Teaching Credo. I would like to start this paper with the reasons why I want to teach. I want to

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Ethel Reeves
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1 Mendenhall 1 Jeff Mendenhall Introduction to Teaching Teaching Credo Dr. Gitau Teaching Credo I would like to start this paper with the reasons why I want to teach. I want to teach, not only to help kids learn subjects in school, but to teach them about life. I believe that nearly all kids, no matter how smart, athletic or troublesome they may be, they still look up to their teachers. Sometimes a teacher might be the only adult a child knows that has a steady job and income. Whether my students come from a background with caring, loving, parents that hold steady jobs or if they come from parents that ignore them and bounce from job to job, I still want to be that person that they can look to not just as a teacher, but as a role model and as someone they can trust. I also want to help steer kids in the right direction in life. There are far too many kids that come from bad backgrounds and believe that there is nothing for them in life. I want to be someone that will tell them and show them that they do not have to follow in their parents footsteps and that the apple doesn t always fall close to the tree. No matter where you come from you re going to get chances to succeed in life and I want my students to take complete advantage of these opportunities. Now I d like to discuss some of the philosophies, some of which I like and would implement into my own teaching philosophy and some of which I don t like and would almost completely ignore. I will start with the philosophies that I would not use into my teaching practices. These two philosophies are perennialism and essentialism.

2 Mendenhall 2 Perennialism was developed out of the belief that ideas are the only true reality, by Robert Maynard Hutchins. Teachers that practice this philosophy or teach in this type of school must know absolutely everything about their subject so that their students will have knowledge beyond their years. The reason I do not want to hold this philosophy is because in this system the teachers are the authoritarian. The problem I have with this is that I do not want my students to be scared of me, scared to voice opinions in open discussion, afraid to ask or answer questions, or to have a fear of being in my classroom. Essentialism was developed by William Bogley and has many of the same qualities as perennialism, which is why I would not use this philosophy in my teaching. The biggest difference here is that the curriculum can change in time with essentialism where in perennialism it always stays the same. Still, I do not want to use this philosophy for the fear factor that the students have for their authoritarian teacher. I want my students to have fun while also learning a great deal and I feel that if a student is not having at least some fun to keep interested in a subject then they will not learn what I want to teach them. I said that I would not use perennialism and essentialism in my teaching philosophy, but I believe I would use the other four philosophies in my teaching. These four philosophies that I want to use include progressivism, social Reconstructionism, humanism, and existentialism. Now obviously I could not use everything in each philosophy because some of them contradict one another, but I would implement parts of each of the four philosophies into my own teaching credo. John Dewey started the philosophy of progressivism in the 1920s. What I like about this philosophy is that it realizes that knowledge and children change over time.

3 Mendenhall 3 Children today are not the same as the children in the 1950, so you must change your style of teaching to fit their needs. I also like how this philosophy is centered on the child instead of the curriculum. I think that people are too worried about changing the curriculum rather than realizing what each child needs and what their interests are. Since I am using progressivism as part of my philosophy I feel like I should also use social Reconstructionism, since they are closely tied in their beliefs. The biggest reason why I like this philosophy so much is because the curriculum deals with current events. I liked history and learning things about the past because I believe the way to have a great future is to know what happened in the past. Although I did like history I always wanted teachers to talk more about current events such as war, natural disasters, diseases such as AIDS and cancer, and poverty, just to list a few things. The reason for this is because these are issues that affect millions of people not only in our own nation, but all over the world. I felt like there were many kids that wanted to know more about current issues and wish that teachers would have talked about it more because there are some issues that kids are afraid to bring up to their friends, parents, and counselors. Another thing that I like about this philosophy is that people look to the schools, especially college universities to fight for unfair things. Some of these things could include gay pride, racial injustices, and war protests. This proves that the school system is a stronghold in our society. I believe that every teacher has to use the humanism philosophy in some way because it sets out the basic needs of not just every child but of every person. If your students are not receiving their basic needs such as food, shelter, and safety, then they will not want to be in your class day in and day out. The student s minds are not going to

4 Mendenhall 4 be on the tasks at hand, but rather on where there next meal is coming from, what their next bed is going to look like, and whether or not they ll even make it home safely. I also like the philosophy of existentialism very much. I like the thought of using existentialism because I believe teachers should show the students how to be good citizens. One day every student is going to be done with school and they are going to be out in the real world. Every person needs to know how to be good citizens by holding a job, being responsible for their own actions, take responsibility for our environment, and learn to treat everyone with the same decency. Whether one of my students is going to be a doctor or a truck driver, I still want to be able to teach them and show them through my own actions how to be a good person and a good citizen through these four traits that I just stated. Although I realize this isn t the best paper that I have written in my four years of college, I still believe in much of what I wrote about. I still believe that perennialism and essentialism views would be qualities of a poor teacher. Ones that believe in perennialism believe that curriculum will never change and those that believe in both of these views want to have an authoritarian fear factor in their classroom. I think it s obvious that curriculum changes over time with new beliefs and with the ever-changing world. Also, I still do not want to be a dictator in my classroom, although I have found that I can do this with some effectiveness in my general education classroom. Still, though, I believe this is unfair for children that deserve to have choices in order to learn how to grow into a responsible adult. Progressivism, social reconstructionism, humanism, and existentialism are all views that I believe in, although I forgot completely about the actual terms until I re-read

5 Mendenhall 5 my credo. Curriculum obviously changes and relating topics to current events will give students a reason for learning the material. One thing that I hope to be able to do is give my students a purpose for learning the topic that we are discussing. This can sometimes be hard at times, especially when I was in my junior high placement teaching math and had not seen some of the topics since I was in junior high. However, I believe once I have my own classroom and am really able to teach the way I want to teach, I will be able to accomplish this with effectiveness. Humanism and existentialism are also two philosophies that I believe a good teacher would hold. If a child s needs are not being met outside of the classroom, such as food, shelter, clothing, and so on, I do not know how we can expect them to do quality work in the classroom. I have had a problem with my cooperating teacher because he continues to state that one of the student s has a belligerent attitude (which is untrue), while knowing that he has six other siblings and both of his parents are on welfare. I think this has to show that his needs are likely not being met outside of the classroom. I bought him a notebook of paper because his parents wouldn t buy him one and he was so grateful for this little gesture. With existentialism, I believe a teacher s ultimate goal should be to show students how to be good citizens in our society. If they fail the subjects in my class, but are respectful citizens, I think I could be at least somewhat content with what I have done with a child. Obviously it would be great to have all of my students full understanding with everything I teacher, this is not going to happen. I want my students to be able to contribute to society in a positive manner.

All Faith, No Fear. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. HEBREWS 11:1

All Faith, No Fear. Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. HEBREWS 11:1 1 All Faith, No Fear Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. HEBREWS 11:1 I was hundreds of miles away from home as a freshmen student at the Air Force Academy