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Education is the most valuable
gift an individual will ever receive.
Unfortunately, it is a gift not all individuals accept.
The main goal of an educator is to present the gift of knowledge in
such a way so each and every person can comprehend and apply the basic
skills of knowledge to their everyday lives.
Not all individuals in society will want to continue a higher level
of education throughout their lives.
Our jobs as educators are to change their way of thinking and
require more from students. It
is important to stress education and the opportunities available to
well-educated individuals. I
believe, as the essentialist, that students need to get
“back-to-the-basics” but there are also beliefs I support as a
progressivist.
I believe that
it is very important for teachers to stress order, discipline, and effort
in the classrooms because society requires it. These are skills that every individual will need to function
in society. It is important
for an educator to realize all people are different, learn at different
levels and each has a different environment in which they live. However, there are still basic skills and a certain level of
knowledge individuals need to know. As
a teacher, I feel children must master basic skills and subjects so they
will be able to function effectively as members of civilized society.
According to William Bagley, “The major role of the school is to
produce a literate, intelligent electorate who will protect American
democracy” (Teachers, Schools, and Society p. 408).
For children to master these skills and subjects,
I will need to be skilled in both subject matter and also in teaching.
As a teacher, I will need to be a resource person and a guide to
learning activities. Children
should not be promoted to a higher-level of learning until they have a
full and complete understanding of the level they currently are on.
This is a concept that is applied in the real world and students
need to be prepared. For
example, employers will not promote an employee unless he or she can
perform and exceed the level of expectation with the position they
currently hold; schools and teachers should require the same standards.
According to Benjamin Blooms, Learning for Mastery model,
“…students who complete the test successfully go on for acceleration
or enrichment, while those students who fail to demonstrate mastery of the
subject participate in corrective instruction” (Teachers, Schools, and
Society, p. 93).
As a teacher, my responsibility is to place
higher standards upon children. This
will be done with a strict curriculum of the basics.
A teacher should make every attempt to keep a close cooperation
between the school and the home. Teachers
and administrators should not only make children accountable and
responsible for their actions but parents should also remain accountable.
As a teacher, I feel it is extremely important to keep parents
interested in their children’s education and keep them continually
involved. I feel it is my
duty to see that students are tested frequently and evaluated.
It is also important that regular assignments and homework is part
of their everyday studies. Through
the testing, evaluations, assignments, and homework should I discover
children are not performing up to expectations, then it is my
responsibility as a teacher to discover why not and how I can help this
individual. Promoting
children to a higher level that has a problem with a subject will not
solve that problem or make it go away. It is my responsibility as a teacher to see that children who
are promoted to a higher level have mastered the skills and subjects
placed before them and will be able to apply their knowledge in the next
level with confidence and competence.
In conclusion, I also feel students are
individuals and have their own interest.
I believe that even with a strict curriculum of the basics, that a
teacher can allow students to express their own interest, values, and
beliefs and learn at their own pace.
However, students learning at a slower pace should remain at that
level until they can master those skills.
I feel that it is the teacher’s responsibility to work on an
individualize bases with children who are unable to master the basic
skills.
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Bibliography:
Sadker,
M.P. & Sadker, D.M. (1991). Teachers,
Schools, and Society. 2nd ed.
McGraw-
Hill, Inc. |