John Dewey's Impact On Education

If any parent questioned my class structure saying it was just play, I would tell the parent that my class is highly structured even though to a visitor it might not look structured and may look like my students are playing or just painting. However, in my classroom we follow John Dewey’s ideas. Dewey believed that in order to provide educational experiences for children teachers must have a strong base of general knowledge as well as knowledge of specific children; be willing to make sense of the world for children on the basis of their greater knowledge and experiences; and invest in observation, planning, organization, and documentation. Everything Dewey stated above is important for an educator because teachers should plan a curriculum from a child’s interest and experience and shouldn’t be afraid to use knowledge of the world to help children make sense of the world. …show more content…
Also, teachers need to take the time to properly observe the students in their class to become aware of what their interested in and take that information and plan out an age appropriate activity that is well organized so the students don’t get overwhelmed. According to the text, the criteria that a teacher must follow for an activity are: It is based on the children’s interest and grows out of their existing knowledge and experience, it supports the children’s development, it helps the child develop new skills, it adds to the children’s understanding of their world, and it prepares the children to live more fully. Therefore, I would explain to any questioning parents that every activity that we have the children do in class will support the child’s interest while teaching them new skills and enhance the child’s understanding of the world. An activity can’t be done just because it is fun, rather it needs to have a