MY PROFESSIONAL CREDO 1

My Professional Teaching Credo: Matthew Brown

Introduction to Teaching Professor Eastman

2 Abstract: For nineteen years I have been through many different classes. With some help from very encouraging teachers, I have learned to shape my life and develop my own viewpoints on certain topics such as teaching. Education is a very serious matter and I believe it takes one special type of individual to get up in front of that classroom and begin shaping a child or adolescents mind. With some charisma and time, I believe an educator can give their students the ability to not only succeed in future education, but also at the game of life. With my philosophical viewpoints of progressivism, existentialism and reconstructionism I see myself as that special individual in the near future.

MY PROFESSIONAL CREDO 3

Mustafa Kemal Atatrk once said, A good teacher is like a candle - it consumes itself to light the way for others (Barzun). For the previous years of my life, I have been considered a user. I have been finding my way through the obstacles of life from the light that my teachers have been burning for me for nineteen years. This same light has lead me to a position in which I have been forced to make a choice. That choice though has been developed for some years now by one candle that has seemed to burn brighter than the rest. That candle flame was lit in my teenage years in middle school, where I knew immediately that I wanted to be an educator. I have wanted to sculpt the minds of our youth that will eventually become the leaders of our crazed society. Teaching is not something that I have or am presently taking lightly. It was once said in the movie Spiderman, with great power comes great responsibility. When a teacher is in front of their class, they are the ones in command. They have a power thrust upon them that they are expected to use over the bright minds in front of them thirsting for knowledge. That is a responsibility and power that one must not take for granted. As a teacher, it will be my responsibility to give the students the knowledge that it will take to not only get them through high education, but more importantly the knowledge it will take for them to become a functioning member of society and to mentally challenge themselves everyday. My favorite teacher that I have ever had the privilege to learn from was my third grade teacher, Mr. Burger. Mr. Burger took my thought process and work ethic to aspiring new levels.

4 Most students look at their teachers in order to learn the curriculum the state and school system has placed in front of them, but Mr. Burger did more than just show how to write in cursive handwriting or how to multiply numbers. He taught me life lessons. Joe Burger gave me the confidence it takes to get through lifes hardest challenges and opened my mind up to endless possibilities by showing me that anything is possible when you put your mind to it, along with what it takes to be a functioning human being. Looking into the future and envisioning the type of teacher I may become, I see myself as a sculptor. The students are a pile of clay and it is my job to shape them into a creative piece that is ready to be bought. In this sense, I see it as my responsibility to shape the students into high functioning citizens in the world and prepare them for future career paths that they so choose to embark on. I know that as a teacher, I will not be perfect. Nobody is perfect in life. It is my responsibility, however, to be as close to perfect with my students as possible. Mistakes will happen and Im sure there will be things that they will teach me that I would never know without them. Times and eras change and there were things that I taught my teachers as I moved on. I think it will be important to create that environment where they feel comfortable enough to talk and share with me. In every profession there is certain criteria that is required. That is the curriculum in the education. With that curriculum there is a certain standardized tests that are required for students to take. I believe that these tests are both good and useful, but can also be bad thing because they are misused in the school systems.

MY PROFESSIONAL CREDO 5 These tests are a good tool to see where a child is at in the learning process and shows what knowledge they have compared to the average person their age. The problem with these tests is that the educational society is using them as the standard bar of achievement. The problem I have with that is I believe that every individual learns at different paces. We as educators do not know other factors that are in play once they leave our classroom. Some may be terrible test takers and others may have family issues at home. I believe that standardized tests could be good, but the way they are used right now is not the best value for them. Throughout my life I have found myself to be a very unique individual, with no one specific way to describe me. There are many ingredients that make me the person that I am. That is the way I am as a teacher. I use the trio of philosophical viewpoints of progressivism, existentialism and reconstructionism in my teaching. I am an advocate for the student. I was there once, and I believe that they need to live and learn in their own way. I will set up a structure and baseline for them to follow, but I want them to feel comfortable enough to approach me and tell them that they are struggling and I will be willing to work with them and let them grow at their own pace. Every person in this world has their own traits that make them different and the special person they are. Students are the same in that respect. They need to find out who they are and strive to be that person as much as they can in their learning ways. It is my job to help them figure that put and let them be that person. After all, they will be the ones leading our society one day. For nineteen years I have been in a classroom with many peers and a large amount of teachers and professors.

6 I have had different feelings on certain aspects in my life that change overtime. The one constant that I have had is my desire to become a teacher. I am a firm believer that every person is put on this earth for a specific purpose. Almost all people have a destiny for greatness in them, and if they use it, they can change the world. That is what I wish to help my students find. I want them to reach deep down inside of them and find that greatness and let it out, just like Joe Burger did for me in third grade. With a little hard work and some elbow grease in the classroom, I believe that is possible.

MY PROFESSIONAL CREDO 7 Works Cited Barzun, J. (n.d.). Retrieved October 9, 2013, from http://www.quotegarden.com/teachers.html