Special Education Philosophy Paper
Describe own special educational philosophy in terms of its metaphysics, epistemology, axiology, and logic.
My Philosophy of Special Education is that special education is teaching children who have special needs, which can interfere with their learning abilities. I believe special education compared to general education is merely an extension of services in helping all children learn.
Learning is a process through which we increase our knowledge as a result of the experiences in our lives. We learn through what we are exposed to and what we try to imitate. It is a process of discovery. The environment in which we live stimulates our brains to make connections of neurons to continually build upon throughout our lives.
Imitation is key in learning. I remember a student telling me that he knew someone who had a funny walk and that his nine-year –old son imitated his walk. After that story, I was reminded of when I was little girl trying to imitate my mom’s behavior by trying to shave my legs with a razor, and I ended up cutting myself. I learned very quickly that I should not have tried to shave my legs because of the pain I experienced. However, in the case of the nine-year-old boy, the imitated walk represented a positive experience since the boy obviously looked up to his dad.
In A celebration of Neurons, children learn to speak their parent’s native accents without actually having any formal instruction. (Sylwester 1995 ) After reading that passage, I recalled having to go to speech therapy when I was in the first grade because I had problems pronouncing certain words. At the time, I felt dumb and didn’t like going because I thought the other kids would think I was dumb. I was too little to realize that my speech problem was the result of imitating my mom’s German accent. I was unable to recognize the broken English accent and therefore imitated what and how she spoke. Therefore, I learned the wrong pronunciation of many words, which ultimately
My Philosophy of Special Education is that special education is teaching children who have special needs, which can interfere with their learning abilities. I believe special education compared to general education is merely an extension of services in helping all children learn.
Learning is a process through which we increase our knowledge as a result of the experiences in our lives. We learn through what we are exposed to and what we try to imitate. It is a process of discovery. The environment in which we live stimulates our brains to make connections of neurons to continually build upon throughout our lives.
Imitation is key in learning. I remember a student telling me that he knew someone who had a funny walk and that his nine-year –old son imitated his walk. After that story, I was reminded of when I was little girl trying to imitate my mom’s behavior by trying to shave my legs with a razor, and I ended up cutting myself. I learned very quickly that I should not have tried to shave my legs because of the pain I experienced. However, in the case of the nine-year-old boy, the imitated walk represented a positive experience since the boy obviously looked up to his dad.
In A celebration of Neurons, children learn to speak their parent’s native accents without actually having any formal instruction. (Sylwester 1995 ) After reading that passage, I recalled having to go to speech therapy when I was in the first grade because I had problems pronouncing certain words. At the time, I felt dumb and didn’t like going because I thought the other kids would think I was dumb. I was too little to realize that my speech problem was the result of imitating my mom’s German accent. I was unable to recognize the broken English accent and therefore imitated what and how she spoke. Therefore, I learned the wrong pronunciation of many words, which ultimately
References: Sylwester, R. (1995). A Celebration of Neurons: An Educator’s Guide to the Human Brain. Alexander, Virginia: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Cain, G. & Cain, R. (1991). Making Connections: Teaching and the Human Brain. Menlo Park, California: Addison – Wesley. Healy, J. (1991). Endangered Minds: Why are don’t think and what we can do about it. New York: Simon & Schuster. Whitehead, A. (1957). The Aims of Education: Kaleidoscope. Boston: Ryan & Cooper. Ornstein, A. (1982). Curriculum Contrasts: A Historical Overview: Kaleidoscope. Boston: Ryan & Cooper. Piaget, (1997). Piaget’s Theory of Intellectual Development Educational Psychology. New Jersey: Eggen & Kauchak. Maslow, A. (1968). Motivation as a Hierarchy of Needs: The Work of Maslow: Educational Psychology. New Jersey: Eggan & Kauchak. Wong, H. & Wong, R. (1991). The First Days of School: How to be an Effective Teacher. Sunnyvale, California: Harry K. Wong. Dewey, J. (1897). My Pedagogic Creed In K. Ryan and J.M. Cooper (Eds), Kaleidoscope (pgs. 324-325). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.