Autobiography and Philosophy: The Roots of My Belief
He who plants a tree/Plants a hope. Lucy Larcom (1826-1898) Typically, the tree is used to represent knowledge. Strong and proud, it stands firm against the elements of nature, growing steadily toward a fruitful tomorrow. We tend to forget, however, that this powerful figure began as a fragile seed. Teaching, I believe, reflects this process of growth. The goal of education is not to produce an adult tree, but to nurture and encourage the seeds that are born within the minds of students in effort to guide them into a confident lifetime of learning. Through education, the seeds of knowledge and understanding may be rooted into a future of continuous growth and discovery. Within the past few years, I have gained valuable experience working with students from a variety of backgrounds. From my own education at the University of Missouri, I have been able to enter the field and work directly with high school students in English Language Arts classrooms. These students range from motivated, college-bound students to those who are at risk of failure in high school. From this experience, I have stepped away from theory and into the practice of teaching, openly facing the struggles, victories, and realities of todays youth. I have also been able to volunteer at The Rainbow House, a shelter for abused and neglected children, located in Columbia, MO. My work here has led me to experience the variety of personal histories that ultimately affect the lives of children, including their education. In the spring of 2001 I had the opportunity to study at the University of Strathelyde in Glasgow, Scotland. During this time, I studied British Literature and traveled throughout the UK and much of Europe. In the summer I had the wonderful opportunity to teach an English as a Second Language class in Dorset, England. My students were wholly Italian, though the program hosted French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, and Chinese students. From this experience I was not only able to engage in a variety of cultures, but to also see the world through the eyes of a teacher and work with students from a multitude of cultural backgrounds, enriching my views of the world and enhancing my excitement to teach. From my many experiences with students, I have come to realize that education is a complex process of interwoven people, experiences, and attitudes. Education is a collective product of family, community, society, and classroom ideals that must cooperate to create an effective environment for learning. As a teacher, I must be aware of the expectations placed upon me from the community, state, and nation to attend to a curriculum, as well as understand my students as individuals and mold my teaching around their variety of needs and interests. No two students are alike; each student is comprised of a lifetime of experiences and characteristics that affects him or her as a learner and as a person. My own expectations include a sense of responsibility to the results of state testing and statistical appearance of effective teaching, but my experiences have made me realize the importance of interpersonal relationships that I must build in order to know, reach, and inspire my students. Teaching is a delicate balance: I must convey a set spectrum of knowledge to my students while nurturing their skills within the learning process based on their personal needs and interests. It is my goal to shape my classroom around the endless diversities of my students so as to inspire the born leaders within them and encourage the seeds of growth that will anchor them into a confident future.