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Mackenzie Mead #13

EDU 202 Tuesday

Shkorupa

29 March, 2020

Artifact #1

Personal philosophy

Choosing a profession can be a hard task to do. For most people it can take years to discover

what it is you want to do for the rest of your life. In high school, teachers would push you to

discover what it is you liked so by the time high school was over you know what direction you

want to pursue. I enjoyed school; especially learning about history, and the places you can go and

see. When I thought about why I love history, and traveling, I thought back to my childhood.

In seventh grade I had a world history teacher that went to every single place she taught us

about. Her room was decorated with artifacts that she had brought back from her travels. This

made the classroom warm, inviting, interesting, and interactive. As we would go through each

lesson, she would show us pictures at those places, bring out all she had brought back, and would

bring history to life. Every day we were excited to come to class and learn about new places and

see how you could actually go there and experience the history for yourself. This was the turning

point, when I realized how excited I was to learn. I would go back to this time in my life every

time I thought about what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. But this was not the only

deciding factor.

When choosing a career you have to look at the big picture. Does this career have all the

benefits I need for my lifestyle? A teaching job is stable; you’re guaranteed to work Monday to
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Friday and have an eight hour day. Your day starts early while all the kids are in school. You get

out when the kids get out making it the perfect job for a mom. The pay is stable. You get plenty

of time off. There are great insurance benefits. You get discounts as a teacher. However, one of

the biggest benefits for me is I would get to teach the subject I love. However, becoming a

teacher is no easy task.

Teaching is more than just knowing and giving a lesson. For my education class 202, we

were assigned to observe classrooms where seasoned teachers demonstrated how being a teacher

really is. In these videos I watch how they managed rooms, how they prepared lessons, how they

supported their students,etc. I watched how sometimes your planned lesson does not go to plan.

I saw how they had to think on her feet to get her students on task. I watched how the plan B

lesson plan was better suited to teach because it explained what the teacher wanted from them. In

each video the universal theme was the children’s needs. It was clear how important it is to

ensure everybody has the same opportunity to learn and succeed. Watching videos showed me

that I have a lot to learn about becoming a teacher. These little people have many obstacles to

overcome, and it’s our jobs as teachers to identify these problems and try to find a solution. You

have to be able to act quick, read the students, and teach in a way that grabs their attention. I

realized in these moments college is really going to prepare me for the skills I need to become an

effective teacher.

In college I will learn about multiple education philosophies, and the history events that led

to how we think about children and schools. When reading out of the EDU 202 text “teachers,

schools, and society ” by Sadker, I read multiple child centered philosophies. The philosophy

that I agreed with the most was progressivism. Progressivism according to the text is “ A
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educational philosophy that organizes Schools around the concerns, curiosity, and real world

experiences of students. ” (Sadker, 2018, page 159). When reading further, the book explained

that a progressivism thinking teacher's job is to make sure each student has the best

problem-solving knowledge, and skills, so they can apply this in the future. When doing further

research on progressivism I came across a book from Robert Leahy. He explained In order to

accomplish this teachers must “Guide students in various projects and discoveries relying in part

on children’s natural curiosity” (Leahy, 2009, p.34). As the book explains this does not mean

there is no lesson plan, or structure in the classroom. It just means the students have more

opportunity to see and learn different opinions that could benefit their lives. I did find some of

the other orientations to have qualities I like, however Progressivism seems to be the philosophy

for me. As a teacher I will also need some teaching strategies to strengthen my leadership skills.

There are multiple strategies talked about in the education world. A few strategies that I will

be using are the use of visualization, cooperative learning, inquiry-based instruction,

differentiation, technology in the classroom, behavior management, and professional

development. These are some of the best strategies to becoming an effective teacher. All of these

strategies would help when approaching student learning, student diversity, and variability. For

example, the use of differentiation is allocating tasks based on students ability. This ensures no

one gets left behind based on ethnicity, gender, and economic status. Not only do you need

effective strategies, but you also need effective characteristics as a teacher.

There are multiple characteristics and skills you need to master before continuing in a

teacher's career. As a teacher you need to be kind, patient, creative, quick on your feet, and

knowledgeable. The steps needed to obtain these skills comes from the following; having a great
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education, observing multiple classrooms, volunteering with children, and student teaching.

Having all of these things completed will make getting a teacher’s license easier.

To get a teacher’s license you need to have completed all education requirements. These

requirements include completing courses all needed to be a highly qualified teacher. It also

requires completing all classroom hours, because they give you experience in a real life teaching

environment. The last thing you need to become a licensed teacher is to pass all licensing exams

required by your state.

What I have learned so far is that I have a love for education, a love for children, and I want

to become the best teacher I can be. I hope by the end of my studies that I have learned all I need

to learn to become an effective teacher.