Shadd Minchow EDU221-001/Spring 2014 My Philosophy Philosophy remains in peoples minds and hearts, and is seldom expressed in words

or specific ideas. Life isnt about finding yourself, its about creating yourself. From our first gasp of breath on earth we are given expectations by pretty much everybody on the planet. The people that gave us life create dreams and goals theyd like their child to accomplish. Some of these dreams could be seeing their kids grow up to be self-sufficient, hard-working, and loving individuals. One cannot reach these goals without a good education, or a good teacher. One looks back with appreciation to the brilliant teachers, but with gratitude to those who touched our human feelings. The curriculum is so much necessary raw material, but warmth is the vital element for the growing plant and for the soul of the child.-Carl Jung. Knowledge can be communicated, but not wisdom. One can find it, live it, do wonders through it, but one cannot communicate and teach it.-Hermann Hesse. As a future teacher I want to run my classroom in a fair way. My classroom will be celebrating diversity daily. I want to be clear, and precise with my voice. I want to exhibit humanism (love for your fellow man or woman simply because theyre human), Constructivism (learning through real life experiences), and progressivism (advances in technology benefit mankind), Better known as love, patience, understanding, and growth. I want to teach my children about Metaphysics, the branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things; including abstract concepts such as, being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space. I want to teach my children about Epistemology, the theory of knowledge, with regard to its methods, validity, and scope. This is

the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion. I also want to teach axiology, or the study of value, or goodness, in its widest sense. I want to exhibit idealism, or any various systems of thought in which the objects of knowledge are held to be in some way dependent on the activity of mind. I want to exhibit realism, or the quality or fact of representing a person, thing, or situation accurately or in a way that is true to life. I want to exhibit pragmatism, or an approach that assesses the truth of meaning of theories or beliefs in terms of the success of their practical application. I also want to exhibit existentialism, a philosophical theory or approach that emphasizes the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through their own actions. My children will learn to be divergent thinkers, who exhibit their own self-efficiency in their own ways. I think my most important role as a teacher will not be only to teach children subject matter, but to inspire, motivate, and love. Children are the future of the world, and we need to teach them to be critically-thinking, loving, motivated individuals. As teachers we need to prepare children for their futures in the adult world, and in my opinion the rules Ive devised are the same in the real world. The main rules in my classroom will be simple; I will vow to keep rules simple and the work difficult. What a kid can do, I will let them do. In my classroom every one of us will be expected to work hard every day. Success is expected in my classroom, so failure must occur. Therefore, we must try, try, and try again until we reach success. In my classroom, we will redo work until it is our best. I will use the 4 Cs; creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication. I will use The 3 Fs; firm, fair, fun. The students parents know them better than I do, so in my classroom we will involve them often. Lastly, the way we treat others shows is more important than we will ever realize. It makes up who we are as individuals, so we will be tolerant, kind, helpful, and be the best person that we can be every

single day. Dark times lie ahead of us, and there will be a time when we must choose between what is easy and what is right. From the outside looking in, people believe teachers dont do very much work. In fact, teachers do more work than anyone can imagine. Their summers are spent planning lessons. As a teacher I want to be well prepared with my lessons plans. I want to incorporate the standards of the district into my lesson plan, while still maintaining a fun atmosphere. Im more interested in the English aspect of learning. I want to teach kids though literature, music, and different points of view. I want to incorporate eastern ways of thinking, such as Buddhism on top western ways of thinking. Meaning, I want to teach children to be genuinely good people for the sake of being good. Though, I know the first few years of being a teacher is the most difficult. Its hard to fathom what lessons will work and which ones dont. The teacher I observed for my practicum said shes been teaching for 23 years, and shes only had one perfect lesson plan during the 2013-2014 school year. Only with experience will I be able to make lesson planning easier, until then I have a feeling most of my time will be taken up by that. Theres so much more that goes into being a teacher other than just lesson planning. Honestly, I cannot wait until I get my own classroom. I want to decorate the room with posters and pictures. Not only to express myself, but so my children can understand who their teacher is. I want to decorate the room with my students work, and turn my classroom into a community. My classroom will be very open, in case there are children with disabilities, I want to accommodate to everyones needs so we can learn more effectively. I need to find a way to motivate students effectively, whether it is with pressure, rewards, or some other way. Most importantly I want my students to try and take responsibility for their own education, and not just depend on me, though; I will be there every step of the way. We will

learn through many methods, textbooks, internet, and most importantly from each other. Our learning will focus on key questions, and Ill make sure everyone understands the material. As for myself, I am a lifelong learner. my education is far from over. Not only do I learn every day from random people. I want to get my Masters Degree in English. I will hopefully be attending Metro State University to continue my education. As time goes on I hope to learn from teachers who have been at it for years. I hope to one day become a master teacher, a football coach, and a mentor. I cant wait until my first year of being a teacher. I will then be able to truly understand what works and what doesnt. I also, hopefully, one day want to become a sports journalist, preferably for the NFL. I hope I can be a loving teacher. Only the future will tell us. As Coach Taylor from the show Friday Night Lights said, Because tomorrow, if you give 100 percent of yourself tonight, people are going to look at you differently. People are going to think of you differently. And I promise you, youre going to look and think differently about yourself. Clear eyes, full hearts, cant lose.