My Why

As a teacher, my life is dedicated to the well-being and upbringing of my students. Academically, emotionally, and psychologically, the scope of my job encompasses the whole child. The whole child is examined, challenged, and engaged to bring about deep learning. When we study any particular subject, a child must be able to make a connection with it at the core of their being. A strong reflective practice is an important part of that process as the child learns to find for themselves the emotional and motivational connection to the material. It is under this type of attitude and outlook that teachers can grow as guardians and guides, and students can truly thrive as autonomous learners. 

 

Students require an environment where they can not only realize themselves, but investigate the world. Being spoon fed information and data makes us machines; curiosity and exploration are what make us human. I often ask my students for their own goals and aspirations so that we can incorporate and connect them to the world via provocations. Through these provocations, be it trips, discussions, or imagery, we begin to peel through layers of complexity that allow almost any middle to high school student to engage with difficult and advanced material. I truly believe that almost any subject of any complexity can be explored with a child with the right intellectual guidance and stimulus. 

 

A middle school teacher is responsible for more than the intellectual development of early adolescents. We oversee a time of morale development and self-awakening. Students acquire this in my class by learning how to help one another through cooperative classroom projects and assignments. Our opportunity as teachers is the molding of caring, responsible, loving, and determined human beings. These types of people are not born, they are cultivated. I know I have been a successful teacher when students show greater care for their own work and the work of their peers. 

 

Students deserve to be taught how to manage their work and effectively prioritize labor. Although the goal of American education has long been to create a population of rule abiding adults capable and optimized for capital-creating labor, my classroom prioritizes self-management of resources and production as well as self-regulation of time and effort. Humans are not meant to be controlled, we are born with the potential to self-actualize. 

 

Students deserve teachers who can react to problems with sympathy and thoughtfulness. Although I am by no means a saint, I make it a priority in my practice to reflect on how I interact and react to students as they attempt to consciously and unconsciously tell me what they need and how they are feeling. Each student comes to us with a history, a self-story, and a set of practiced behaviors with which they interact with the school community. As a professional, my personal feelings arising from difficult or intense interactions with students cannot get in the way of my professional observations and interventions when necessary. 

 

Students deserve a classroom that rewards effort and a growth mindset that encourages kids to be forward thinking. The time is now, in the words of Fredrick Douglass, to build these children up to be the models we often fail to be. I always tell students stories of who I was when their ae, and the struggles I endured to get to the man I am today. I tell them not to compare or make small their pains and difficulties, but to humanize the work we do and show them that curiosity, discipline, and success are long term games that require mental models of resiliency and flexibility. 

 

In Social Studies, it is my responsibility to introduce my students to the world as it is. This means exploring clear concepts that resonate both in the ancient world and today’s world. Dispensing with sugar-coating details and over-simplifications, studying the world means understanding how people live, how people survive, and how they are just like us. Students can learn about others without leaving the classroom seeing them as “other”. I believe in making a curriculum that explores differing points of view, discovers alternative perspectives, and negotiates associate and personal philosophies. This is the basis for exploring places and people that match the heritages of my students—so they can see themselves and each other in the world.