My goal as a teacher is to help children get the most they can out of their educational experiences and to foster a love of learning. I want my students to understand that learning can be fun and exciting and that it isn't limited to the classroom. As citizens, they have many opportunities to make a difference in their communities and education provides a pathway to realizing and taking advantages of those opportunities. I agree with the theory of psychologist L.S. Vygotsky – education is a socially constructed. With this theory in mind, my students will have classroom opportunities to collaborate with each other, as well as with me, to learn and gain expertise about the social world around them and the importance of their learning in order to affect the world they live in. I want my students to become empowered through their own learning and development as citizens, as well as to encourage them to question what they are learning and create value from it. Finally, I want to help children realize that their worth does not lie solely in their educational performance, but also in their development as democratic citizens. The concepts which they learn in and outside of the classroom are one of the most valuable resources they have for realizing their power as citizens of a democracy.
My goal is to educate children, not merely teach math, science, reading, or history.
In summary, I believe that not only myself as an educator, but also my students, should be in control and responsible for what they learn as much as possible. I believe that students accepting responsibility for their learning does not occur in a vacuum, but involves their peers with whom they work with in order to develop a sense of community in my classroom. As members of that community, students are responsible not only to themselves, but also all other members of that community. This is a value which I hope to instill in my students inside and outside of the classroom.
