Reason I Chose to Teach: Because I Can Do

I am a firm believer in teaching and advocacy being synonymous. As a teacher, I aspire

to be a voice for my students, while also encouraging the development of their voice through
demonstration of my own, and effective student-centered learning. I naturally am drawn to the
progressive and existential teaching philosophies; both philosophies engage students directly on
the level of being equal partners with me in their education. I believe to encourage students
involvement in their curriculum, a teacher must meet them where they are and look for ways to
accomplish both academic benchmarks and students interests (Huerta, 2009, pp. 39-40).
Moreover, I believe treating students like responsible adults is the only way to encourage adult
behavior: complex decision making, exploring identity, culture interrelationship [building]
and community (Huerta, 2009, p. 42). As an educator, I hope to give my class the freedom to
think and explore who they are, not what a test has defined them to be. Our society has adopted a
principle of policing students and being gatekeeper[s] rather than educator[s], instead of giving
students a role in their classrooms and/ or schools, schools are shut[ting] down rather than
foster[ing] learning (Rose, 2014, p. 121). I want to re-establish the school as one of the places
where students learn and develop agency.
Testing, policing, gate-keeping, politics and business are doing nothing to help students.
As a young student, I loved going to school and learning new things: having a great rapport with
my teachers and seeing that they cared deeply influenced my education. I hope to return to the
way of teaching that teaches instead of drills because that way of teaching made education more
welcoming, boundless and prepared me for the world. The present approach is callous and shows
education, and the school position in it unfavorably.
I am a teacher for the marginalized. Before this class I thought the marginalized to be
black and brown students because those were the ones I immediately identified with, and I could
directly relate to in the discussion of marginalization in the school system. However, my
definition of the marginalized has grown to encompass linguistic minorities (Huerta, 2009 pp.
245-246) differently- abled students, LBGTQ students. While I aspire to be a teacher for all
students, I do realize there is a deficit in education, in accommodating marginalized students. I
want to be that teacher who stands up and demands accommodations. I seek to incorporate all
students in my classroom, because education is supposed to be culturally relevant [and]
introduce multiple ways of knowing and re-center different kinds of knowledge (Huerta, 2009
p. 185). Instead, modern-education has found ways to divide students at the simplest levels
through grouping and tracking, which enable teachers to classify and write off students based on
their position in this imposed caste system, leading to low expectations and low success for our
students (Huerta, 2009 pp. 91-92). I will be an active voice against this unfair schooling. All my
students will be held to high standards.
I will achieve this through building a conversational environment in my classroom,
instead of a lecturing one. I will engage with students and their families. The impact and
demands of families has historically caused great change in the educational system; families and
communities have desegregated schools (Separate n.d); families and communities have
influenced policy changes and teacher training to better suit their childrens needs (MacDonald
n.d). And we should treat them with the respect. By building a relationship with the students
through their families, friend groups, and going out to community events shows them that I
welcome them to my classroom as a whole-person rather than a 3rd period English student.
My teacher involvement will not end at the classroom door, but expand to student
activities because once students see me a teacher that cares about them as a whole-person, they
will see me as more than a teacher, but someone that boosts rapport and education everywhere I
go. Education is not a stoic thing that happens in the classroom and can be condensed to four
core subjects, but an ongoing process that can be applied to anything. I believe that, so by
demonstrating and developing my own students voices I can push them to be become agents of
change and see the world as being information in need of a catalyst to process it.
 References

Huerta, G. (2009). Educational foundations: Diverse histories, diverse perspectives. New York :

Houghton Mifflin.

MacDonald, Maria- Victoria. (n.d). Demanding their Rights: The Latino Struggle for Educational

Access and Equity. Retrieved from :

https://www.nps.gov/heritageinitiatives/latino/latinothemestudy/education.htm

Rose, M. (2014). Why School?: reclaiming education for all of us. New York: The New Press.

Separate is not Equal Brown vs. Board of Education (n.d). Smithsonian National Museum of

American History. Retrieved from: http://americanhistory.si.edu/brown/history/6-

legacy/achieving-equality.html