My Philosophy of Education
“Your school work is much better today, Mr. Teddy Bear. I’m glad to see you’ve been paying attention.” I have spoken these kinds of words many of times during my youth, as I pretended to live out my dream of being a teacher. Lining up my stuffed animals and dollies, I would go over the daily lecture with my attentive class, making up homework and grading papers with the greatest of joy. These memories motivate me to fulfill my dream of preparing students for a live after high school, opening up the world of literature, and succeeding in ways my previous teachers did not.
Because Literature is my passion, I plan to graduate from Concord College with a degree in English Education. After graduation, I would like to get my feet we teaching or substitution at a middle or high school while I apply to graduate schools. I hope to continue doing this while I take graduate classes so that I may gain experience in the education field. I hope to get my masters to that I can eventually become a college professor of literature. I have also toyed with the idea of acquiring my doctorate.
I believe that English is a subject that all students need a firm grip upon to succeed in the real world. Reading and writing are major skills that everyone should possess because they can either move a person forward or hold a person back. Obviously, reading is important because we are faced with this requirement day after day. Whether it is road signs, cooking instruction, mailing addresses, or television advertisements, reading is something that a person cannot escape. Speaking properly is also very important because one can be judged by how well they speak. In simple terms, it ...
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...tion is extremely important, because it instills important knowledge where it is lacking, so that a person can function properly in the real world. Without basic educational knowledge, a person can become alienated from society, and left to feel embarrassed. The possession of good education had become so dire that it is required for almost any occupation, especially one that is highly respected. As a teacher, I hope to convey basic English skills, critical thinking skills, and basic values that will remain with my students throughout their lives.
In short, I have always dreamed of becoming a teacher, and with every day my desire grows. Teachers mold students, who are our future, so we must prepare them well. After all, would you want an uneducated person running our country or performing open heart surgery? I think we can all agree on that answer.
I learned a lot about Deaf people, ASL, and/or Deaf Culture after reading this book. Deaf people are normal just like anybody else and they should not be treated any differently. Some people treat Deafness as a disease that needs to be cured, but it's not. If a parent comes to learn that their child is deaf they react very crazily and act like their child is dying and that deafness is some fatal disease. Deaf people should be treated just like anyone else and no differently. They are not disabled and can do great things in this world.
In the following chapters, there is an extensive amount of knowledge to learn about how Deaf culture is involved in our modern world. The pages assigned give us an outlook of how Deaf people are treated in our daily life, and how we should learn from it. Its gives a clear line between what are myths and what are facts, to those who are curious about the Deaf community or have specific questions. This book has definitely taught me new things that I could put to good use in the near future. In specific chapters, my mind really opened up to new ideas and made me think hard about questions, like “why don’t some Deaf people trust hearing people,” or “do we need another ‘Deaf president now’ revolution?” I realized many new things in the course of reading this book, and have recommended this to my family.
The documentary of “Through Deaf Eyes” has open my eyes to the deaf culture. The movie has made it “click” that deaf people are just that people and individuals like me. Deaf community has its struggles just like everyone else. They struggle with growing into who they are as a person, harmful situations, and feeling a sense of belonging. They just speak a different language like Italians and Hispanics. Communicating with a different language does not make them lesser than a hearing person. When able to learn to communicate, the deaf are able to learn and gain knowledge just like a hearing person. The only difference is they have to learn more and work harder to achieve their goals and gain knowledge, which a hearing person learns just by hearing their surroundings.
Sign language is a natural human language, they have their own vocabularies and sentence structures. Sign language comes into practice wherever Deaf societies come into existence. Sign language is not identical worldwide; every country has its own language and accents; however, these are not the verbal or transcribed languages used by hearing individuals around them.
In Ben Jarashow’s Journey Into the Deaf World, he explained Deaf culture and how it feels to be deaf within the world of those who hear. People who are born deaf have a loss of what is commonly viewed as the most important sense, hearing. This leaves them with four senses instead of five; most important sense now being sight followed by touch. In return, this means that a language must be developed that is based heavily on sight. In the United States, it was not until 1960 that American Sign Language (ASL) was recognized as its own language.
Overall, I would love to become an elementary teacher. In fact, I wouldn't mind being a middle school or high school teacher either as long as I get to help my future students become better people, and more importantly, teach them new things. I think I have a fun personality and all of the right qualifications to become a teacher. I plan to attend a four year university when I am done with high school and get my bachelor’s degree in art education (K-12). Then hopefully, after I get a job, I will work towards my master’s degree. Being a teacher is truly what I want to do for the rest of my life.
