Annotated Bibliography

Paris, N. (2005). Educational philosophies. Retrieved from http://ksuweb.kennesaw.edu/~nparis/educ7700/EDUCATIONAL%20PHILOSOPHIES%20(Major)_.doc

**** I rated this document as 4 stars because it was a fantastic source for an overview of all the pertinent educational philosophies with the exception of classical education. The link opens directly into a Word document, but I was not able to find another way to link to it. It was written by a member of the education faculty at Kennesaw State University. It discusses essentialism, progressivism, perennialism (not pertinent to this course), existentialism, behaviorism, and reconstructionism (also not pertinent to this course but still valuable). It outlines the philosophies and then compares and contrasts them to the other philosophies, appealing to both left- and right-brain learners. Essentialism, a traditional view on education, tends too avoid changing students' natures but instead prefers to instill in them a desire to be a better citizen. The training seems to be socially geared instead of academically geared. The behaviorists were led by Pavlov, who showed that dogs can be trained to salivate when a bell is rung. We as educators do not want our students to respond merely to operants. We want them to be engaged and to see purpose in the lessons we teach. Existentialism says that humans determine their own nature. As this applies to education, the content takes a backseat to the student's journey in finding himself. While John Dewey's theories of progressivism seem like they would work, they are taught in many schools of education without being practiced in many schools. He suggests varied instruction and teaching methodology, which is certainly a more effective way to teach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Null, J. (2007). William c. bagley and the founding of essentialism: an untold story in. Teachers College Record, 109 number 4, Retrieved from http://vnweb.hwwilsonweb.com/hww/results/results_common.jhtml;hwwilsonid=X3BPGKL1LNAVXQA3DILCFGGADUNGIIV0
*** This source got three stars. It was written by a member of the faculty at Baylor University, so the information is credible. While it includes some biographical data, the biographical data shows how Bagley's background formed his opinions on education. I appreciated it for its description of the events that formed Bagley's opinions, but it was not the best source for actual information regarding his theories. For whatever reason, the link I have will not work to retrieve the document, so I also saved a .pdf version to keep in case it needs to be referenced. I am also posting it here. This is the article from which I got the bulk of the information for the section on my chosen scholar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twine, R. (2001). What is Essentialism. Retrieved from http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/twine/ecofem/essentialism.html

*** This source gets three stars. The information is concise and discusses essentialism in a sort of overview. It was written by a member of the faculty at Lancaster University and focuses to a degree on how essentialism applies to feminism. It discussed the integral parts of the theory without being too lengthy. It can be accessed by clicking the link above. I liked the way essentialism was synopsized. I quoted it at the beginning of my scholar paper.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bauer, Susan Wise & Wise, Jessie. (Date). Classical Education. In The Well Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home.
Retrieved from: http://www.welltrainedmind.com/classical-education/

****Rating. I would give this article 4 stars because this book was rated as the “Best Book on Education” according to Capitalism Magazine. It also recently celebrated its ten year anniversary reprint. This article clearly and concisely summed up classical education for me, and I enjoyed the short read. While it was written about home schooling, it described key tenets of classical education like the trivium for me to learn about.