1. What is meant by a personal philosophy of teaching?

2. What is meant by, “learning to teach and how to apply this knowledge in the classroom is truly a developmental process?”

3. What is meant by, “you will be expected to do the same job on your first day of work as a ten-year veteran teacher?”

4. What do you think about Hilda Taba’s teaching model?

5. Given that Ralph Tyler wrote his framework over 60 years ago, what relevance do you see to it today?

6. Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences are based on the premise that intelligence cannot be determined by only one measure.  Within a group, prepare a demonstration of the “intelligence” you are assigned and present it to the class for feedback.

7. What is meant by a research-based perspective?

8. Which educational philosophy do you see as the most relevant today? Why?

9. Which educational philosophy do you see as the least relevant today? Why?

10. What would you say your personal philosophy of teaching and learning is today? Do you think it will change after the completion of your teacher preparation program? What about after you’ve taught for 5 years?

11. When  you picture students learning in your future classroom in your mind, what does it look like? What are they doing in terms of engagement? How do you perceive your role in this process?

12. How did John Dewey’s progressive ideas revolutionize the teaching field in the twentieth century? In what ways do we see progressivism in classrooms today? What does it look like in practice?

13. How has the theory of behaviorism shaped classroom management today? What procedures or policies have you observed in classrooms that you can relate to behaviorism?

14. Do you think this era of high-stakes testing has shifted our nation’s philosophy of education into an essentialist philosophy? Why or why not?

15. Do you want to teach in a teacher-focused classroom or a student-focused classroom? Which do you think students prefer, and why?