Focus your lesson plans on hands-on learning rather than rote memorization. John Dewey believed that children learned best this way.
Include students in the development of rules, boundaries and policies for your classroom. Dewey's philosophy recognized children as individuals with rights.
Teach functional skills. Dewey believed that these are as important as reading, writing and arithmetic.
Value self-directed learning. Dewey believed that teaching children to be problem solvers through hands-on learning of topics that were important to them was the key to a good education.
Teach basic moral lessons regarding honesty, citizenship and work ethic. Dewey believed that children didn't always get these lessons at home and the school was responsible for taking up the slack.