University of Toledo



ENGL 1150Education Philosophy EssayBy this time you’ve spent a lot of time and had a lot of experiences in school. But what conclusions have you reached—or mulled—about why or what kind of learning matters? About what makes a good class or good school or good teacher? About the value of an education or about the merit of popular practices or ideas about education? Do you find that schools are indirectly teaching things that aren’t in the official curriculum? That they use technology well or poorly? A “philosophy” can be thought of as a person’s set of attitudes, ideas, and convictions. For our first major assignment, you will present some idea you have about education as you’ve experienced it and describe how you reached it. This is in part a memoir, recalling significant experiences; specifically, you will describe in detail the situation(s) that brought you to reflect on your experiences or beliefs about learning and your process of thinking through them. But primarily, the essay asks you to define and elaborate on your philosophy. You will need to offer readers a succinct, explicit declaration of it, and you will need to explain why it matters. Why is your view one others should take into account as they consider aspects of the education system?Some approaches you might take to framing and defining your philosophy are:Focus on a moment when your beliefs about some aspect of learning changed; perhaps one where you began rethinking or questioning what you had believed or what you were told. Or, when ideas that had been given to you finally made sense.Contrast your idea to ideas about learning that circulate in our society, perhaps some you had absorbed from parents, teachers, the media etc.Respond to political debates about education…issues such as school funding, charter schools, the OGT (or other standardized tests), teacher accountability, among others, provoke lively and ongoing controversy.Ways that things happening outside academia…economic, cultural, political, technological, etc. factors…do or should influence what happen in schools. Any ONE of these could serve to focus your paper, though they don’t exhaust the possibilities. Be sure to give careful thought to your audience. Who should take notice of what you have to say? Whose mind to you want to open, or change? Who might take action to put your philosophy into practice to improve schools or students’ experiences? Here, you aren’t just getting on a soapbox and speaking your mind, or at least not entirely. Your goal is to make readers think and/or act differently about some aspect of education.The paper should be 4-5 pp. long. If you reference any outside sources, cite them in MLA format, complete with a works cited page. On Tues., 8/28, we will discuss our philosophies in class. You must provide a written statement of your—a few sentences or bullet points should suffice—then be ready to discuss the experiences and thoughts that led you to it. This will count for 25% of the participation credit for this plete a full draft of your essay and upload it to the drop box by class time on Tues., 9/4. ................
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