Why I Teach
I have composed a document outlining my motivations, beliefs, and expectations as a teacher. Here you’ll find a portion of my rationale for teaching. I will attach the entire document as a Word file (.doc) to this message. I intend to make this public information in my classroom, and I hope it gives readers some insight into discovering the type of teacher I am.
I believe, without a doubt, that the most important goal of social studies should be preparing students for everyday life outside of the classroom. The “real world” is a lot different than the academic world, and many teachers tend to focus on the academic. I realize that my students are real people living real lives, and I want to be able to help them prepare for those lives and their entry into the “adult” world.
My biggest teaching philosophy is the “Keeping it Real” approach to education. I believe in teaching material that is relevant to students, now and in the future, inside the classroom and out. I can keep it real by telling my students why I am teaching what I am teaching, what I expect them to take away from my lessons, and how what I am teaching will be useful to them. With all the material out there to teach and learn, I must select the material that meets the educational goals of wherever I am working while still maintaining that relevance and usability in students’ everyday lives. I will search for lessons and materials to use and give to my students that teach them ideas and concepts that they will run into long after my time with them is through. I will endeavor to include, where relevant, discussions about real-world issues that have or will have an impact on my students’ lives.
Deciding what has an impact on my student’s lives requires knowledge of my students-not just their academic abilities, but their personalities as well. This will require active effort on my part to communicate with my students about what is important to them. Currently, I am young enough that my students’ lives bear some similarities to mine. As my life changes, however, I will have to keep up with what is important to students in my neighborhood. “Neighborhood” is important here, because situations and feelings change from place to place and school to school. Knowing about my students and their lives will allow me to better select lessons that are meaningful to my students, and will probably also afford me a little more respect in the classroom.
I owe it to my students not to waste their time. Not all students go home and talk on the phone with their friends all night. Some work jobs (not just for spending money), some take care of family members, and some may even have families of their own. If what I am teaching is not relevant to them in some way, I wouldn’t expect them to listen to me, either. I respect my students more than to assign them meaningless “busywork” or worksheets that buy me time to check my e-mail. That’s not fair to students, and the students even know it.
I will also respect my students, and their individuality. I would be insulted if the best a teacher thought I could do was a word search, and I will treat my students better than that by giving them meaningful assignments with a purpose. I will make sure that each student feels respected and that they are contributing to the class, by creating a warm and inviting classroom environment. A warm and inviting classroom environment includes the physical construction of the classroom-making sure my room doesn’t look like a prison cell, and has a few personal touches to let the students know I am a real person. It also extends beyond the physical layout to the emotional and intellectual structure of the classroom-making sure I respect students’ viewpoints so they don’t feel threatened, for example. I know that every student leads a different life, and I don’t just want to accept that, I want to embrace that by having them incorporate what is important to them to the class.
Parents deserve to know what’s going on with their children in my classroom. Furthermore, parents can be a useful resource when I have a student with problems. I will make sure I obtain and keep accurate and current contact information for the parents or guardians of all my students, so that I can get in touch with a parent when and how I need to. Also, I will attempt a monthly newsletter that students take home to their parents, showcasing some of the work of the previous month and “advertising” the work to come. Furthermore, I will not just contact parents with bad news-I’ll give them a call when their student exhibits exemplary behavior or performance in the classroom. I will also be open and available for parents to ask questions about their child, through e-mail, phone calls, or face-to-face conferences. Parents are an important part of academic success.
I will also be honest with my students. I will let them know where I’m coming from, and what I think, while making clear to them that they are free to disagree with me (respectfully). Students should know that I’m a real person just like them, and like them, I have my own unique set of opinions and values. I’m not always smart enough to hide my opinions, so students should know where I stand.
My students, after taking my class, should be more able to be effective citizens in the real world. This means more than showing up and voting every four years, or even every two years. This involves becoming an active participant in their communities, including taking a stand on the issues that are important to them and making that stand known to candidates and elected officials. Being a more effective citizen means caring for the well-being of your entire community, not just the block you live on. My students need to realize that there are more people in the world other than them.