Portrait of an English Teacher
Here you will find my Educational Philosophy and a short poem by Taylor Mali which has offered me an abundance of inspiration as a future teacher. Also attached to this page is a piece of my autobiography highlighting the journey taken from childhood which has lead me to this wonderful path of education.
Educational Philosophy
Everything we hear, see, taste, smell and feel from the very first moment of life is a learning experience. Education is a sensory process in which we internalize the observation of others. How we interact with the world around us is a constant exploration and insight to how our world works and where we belong in the grand scheme of life. We have parents, friends, and family to guide us towards our ultimate destinations but also we have the luxury of a group of people called teachers to place in our paths experiences which we would not otherwise encounter. As a teacher I feel I become accountable for helping my students foster new ideas and ways of thinking about their world which have not occurred to them before. Bravely, I plan to step into the shoes of an educator with the hope of extending my passion for learning into the future.
Without passion, without hopes and dreams for the next generation learning will not happen. I believe a teacher has an obligation to the community he or she is immersed in. I must care. I must carry with me a hope for tomorrow that reaches beyond the classroom. In the discipline of English I believe there is ample opportunity for the incorporation of countless current events and material which students can relate to and grow from. To teach a group of people anything the person teaching is obliged to become familiar with the very essence of who those people are. It is my philosophy that a teacher is responsible for acquiring an understanding of the demographic of the lives of his or her students. How as educators can we expect our students to engross themselves meaningfully in their lessons without first grasping where in their lives those lessons can apply? I believe education requires a foundation in reality to first attract and later preserve the attention of students in the contemporary classroom. I believe it is my task to be aware of the world in which my students are living in order to make the course objectives applicable to their life.
Every teacher has a desire for grandeur, a desire to touch the fragile lives of others in a positive monumental way. I believe this desire is what sets the profession of teaching apart from the many other occupations of our society. Educators need to feel like they can make a difference or their function in society becomes void of meaning. In the absence of passion, what I teach will reach only ears and never hearts. The duty I carry as a teacher is to convey the importance of learning to my students. There is no greater task than conveying to a 7th grader the significance of education in his or her world. How do you make a 14 year old see how much they learn just by watching a movie? How do you show them all the morality and ethics they see on television? It is a task of the teacher to bridge the gap between learning from a textbook and learning from the world.
Teachers are many things, I am a mentor, caregiver, guide, artist, ambassador, and a gear in the mechanism of education; but of all the labels and costumes I will wear I believe it is important to remember that what you give you will reap. If I give all I have to my students they in return will give all they can to our future. If I expect from myself nothing less than the very best, that same expectation will be met by my students.
“Here, let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
Teachers make a difference! Now what about you?”
–Taylor Mali What Teachers Make
Without passion, without hopes and dreams for the next generation learning will not happen. I believe a teacher has an obligation to the community he or she is immersed in. I must care. I must carry with me a hope for tomorrow that reaches beyond the classroom. In the discipline of English I believe there is ample opportunity for the incorporation of countless current events and material which students can relate to and grow from. To teach a group of people anything the person teaching is obliged to become familiar with the very essence of who those people are. It is my philosophy that a teacher is responsible for acquiring an understanding of the demographic of the lives of his or her students. How as educators can we expect our students to engross themselves meaningfully in their lessons without first grasping where in their lives those lessons can apply? I believe education requires a foundation in reality to first attract and later preserve the attention of students in the contemporary classroom. I believe it is my task to be aware of the world in which my students are living in order to make the course objectives applicable to their life.
Every teacher has a desire for grandeur, a desire to touch the fragile lives of others in a positive monumental way. I believe this desire is what sets the profession of teaching apart from the many other occupations of our society. Educators need to feel like they can make a difference or their function in society becomes void of meaning. In the absence of passion, what I teach will reach only ears and never hearts. The duty I carry as a teacher is to convey the importance of learning to my students. There is no greater task than conveying to a 7th grader the significance of education in his or her world. How do you make a 14 year old see how much they learn just by watching a movie? How do you show them all the morality and ethics they see on television? It is a task of the teacher to bridge the gap between learning from a textbook and learning from the world.
Teachers are many things, I am a mentor, caregiver, guide, artist, ambassador, and a gear in the mechanism of education; but of all the labels and costumes I will wear I believe it is important to remember that what you give you will reap. If I give all I have to my students they in return will give all they can to our future. If I expect from myself nothing less than the very best, that same expectation will be met by my students.
“Here, let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
Teachers make a difference! Now what about you?”
–Taylor Mali What Teachers Make