As pre-service teachers, we’re being put through an educational maze to try and figure out where it is that we belong at the end. Some of us have focus in the sciences, and some of us have focus in geography. Some of us focus on music & literature while others focus on social issues and physical standards to live by. Some of us focus on getting out of education as quick as possible, because we have discovered education as a profession is not for us. Regardless, depending on where you’re at in your program, you may have noticed that inspiration is the Faculty of Education’s forté… right?
A great deal of effort that we students put towards are the ideologies of what makes a great teacher over a good one. It is in the Faculty’s best interests to push out from this university some of the country’s best teachers, and on that note, we are bombarded by various articles, speakers, and resources alike suggesting education is not just teaching. It is ohhhhh so much more.
For one thing, you might have heard this: “To become an educator, you must become a life-long learner.” It is one of this faculty’s mottos, you could say. In order to educate, you must learn. You must always be learning. It is as though you must center the rest of your life around learning. Learning about what?
Yes, finally, my point.
If you have asked this question to yourself at all, you are not alone. Although sometimes I feel as though I am. I believe the answer is simply about myself, about you, about our students. Learn about yourself. Learn about what makes you you. Why is it that you are the way you are? I am asking myself the same questions. Not only should you be learning about yourself, you should be learning about your colleagues, and your students. Learning about why they’re so special too. We should be encouraging that. I will wholeheartedly agree that every student is different. It is more difficult for me to believe that every student is “special.” If one means special as in unique, then yes, of course. In that case, every student is special. But I’m speaking in terms of individualism, and how to inspire individualism in students. Because I have a very good feeling that not every student knows who they are. Just as I did not. Just as I still am not completely sure. Some people can spend their lifetimes pondering this (hence, life-long learning). Students take so much from the environment around them to try and build some sense into who they think they are. Now, I am by no means saying that a student that doesn’t know who she/he is, is not special. I would simply think that a student who has a better idea about themselves and about who they want to be has a better chance at achieving that. That is where we come in as teachers. Bringing out that individualism that students need so they feel like they have a place in the world, just like we all needed before we discovered we wanted to be teachers.
I was inspired by so many of my teachers who were not inspired to inspire me.
Help yourself so you know how to help your students. I would love to construct an “educational philosophy” about my beliefs and ideals towards teaching, but in all honesty, I’d like to just construct a plain old philosophy about my beliefs and ideals towards life first. SO, what I’m essentially getting at is, if one is void of inspiration, motivation, and all the like-terms, how does one expect to motivate others to learn, let alone learn about oneself, and truly inspire individualism?
