Connecting Educational Philosophy and Praxis

Connecting Educational Philosophy and Praxis

Successful educators generally are those who best connect a sound teaching philosophy and philosophy of education and the practical delivery of educational material in a manner conducive to genuine student comprehension and retention (Freire, 1972). Unfortunately, it is possible to fulfill the teaching and educational philosophy requirement without a corresponding teaching practice; and naturally, without a sound fundamental teaching and educational philosophy, even highly effective teaching methods are likely to produce poor results (Freire, 1972; Small, 1978). In my personal educational experience, I have had the privilege of being taught by several teachers who connected a teaching philosophy with highly effective teaching methods. I have also studied the works of several educators who clearly have successfully integrated educational philosophy and practical methodology.

Tek Youg Lin -- High School English Teacher

Mr. Lin taught 10th Grade English at a prestigious private high school for more than 40 years. Mr. Lin always had a tremendous natural enthusiasm for teaching as well as for helping young students discover their potential as intellectuals and as individuals. His specialty was always teaching English grammar, and because of him, most of the thousands of his former students possess the best written and spoken English skills of anyone they know. Mr. Lin recognized the fundamental importance of grammatically correct speech and writing and of cultivating a broad enough working vocabulary to express their thoughts articulately in any communications medium. The reason his teaching methodology was so successful was that he conducted his entire class in a conversational tone (while sitting cross-legged on his desk) rather than in the formal way that most teachers conduct their classes, especially in high school. He managed to teach one of the most disliked courses in a manner that truly engaged his students precisely because it never seemed to them that they were in a class at all.

Psychology Professor Phillip Zimbardo and Social Studies Teacher Ron Jones

In 1971, Stanford University Psychology professor conducted the now-famous Stanford Prison Experiment in which simulated jailer/inmate relationships actually generated many of the very behaviors recognized as being characteristic of real-life situations where group identification and blind obedience to authority release the profound capacity for morally horrendous and brutal behavior that lies within most us on different levels (Zimbardo, 2007). Similarly, several years earlier, Palo Alto high school Social Studies teacher conducted a one-day demonstration intended to explain the Nazi phenomenon. The exercise took on a momentum of its own, duplicating the principal behaviors of Nazi fanaticism over a fictitious movement called "The Wave" (Macionis, 2008).

Application in My Teaching Approach