Garrett Smith Spring 12 EDU 280 Garretts Professional Statement The students of tomorrow need a teacher who not

only demonstrates understanding of their subject. The teacher must have the ability to express a variety of values and views that students can then take and learn from. My gods include god of technology and god of common sense. My defense of these gods, are first for common sense is that in order to achieve the ultimate goal of education which is usually getting a job. The god of common sense is a combination of the god of economic utility and god of democracy. Combining these two gods create a god which defines what it means to be a citizen and as a citizen hold a job that contributes to global economics and society. The god of common sense also provides a foundation for the appreciation of being the citizen of a nation through taking pride your nations accomplishments and learning from its mistakes. The god of technology is necessary as our technological advances are increasingly faster. If one can learn to use technology for an advantage then it provides more opportunity for that person despite intelligence or disability. These gods really help create public minded citizens who can realize the greater complex picture that is the world today. The god of technology benefits those who can learn and achieve competence in using technology based learning tools such as but not limited to computers, calculators, smart boards. But in order to benefit one must have quality access to these things. To those have no access I would say use what little access you have or go about finding a better way without it. Argument for this: the technology of today hasnt been around forever only in the past 10-15 years has it developed to its current point. So there is always another method usually what I would call old school. For example before calculators, you had do math problems by hand. Another situation would be if you have a hard

time learning technology then its necessary to take steps to address what you dont understand and what you do understand in order to achieve a level of competence. The god of common sense can be beneficial to any student. The benefits include an open mind, an ability to critically think and a healthy intellectual contributing to society. The students that least benefit is unmotivated students, students with family problems, highly sheltered students. These types of students may not see the benefit because of their situation. I believe that these students just need to be pushed in the right direction and given more time to learn and less pressure overall. While I dont think there is a simple solution to motivate students, I think that encouragement and positive feedback are sufficient tools in helping them see the benefits. Another way of helping these students see the benefit could be pointing out that they arent alone. The world is big enough where nobody is alone in any given circumstance and group learning can be very effective if done right. The gods mentioned above, really play into the role of a public school in what kind of public the school is making. By definition, a public school is (in the U.S) a school that is maintained at public expense for the education of the children of a community or district and that constitutes a part of a system of free public education commonly including primary and secondary schools. (dictionary.com) Meaning that when you teach at a public school your teaching the students that attend because their parents pay taxes for them to go there. The community is supporting your efforts so you must recognize that and teach in way that makes students better community citizens which in turn makes them better nation and global citizens since the values are shared. I believe that a public school teachers responsibility is to inform students of all the various angles of any subject or topic. The perspectives given should be varied and show a wide based of different opinions and walks of life. The expectations should be set as high as they can without fear of punishment. The environment should reflect an effort by the students to achieve the standards set by the teacher. The teacher has a responsibility is meet those standards by giving sufficient background and

information on the topic or subject. For the gods, I believe a teacher should encourage each student on an individual basis to find what motivates and drives them. The teacher should give facilities to what amounts to the students own choice. The choice is ultimately the students. The teacher also can hint at what each god has to offer through lessons in different subjects. My purposes are public because Ill work for a tax funded school which is run by public officials. Thereby I will be teaching to a public audience that constitutes the students. It should be demanded that I teach every angle and do justice to every subject. I do not believe that everyone should receive the same exact education. For example, not everybody wants to do or enjoys the same subjects. Also not everybody has the intellectual capacity to do those subjects with competence. My personal example is that I am not good at math. Yes I passed the regents by three points but does it mean I should be a math teacher? No. Conversely, I did just fine on my Earth Science regents and I even got an A in Geology in college. Yet, I am in college currently to be a history teacher. I would say History is my passion but its not my younger brothers passion. My brother on the other hand, took a lot of math and did very well. He doesnt really like Liberal Arts type subjects. He does like math but the math he does now is very hard and Im not sure hes as passionate as me and history. The point to be illustrated is pretty simple, different people prefer different topics. Moreover one person may be good at any given subject but it doesnt prompt them to pursue anymore of that given subject. Given all of this, I think the phrase same education is very vague and too general. I believe that a better term would involve a phrase with terms like a better community, national and global citizen and a venue to pursue personal interests and strengths and lastly explorative of the fundamentals of every subject. I believe this argument is paramount to the reason why I have the right to contradict family or community values. Since Public school is a choice, all taxpayers and parents of students give their permission to teachers to educate, give different perspectives and facilitate learning and discovery. I believe as a

teacher despite what your community or family values are you are obligated to teach in neutral and non bias way. Your job isnt to convince students of one way or another but to help students make their own decisions based on their own research, reasoning and analysis. I believe that the combination in the use of these ideas, arguments and opinions can result in a better teaching and as a result a better learning environment for students.