traditional disciplines such as math,
natural science, history, grammar, literature.
14. Teacher cannot impose meaning; students make meaning of what they are
taught.
15. Schools should help individuals accept themselves as unique individuals
and accept responsibility for their thoughts, feelings and actions.
16. Learners produce knowledge based on their experiences.
17. For the learner to acquire the basic skills, s/he must go through the rigor and
discipline of serious study.

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 18. The teacher and the school head must prescribe what is most important for
the students to learn.
19. The truth shines in an atmosphere of genuine dialogue.
20. A learner must be allowed to learn at his/her own pace.
21. The learner is not a blank slate but brings past experiences and cultural
factors to the learning situation.
22. The classroom is not a place where teachers pour knowledge into empty
minds of students.
23. The learner must be taught how to communicate his ideas and feelings.
24. To understand the message from his/her students, the teacher must listen
not only to what his/her students are saying but also to what they are not saying.
25. An individual is what s/ he chooses to become not dictated by his/her
environment.

Interpreting your Scores: If you have 2 answers of 214 in numbers:

1,3,5,7 --------------------------- you are more of an existentialist
2,4,6,8 --------------------------- you are more of a perennialist
9,15,20,25 ---------------------- you are more of an existentialist
10, 12 ---------------------------- you are more of a behaviorist
11,13,17,18 -------------------- you are more of an essentialist
14, 16, 21, 22 ------------------ you are more of a constructivist
19, 23, 24 ----------------------- you are more of a linguistic philosopher
If you have 2 scores of 4 in several of the 7 clusters, you have an eclectic
philosophy which means you put the philosophies together. If your scores are
less than 4, this means that you are not very definite in your philosophy. Or if
your scores are less than 3 in most of the items, this means your philosophy is
quite vague.

References:

Learning Module Property of SMCC

 1. Bilbao P., Corpuz B., Llagas A., & Salandanan G., (2015). The Teaching
Profession

2. http://www.cep.edu.rs/public/teaching_profession_for_the_21st_century.pdf

3. https://kupdf.net/download/the-teaching-profession-all
chapters_58e82ee0dc0d60786fda980a_pdf

Learning Module Property of SMCC

Learning Module Property of SMCC