Philosophy/Personal Statement I was a bad student in high school. I didn’t study, I got bad grades, I had an attitude, and I disrespected my teachers. I’d like to believe that this was because I was brilliant and existentially bored with the pedestrian intellect of my peers. I’d like to believe that it was because my school was so retrograde and repressive that I was placed into a hopeless situation. But that wasn’t it. I wasn’t especially brilliant; my peers were actually pretty smart; and my school was, all things considered, a reasonably decent place. I’d like to believe it was because nobody in my family had graduated high school, let alone attended a university. But that, too, wasn’t a valid explanation. My parents had always loved and supported me in school. I was just a bad student in high school who never connected to the place. It was only in college that I found my intellectual voice. I took a course in Medieval history with a maniacal professor who had a passion for the history of ideas. More than any specific content, he gave me a sense that I was a member of a larger community of scholars; that what I was doing mattered. He got me access to the stacks at the Library of Congress; he invited me, as an undergraduate, to present an academic paper at a conference at Villanova University. I eventually left the academic world for classroom teaching, but my transformation from a stereotypical “gen X slacker” to someone dedicated to learning has profoundly shaped my approach to both teaching and school leadership. What exactly did I learn from all of this? I learned that belonging to a community matters. Until I encountered my Medieval history professor, school had seemed a rather remote thing t... ... middle of paper ... ...idedly not. It has been filled with contentious and very hard moments. A culture of collaboration and innovation involves honesty, confrontation and differences of opinion. It involves moving people when they are completely comfortable where they are. It is about overturning long-established practices and calling off truces that have existed for decades. My biggest concern in unleashing all of these energies was that we might open Pandora’s box and release toxic elements into our school. And while there have been lots of heated disagreements, the community has, if anything, become stronger. People’s opinions are sought and their input matters in crafting school policies. I cannot say that we are exactly where we want to be as a community - and I’m not sure we ever will be - but at the very least, we have given people a sense that community does indeed matter.
Throughout the years of being a student at Council Rock, I have come to the realization of what a true leader is. A leader is not someone that just plans events, collects money, or shows up to meetings. Rather, this is someone that has a true connection with their peers, and has unmatched passion for what they do. With this, I can confidently say that since seventh grade, as a young adult, I have been shaped into an individual that fits these traits. Since that time, I have been involved in student government,
I have been a classroom teacher with the same school division (and its legacy divisions) for twenty two years. I have therefore, been an active participant and witness to the multitude of changes and growth that have enveloped the realm of education and my school division. My role in the classroom has mainly included English and Arts instruction at the grade 11 and 12 levels. I have considered it an honor to be one of the last teachers involved in a student’s K-12 education and have deeply recognized this important leadership role, guiding our students by way of instruction and by example, through their final educational stretch and empowering them to be leaders themselves. I feel that I have helped to create a society of learners where students are being constantly challenged, where they experienced meaningful personal and educational growth and were empowered to celebrate their accomplishments whether they were big or small.
The choices we make early in life have an enormous impact on our future. I have always known that I wanted to directly impact people’s lives. My personal experiences have had a large impact on my motivation to accomplish all my dreams. In the future, I would love to influence another generation of students to soar for their dreams.
Growing up, I have always known that I wanted to work in the education field. I believe helping students learn and grow is my purpose in life. I believe the purpose of education is to see students develop and grow. I believe the role of the student is to come to school and learn new information that they can apply to their lives. I believe the role of the paraprofessional is to be the assistant for the teacher and provide assistance to the students. I believe the community plays a major role in education, especially the parents and guardians. They are a part of their child 's education and provide support for them when they need it most. Education is not going away anytime soon, so we need to look at what education
Please discuss the following items in the order given. Briefly respond to all areas listed.
“The way of teaching demands a long journey that does not have any easily identifiable destination ... It is a journey that I believe must include a backward step into the self and it is a journey that is its own destination” (p. 456). The process of reflecting on learning ideals from this program has helped me analyze my own educational beliefs and practices through the lens of research, collaboration, and discussion. Each time class meets, I often wonder what new processes will apply to me this week. The learning expectations have been set very high and I always walk away with new understanding of leadership concepts that I had not considered. After each session, I ask myself what I can do differently at my school this week! I also question myself as to how I can make learning more practical at my school and how I can strengthen and support my staff based on the learning and sharing from the
Now, these labels between my classmates and I have disintegrated in my mind. Through reflection I realize I never fell. The shovel digging me down was my in my own hand. A change of mindset showed me I am on even footing with my classmates, and I always was. I apply this experience to diversify my understanding of the world around me.
