In our philosophy class, in groups, we had to come up with our ideal philosophy of Education. We took a little from Quintilian’s philosophy, from Aristotle, Calvin, etc. I just read about John Dewey this past week, and I really liked a lot of what his philosophy was about. His was experimentalism, which sought to integrate the larger context of a changing world with the smaller settings of changing communities, neighborhoods and schools. Dewey emphasized the social importance of the collaborative group and shared activities and experiences in creating social intelligence (Group-centered Education). This is important for what I will later reflect on. He also envisioned the school as a miniature society that would be the catalyst for creating a new sense of community (schools were embedded in society, not isolated from it). Utmost, I really liked his idea of curriculum which related instruction to children’s experiences and needs, using the laboratory or experimental method as an instructional strategy, using field trips and excursions that involved visits to zoos, art galleries, parks, and museums, creating learning situations that encouraged collaborative social interactions, and relating instruction to broad social political, and economic issues and problems. I feel that when students can really relate to the things that they are learning about that they will enjoy learning. As I student, I would much rather have learned about history through museum visits, than reading textbooks and so forth. Overall, I am glad to have read about John Dewey because if I had to re-do our ideal philosophy again, I would have incorporated a lot more of his ideas into to. Fortunately, even though the assignment is complete, his ideas are still something that I can take away with me.
Dewey emphasized group work and shared activities. This past week I had to reflect on the process that was undertaken working in a group to create a unit comprised of twelve lessons. These are a couple of my thoughts:
-There were many more positive aspects to team planning and group work than there were challenges. After speaking with other students who had to develop a unit entirely on their own in other classes, they told me of how they felt a little overwhelmed at times trying to fit it in with all their other work. I did not, at any point, feel overwhelmed by the assignment, which leads to one positive aspect. Team planning allows to things to be broken up, and there to be less work individually. Instead of having to make 12 lessons on our own, we collaborated and ended up fully each only making three, and then making comments and suggestions on the other nine.
-The only real challenge that I can think back to was trying to find meeting time. We each had assignments due prior to the lessons that needed to be completed, as well as part-time jobs that we needed to get to, to even just things as simple as not feeling well at times, or having prior commitments. It can sometimes make group work extremely difficult. I am not entirely sure how people worked in groups before the Internet and email were developed, as it was the quick emails that often guided our group along the way. At one time we had to meet without one group member because of work; however, we worked it out and everything always turned out fine. We had a great group with regards to understanding and going that extra bit to help each other out.
Overall, group work was something that I used to dread in University, but now that I am becoming a teacher, I am realizing the importance of group work and collaboration, in both my relationships with peers and how I can use it in my classes. Group work is now something that I actually kind of enjoy and will have my students doing a fair amount of, for instance when I teach them literacy circles.
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