Engaging Learning Through Philosophy Practice

Making a Connection

As an educator myself, I am always looking for new ways to help my students learn. I try to take every opportunity to find out what drives them and how I should be helping them learn what they need to know in order to succeed in life after high school. Unfortunately, many of my students have never had the chance to actually figure out and learn how they learn in the classroom setting. If they don’t understand how they learn best and are not given the support to figure it out, then how should we expect them to keep learning at school?

I teach in a school district where many of my students have spent a great deal of their lives outside of school learning lessons about life on the streets. Many of them have family members that are in gangs, sell drugs, or run guns. Some of them are also involved in this life, because it is just part of what they have learned about how to survive. Education in school is not valued in their community because many of them feel that it hasn’t gotten their family members or them in any sort of a better situation in life. Many of my students come to school only to get something to eat or to sleep. School, for many of them, is the only safe place that they know. How is it possible for me to engage my students in reading stories about people that are nothing like them or writing a literature analysis about a novel that they care nothing about? It isn’t possible. If they can’t make personal connections, then they won’t be able to learn. Life has taught them that school is not important, because it doesn’t feed them, pay their bills, or keep them or their family members out of jail or alive. How do I change this?

I need to connect with my students and show them that they are capable of finding their own way in life. They have to believe that they can follow their own passions and dreams and not give up on themselves just because others tell them that they will never amount to anything. If I am able to open their minds and show them that they can learn anything that they want to learn, as long as they work hard and use the tools that they have, I believe that I can succeed in helping them succeed. As an educator, I believe that it is important for my students to realize that when we are in the classroom we are a team. We work together to help each other get better and grow. We are open and honest and we always have each other’s best interest in mind. We are a learning community. I am not there to tell them what they need to know, I am there to show them how to learn what they want to know.

Learning Philosophy

I know that I learn best when I am given the opportunity to explore, research, and experiment on my own or with others. I believe that I learn best through authentic learning opportunities and I am more engaged in the learning process when I know that the outcome will be tangible and that I will continue to use this newly acquired knowledge and skill in the future. There have been many times that I have learned more from my own students during a lesson than what I had originally planned on teaching them, and to me that in and of itself should be eye opening to educators. Teachers are not the important people in the room, the students are. It is necessary for teachers to apply different aspects of learning theories and philosophies if they are going to facilitate real learning in their classrooms. Educational philosophies and mission statements are a great way to help focus our beliefs about what we want to accomplish, but I believe that sharing and living my learning philosophy with my students and colleagues is the only way for real learning to manifest itself.

I believe that my learning philosophy is made up of aspects from both cognitive (Dewey, Bruner, and Piaget) and social constructivism (Vygotsky) with humanism (Maslow) blended in. Relationship building in my classroom is the one of the key components of how I help my students feel safe enough to start to really engage in learning. Students in my classroom are engaged in learning through most if not all facets of both cognitive and social constructivism. Through this type of learning approach, my students are able to actively engage in a learning community where they feel they can ask relevant questions, receive valuable feedback, learn from and with their peers, reflect upon their own learning processes, participate in authentic learning experiences and take ownership of their learning.

Conclusion

I am excited to finally have the knowledge to truly understand the ways in which my learning philosophy really plays a role in the learning processes of my students. My innovation plan, a blended writing workshop, was developed after I completed a thorough amount of reading and research. My findings show that my constructivist approach to learning and ability to form strong relationships with my students through humanism are crucial in engaging my students in their learning processes. These theories will also have a major impact in allowing me to have the crucial conversations that are needed in order for me to make real change in my organization.

Annotated Bibliography

Donovan, S., Bransford, J.D., & Pellegrino, J.W. (1999). How people learn: Bridging research and practice. National Academy of Sciences. https://learn-us-east-1-prod-fleet02-xythos.content.blackboardcdn.com/5c082f78d4ba4/2780995?X-Blackboard-Expiration=1615798800000&X-Blackboard-Signature=nU3n1ricPIJewe3Bv38w7Hw3aeB5eBeG44%2FAwP0RPmk%3D&X-Blackboard-Client-Id=304450&response-cache-control=private%2C%20max-age%3D21600&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%2A%3DUTF-8%27%27How%2520People%2520Learn.pdf&response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&X-Amz-Algorithm=AWS4-HMAC-SHA256&X-Amz-Date=20210315T030000Z&X-Amz-SignedHeaders=host&X-Amz-Expires=21600&X-Amz-Credential=AKIAZH6WM4PL5SJBSTP6%2F20210315%2Fus-east-1%2Fs3%2Faws4_request&X-Amz-Signature=cdda1af04558cbbd26550e10dcb119867620aa6fa5ec5abcc9a761cd22b18b55

This engaging study evaluates how we, as humans learn best. This research based report clearly concludes that our education system is in need of a serious overhaul if we actually want to engage our students in real learning.

Dweck, C.S. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. New York: Ballantine Books.

Dweck presents an amazing view of how we really in charge of every aspect of our lives and our learning journey. Her presentation of failing forward had opened my eyes to how important every part of our learning process truly is.

Harapnuik, D. (n.d.). Learning philosophy. Retrieved from http://www.harapnuik.org/?page_id=95

Dr. Harapnuik makes it easy to understand how our own learning philosophies forge the paths for the way that we teach and facilitate learning in our own classrooms. His notion of teachers not actually teaching anyone anything, but just being a learning facilitator is inspiring.

Learning Theory Project Team of HKU. What teachers should know about learning theories. Retrieved from https://kb.edu.hku.hk/learning_theory_history/

This site gives an extremely helpful overview of different learning theories and approaches.

Thomas, D., & Brown, J.S. (2011). A new culture of learning: Cultivating the imagination for a world of constant change. Lexington, KY: CreateSpace.

This book is full of research based examples of how we can create significant learning environments that promote engaging and authentic learning opportunities. Thomas and Brown discuss the importance of project-based learning, peer-to-peer learning, and learning through play.