My interests in education stem from my commitment to promote educational achievement both domestically and abroad. For more than ten years, I have work to foster a professional philosophy on education that hinges on the belief that a pursuit of a 21th century quality education is one that fosters and promotes independent global thinkers who are able to compete in the rapidly-changing global economy. This is an ideal that I take seriously in my professional and academic pursuits- for to me educational equality is the civil rights issues of our time. It is also the notion that governs my personal philosophy on educational leadership. To promote 21th century learners, we must also work to develop 21th century educators. To me, leadership does this best when it
I began to get fascinated by our capitalist world’s economy at a very early age of my life. Growing up, I was incredibly curious to unravel how systems function, and this curiosity developed into a burning desire to learn how processes and organizations operate and run our world. As I started my first job, I realized how much I needed to be better acquainted with the science of money making and the scientific approaches to money management. Later on in my life, being within a company system, I wanted to see the big picture by learning where such a company stands in the midst of all other business interactions locally and internationally. Being involved in the company’s practices I started analyzing the methods used by my managers, the causes and consequences of their managerial choices.
As I entered high school the pressure to succeed and live up to my parent’s expectations increased. I joined clubs that my parents approved of, I took classes that would look good on my transcript, and I studied 24/7 to keep a good GPA. Seeing the people around me happy and proud of me was a good feeling. I stayed up all night just so I could study and get good grades that would make my family and teachers proud. Junior year I never got more than four hours of sleep a night. I was a zombie just going through the motions of life. As I began to look for colleges, the pressure to be #1 grew. My parents took me on countless college tours, thirty seven to be exact, in order to find the “right school for me.” My parents drove me around the country visiting tons of top engineering schools. Occasionally we would visit schools I wanted to visit. But every visit went the same. If my parents chose the school they smiled the whole tour and spent the car ride home talking about how great it was. If it was a school I chose
Every person has an opinion about one thing or another about our educational system. I want to become more familiar with the current educational issues. In doing this, I will need to be respectful and open minded about the issues at hand and understand that they will be different and challenging to me. I will also expect in return that in return that people will treat me with the same courtesy given to them. Throughout this philosophy statement, I will discuss some of my educational opinions and goals based upon my brief experiences. Knowing that they will change over the years I wish you to know that the one thing that remains the same is I will always keep the best interest of my students at heart. I do hope that you will enjoy my insight even if you do not agree, because like the title says, this is " From My Eyes Only."
Teachers and leaders work and communicate together to initiate changes that’s needed to build new ways of learning, sharing and accessing knowledge, then putting it to work in the lives of all students. At my school we have learned education, science, technology and hardworking devoted staff members are the key to preparing our students for a great global education and future.
For this paper I will be addressing my personal philosophy, what is most important about it and how I try to apply it in everyday life. My personal philosophy for life in general is to try to treat everyone with understanding and kindness, no matter what kind of day I have had. The most important concepts I attribute to this philosophy includes, not making snap judgments when I first meet someone, always try to do a random act of kindness at least once a week if not once a day, and learning that I do not always have to be right, but being open to new ideas and perspectives. There are other concepts that I include in this which are letting people explain their side of a point, even when it disagrees with your own, and generally just being nice and polite to people no matter the circumstances.
Teachers can promote leadership in the classroom by, “taking responsibility for the progress of all students to ensure that they graduate from high school, are globally competitive for work and postsecondary education, and are prepared for life in the 21st century.” (NC Teacher Evaluation Process Document, 2009). Consequently, leading in the classroom is more than just planning lessons and presenting information. It involves making the students leaders in their own academic development by equipping them with the 21st century skills they will need to be successful. When asked what was meant by 21st century skills, Hammond-Darling stated, “…it means skills that, although they are not entirely new, are of increasingly great importance in the
Philosophy can be described as a chance for a person to undertake an opportunity to understand themselves, our world and society, and relations between ourselves and one another. Those who are able to study philosophy can find out what is to be human, what kind of person is it good to be, and especially how are we to live a good life. I, myself, have had an opportunity to take a philosophy class and as my time in philosophy is starting to come to a close, I am suddenly realizing how philosophy has changed the aspects and my outlook upon my life.