Personal Philosophy Of Physical Education

In a world where so many different factors accumulate and lead to much destruction, it is my firm belief that teachers are and can be the catalyst that causes tremendous change. From the different traditional teaching philosophies, I have chosen to find my philosophy’s foundation in an eclectic combination of those presented in the text. I have arrived at this conclusion because most of these view-points contain certain aspects that I innately value and will seek to implement in my time as a professional educator. I believe that “every student needs the general education to succeed in life in our democratic society” (Kaplan 169). This idea is most closely related to the traditional educational philosophy of essentialists. Over the duration of my years as a student, I noticed that I had preferences as it relates to the different subjects I was being exposed to and, as a result, I tended to do well in those classes that I preferred, but was that truly why I was …show more content…
In retrospect, I now realize why I was doing better in those classes. It was because I was able to learn the content in a wide array of forms. I too, as an educator, will seek to follow the instructional methods of essentialists, who believe that teachers should “use a variety of learning materials to make sure that students learn the content” (Kaplan 171). As an aspiring Physical Education teacher, I believe it is important to teach students in a progressive manner where skills and activities are broken down into smaller parts and, as they grasp those small parts, gradually move to the whole skill, which is also an idea of the essentialists. While the essentialist philosophy appeals to me greatly, the idea that “education should be child centered,” as is presented by the progressivist’s philosophy, is of vital importance to my educational philosophy.