Review the philosophies of education that your classmates chose and write a minimum 150-word response to at least two of them.  Comment on whether you agree or disagree with their philosophies of education and their rational for them.  Suggest additional ways in which the theories they have chosen could be applied to educational environments.

My personal philosophy of education started when my son was diagnosed with Autism. It was then that I became you could say obsessed with how I was going to teach my child in a way that he will understand, and learn. I then started to work as an EA for kindergarten through second grade in a site based classroom. It amazed me how every child had their own unique way of retaining information and being motivated to do so.  That is why I chose the following two learning theories:

ConfucianismConfucius(551479BCE)isinmanyculturesregardedastheworld’sforemostandgreatestphilosopher.Confucius’steachings,asourceof perennialgoodsense,encouragepeopletoleadgoodlivesbydoingwhatisright.Atsometimeinyourpreserviceteachereducationcourseworkandduringin serviceprofessionaldevelopmentyouwillnodoubtseeorhearoneofConfucius’smanyaxioms.Oneofthemostfrequentlydisplayedis,“Ihear,Iknow.Isee,Iremember.Ido,Iunderstand.”Hereisanother:“Ifyouthinkintermsofayear,plantaseed;ifin termsoftenyears,planttrees;ifintermsof100years,teachthepeople.” Confuciustaughtthattherearethreemethodstogainingwisdom. Thefirstisreflection,whichisthehighest.Thesecondisimitation,whichistheeasiest. Thethirdisexperience,whichisthebitterest.As a teachereducationcandidate,youwillhavetheopportunitytouseall threemethodstogainwisdom. (chp. 7) (Hall, G.E., Quinn, L.F., & Gollnick, D.M. (2014). Introduction to teaching: Making a difference in student learning ).

IvanPavlov(1849–1936),EdwardThorndike(1874–1949),andBurrhusFrederickSkinner(1904–1990)

Eachofthesetheoristsbelievedthatbehaviorcanbemodified,controlled,ordirectedwhenspecificstimuliarepresentorwhenabehaviorisrewardedordepressed.Behaviormodificationpractices are widelyusedinclassroomstodaythataffectinstructionalpracticesandclassroom managementstrategies. (chp. 7) (Hall, G.E., Quinn, L.F., & Gollnick, D.M. (2014). Introduction to teaching: Making a difference in student learning ).

I believe when working with special needs children there are strategies that work great for some and not for others. For example, we would have a penny board, it came with five pennies that would stick to the slots on the board. For every good behavior the child would receive a penny, after five pennies the child would then receive an award, like a sticker, or stamp etc. This went over well with most of the kids, but there was a handful that could care less about the penny board. That is when we had to use things of personal interest. A little girl loved the movie Frozen, so we made little Frozen cut outs and would let her color them at free time if she behaved and did her work. At the end of the day all the children were learning and not only school work but behaviorally too. That was the goal. To teach these children not only how to do their school work, but also teach them lessons for life.