Recently, I had to write my philosophy of education for my admittance to Ball State’s superintendent program. At first, I was a bit angry feeling that this was extreme busy work. Now that I’ve completed the task I believe it is something I should have done annually since becoming an educator. It was beneficial because it forced me to clarify my thinking around what I believe my role is in shaping our students’ futures. It was also beneficial because it forced me to summarize what was meaningful to me from everything I’ve learned over the past 17 years. I volunteered to write this post today because I felt it was important for me to share the clarity I have come to and to maybe encourage you to do the same.
First, we exist to prepare our students to be college and career ready. The term college and career means a lot of different things to people. We throw out terms like 21st century skills, work ready, etc. I sometimes feel that educators are forecasting the future onto a huge wall and then throwing a dart to see where it lands. This can be frustrating. I believe confidently that college and career ready means one thing to me. Students have to be able to leave us and continue their learning at a high level for their entire life. Whether they are entering the job market right away, vocational school, or college...it doesn’t matter! Students will have to continually learn new knowledge and skills throughout their life. This is how we can help them improve their quality of life and how we can grow our community.
How do we educate students who are able to continue to learn at high levels after they graduate? We ensure they graduate with a high level of reasoning skills developed through an abundant amount of reading, writing, and discussing in school. We also must ensure that we provide opportunities for all of our students to learn the skill of self-directedness. Students who are not self-directed, will not have the attributes necessary for continual growth.
There are a lot of possible strategies that could be used to foster these skills in our students. Technology and instructional methods play a large part. It’s my hope that by building a collegial environment in PCSC we will challenge each other to provide these opportunities for our students. It is also my hope that each of us will investigate our own philosophies of education so that we can purposefully engage one another in meaningful discourse on how we get there.
Dan Funston
First, we exist to prepare our students to be college and career ready. The term college and career means a lot of different things to people. We throw out terms like 21st century skills, work ready, etc. I sometimes feel that educators are forecasting the future onto a huge wall and then throwing a dart to see where it lands. This can be frustrating. I believe confidently that college and career ready means one thing to me. Students have to be able to leave us and continue their learning at a high level for their entire life. Whether they are entering the job market right away, vocational school, or college...it doesn’t matter! Students will have to continually learn new knowledge and skills throughout their life. This is how we can help them improve their quality of life and how we can grow our community.
How do we educate students who are able to continue to learn at high levels after they graduate? We ensure they graduate with a high level of reasoning skills developed through an abundant amount of reading, writing, and discussing in school. We also must ensure that we provide opportunities for all of our students to learn the skill of self-directedness. Students who are not self-directed, will not have the attributes necessary for continual growth.
There are a lot of possible strategies that could be used to foster these skills in our students. Technology and instructional methods play a large part. It’s my hope that by building a collegial environment in PCSC we will challenge each other to provide these opportunities for our students. It is also my hope that each of us will investigate our own philosophies of education so that we can purposefully engage one another in meaningful discourse on how we get there.
Dan Funston
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