Growing up, I had aspirations to become things that seemed to be on the wish list of every young boy in grade school. We would try to compete with each other, telling all our friends we would become this or that in the future and be famous or make a difference in the world. I remember I proudly proclaimed that I would become an astronaut and find a planet which has life! As it turns out, that is something I will not be pursuing. As graduation comes closer for me, getting into the field of education and teaching at a secondary school is what I am aspiring to do. Although, being a teacher does come with plenty of stressors that can hurt the instructor physiologically or psychologically.
As technology quickly advances bullying has become a damaging act to our youth both physically and mentally that can not be ignored. What makes cyber-bullying such a serious issue is that it has been
ASL for me has had a really positive impact on my life. My father, who is roughly 65, has experienced quite a bit of hearing loss due to his age. He can’t really hear most of what I say and I do whatever I can to lower the pitch a speak from my diaphragm in order to get him to hear me. My mother has had an easier time with this and is able to communicate everything to him that he can’t hear. Honestly it’s be heartbreaking that he can’t hear me say “I love you,” sometimes. This communication barrier drove me to learn sign. While, I understand that he would never learn sign and he doesn’t have much reason to right now, he isn’t the only person I have a communication barrier with. I realized that I could do something that would enable me to interact
Becoming a teacher was not something I always knew I wanted. As I approached an age where I really started considering what I would like to do for a career I only knew that I did not want to work in an office behind a desk all day. I wanted a job that would be interactive, challenging and exciting. I also knew I wanted a job that would be important and would somehow contribute to the world in an important way. I thought being a teacher; particularly a teacher in the primary levels would fulfill those hopes and goals assuming I dedicate myself to becoming an effective teacher who has a positive influence on the lives of my students.
Through my own experiences, and as enforced by others' opinions in the profession, I have found that teaching is one of the most rewarding careers. Not only are you placed in the position of instructing and guiding children and young adults through the life long learning process, but you are able to give back to the schools and communities which have supported your early education and experiences that opened you up to a bright future. In becoming an educator, I hope to someday share the knowledge and lend the helping, supportive hand that I was once given, allowing students to formulate their own perspectives of the multicultural society and world around them. Teaching is a career I have been interested in pursuing throughout high school, and as my experiences and study in the field expands, I feel that my desire to teach will grow stronger and develop more soundly.
Cyber bullying is a type of bullying that involves use of an electronic device as the mode of contact (Dooley et al, 2009). Irrespective of the cause of bullying, cases of psychological effects may result, which might lead to suicide by the victims. Victims of cyber bullying are more likely to exhibit depressive symptoms and problem behaviors, such as, bringing weapons to school; between the ages of ten to seventeen victims of cyber bullying are more likely to report substance abuse due to their increased depression and fearfulness (Leandra, Kris, Joel, Hayley, 2011).
“First, many targets report feeling depressed, sad, angry, and frustrated.” (Hinduja and Patchin). These are just some of the bad effects that cyber bullying is causing for today’s teens. One of the worse effects of cyber bullying is the link between cyber bullying and suicide. “Finally, cyberbullied youth also report having suicidal thoughts, and there have been a number of examples in the United States and abroad where youth who were victimized ended up taking their own lives.” (Hinduja and Patchin). This alarming fact should be the wakeup call to the U.S. that we need to do something about this problem and fast. Cyber bullying simply does not just hurt someone’s feelings, but it is taking lives of our youth. The first step to help prevent this issue can be to have our schools inform the students of the dangers of cyber bullying. “Furthermore, school district personnel should review their harassment and bullying policies to ensure that it allows for the discipline of students who engage in cyberbullying.” (Hinduja and
Jean-Paul Sartre said, “Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself” (Myra, David, 402). According to him, personality is made by him/herself according to environment, religion, or society and everyone has a different belief and idea such as how they want to behave toward others or what I want to be on their own through their experience or life. Everyone has his or her own belief, philosophy, and dream but also I have my own concept. My philosophy of education revolves around why I want to be a teacher, my own philosophy of education, and what I want to do in future.
I believe that education should be looked as as a desire to acquire all possible knowledge, not as a requirement or something that can be formally examined by standardized tests. There are numerous ways that children learn and I want to be able to encourage as much learning as possible for each child. I believe that using many methods of instruction is the most effective way of teaching to these various ways of learning. These methods include group work, hands-on activities, buddy work, etc. Assessment of children should follow the same idea. When children get the chance to perform on different assessments, they can adequately show their strengths and weaknesses. I do not wish to rely on tests only to assess the students in my class. Some types of assessment that I think should be inlcuded in a classroom are journals, presentations, projects and interviews. I also think that the classroom should be run with the help of the children. By distributing jobs among the children and everyone participating in the classroom, the students will form a sense of togetherness. This will eventually create a community within the classroom. I feel that this community of learners is essential for the students to perform effectively and efficiently. They will feel comfortable in the environment and will not be afraid to take risks or ask questions. The teacher will also be a member of this community and will not be seen as unapproachable or as the only leader.