Educational Philosophy :: Education Teaching Teachers Essays

Educational Philosophy â€Å"Let’s play school?† So many times when I was growing up would I pose this question to my younger brother. I would always play the role of the teacher and he would be my somewhat enthused student. Of course, childhood never lasts forever and the unforgiving world of adolescence greets us. I was a miserable thirteen year old, wishing for those days of pretending, while I suffered the torments of a bully and had the feeling that I would never be accepted or fit in. I wondered, would my peers ever treat me equally? Would I ever be able to be what society says a young woman should be? It was during this trying time that I realized my childhood game, coupled with my desire to make kids feel good about themselves, was my destined career choice. I was destined to be an educator. As time passed and I entered college I realized that with the ideas of Progressivism and Social Reconstructionism that I was meant to be a teacher who would teach kids facts and formulas and teach them self worth in the process. To me, school is much more than a place to learn about history and math and reading, it’s a place to grow socially and emotionally. I believe it is vitally important to teach character development and self worth at an early age. This way, by the time a child hits puberty, they have a sense of self-pride, they feel they have a special gift or talent that makes them unique and important in society. Perhaps if I had had an elementary school teacher who taught me these things, then middle school wouldn’t have been such a difficult struggle for me. Many future teachers I speak with say that they want to teach out of West Virginia. They say they want to teach in a big city where they can get a high paying teachers job. But you can’t put a price tag on education; children here in the mountain state need young, dynamic teachers with fresh ways of thinking, as current teachers reach retirement age. This is why I want to teacher in West Virginia.