Statement of Educational Goals and Philosophy :: My Philosophy of Education

Statement of Educational Goals and Philosophy Henry Ford, Ben Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Abraham Lincoln. What do these four men have in common? First they are considered geniuses. Second they were all considered poor learners in school. This is why I want to teach. I want to help the kids who have obvious potential, but may be struggling in the classroom. By ignoring kids who are falling behind, we may be losing the next revolutionary thinker of our time. To achieve this goal, I will have to undergo a series of training steps. The first step I have already completed. I have been a mentor for the Americorps Energy Express program for two years. This has helped me to choose the career of education, and has also influenced the area in which I want to teach, special education. This past year I had a child in my class with a slight physical handicap, he was partially deaf. He had fallen behind in all of his classes at school, and was going to have to repeat the third grade. His teachers had never noticed his handicap, but for some reason he decided to tell me. By employing some different techniques, his reading improved greatly over the summer to the point were he was one of the best readers in my class. The look of pride when he read aloud was priceless, as was the look on my face because I knew I had made a difference in his life. In addition, I am in the process of earning my undergraduate degree from Concord College. My area of emphasis is library science. The reason I chose this major instead of Special Education is that in case I can not find a job, I will be able to help children with, in my opinion, the most important aspect of learning- reading. After I receive my undergraduate degree from Concord College, I plan on attending graduate school and earning my Master’s Degree in Special Education. This way I will be able to help children in two ways. Since I plan to teach children with learning problems, I will need special techniques which none of the major philosophical viewpoints can offer by itself.