Running head: EDUCATIONAL PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT Educational Philosophy Statement Robbin Lewis University of Phoenix, Cur 558 When looking at my results on the Philosophy Preference Assessment, my results were a mere translation of the Composite Graph representing the 5,000 students at those five different universities (University of Phoenix, 2002). My peaks and valleys fit perfectly when I slid them up about a half notch. With those peaks and valleys, I had a difficult time deciding what pattern I fell into, but finally settled on Pattern 5. I then stressed that it suggested that I might be in the beginning phases of developing my educational philosophy. As a 20 year veteran of teaching, I did not want to be in the beginning phases of anything, then I saw the phrase “eclectic philosophy” (University of Phoenix, 2002). With a little more reading and comparing, I realized that indeed, I had a potpourri of philosophies that I have stood firm by for many years without realizing these philosophies had actual names. Looking specifically at the philosophies listed, I was not surprised to find that the Idealist philosophy does not score highly at 3.5. The idea of emulating a role model and instruction that focuses on students receiving and memorizing information goes against my belief of active learning. However, I do believe that students need to learn about the past in orderto not make the same mistakes that occur in history, but this is a very narrow view of content. Receiving a score of 4.4 is the Existential philosophy. Here, the focus is on students creating their own rules and instruction. This freedom of expression,to me, seems chaotic and learning would seem to be hit or miss at best. As much as I believe in building a child’s self esteem and perception of the world, students have a need for boundaries. While students in my classroom may lead activities, they are bound by established routines. Next, at a score of 4.5, the philosophy of Perrenialismwas ranked...