Philosophical Statement pt. 1
Greetings,
What will follow is my first philosophical statement. In my current TE class, we are required to write a philosophical statement, essentially what we think our goals are and what our classroom will look like when we become teacher ourselves. Then late in the semester, and in later courses, we will revisit this philosophical statement and revise it to our reflect our changing views.
Without further ado…
It is my belief that the ultimate purpose of a teacher is to educate students in how to become ‘good citizens’. Although this phrase, ‘good citizen’, may differ from one person to another, I believe that a good citizen is a person who will gather information and then analyze the information as to make the best decision possible in order to fulfill their goals, whether it be to maximize their benefits, minimize harm done in the situation, or, most generally, make the best choice available.
From this fundamental purpose of a teacher, I believe that I will want to provide a good environment to hone these skills on a regular basis. A well-honed, analytical mind is trained and maintained through constantly approaching new problems, researching them, presenting a case, then defending against the dissenting opinions. Namely, the skill of thinking critically comes from debate, logical construction of arguments, and understanding that these situations are not isolated debates, but new ones are constantly formed and created.
This, I believe, is where the student-teacher relationship should begin. Although there is a need for an aura of authority from the teacher, as to maintain discipline and order in the classroom, the teacher needs also to build a sort of professional relationship with the students, as s/he guides the student’s education in the direction of more complex and critical thought. This professional relationship can include, but is not limited to, understanding the basic personal life of the students, hopes and goals of the student, and a mutual respect, and will allow the teacher to motivate the student more easily than if this relationship was not present. The teacher must also show the student that critical thought does not happen on the school grounds only; it happens everyday in the “Real World” and the student will need to put the skills honed in the classroom to good use.
This final point and goal of a teacher, allowing the student to realize that the problems that the student faces in school is not isolated, but is related to problems that exist outside of school, brings me to my final belief, the connection between teacher-student-social studies. It is my belief that social studies is the study of societies, either through social constructs such as economics, politics, through physical barriers such as those represented in geography, or through the beliefs of what happened in the past, history. Each of these studies are not isolated, as one directly affects the other in countless ways, and this web should not be studied merely in the classroom, but the students must realize that what happened in the past and why it happened have a lasting impact on current or recently occurred events.
Ultimately, I believe the role of a teacher, and more specifically a Social Studies teacher, is to create good citizens, people who will gather information, realize what the best choice is for them depending on their goals, and then act on those decisions. These citizens will make a lasting impact on society as they will have the ability to act on their decisions and beliefs.
