Mrs. J. Weaver's e-Portfolio: PHILOSOPHICAL SECTION

On Character Education...

As a state that passed legislation to require incorporation of character education into public school curriculum in 2001, North Carolina Board of Education defined character education by stating, “It is the intentional, proactive effort by schools, districts, and states to instill in their students important core, ethical values such as respect for self and others, responsibility, integrity, and self-discipline.” (Public Schools of North Carolina, 2009) This legislation is outlined in North Carolina’s Student to Citizen Act of 2001. The title of the legislation alone demonstrates the importance and necessity of teachers’ character guidance and influence on students’ education and lives.

Society needs behavioral guidance and rules to remain civilized and cohesive. Such is especially necessary in the pivotal ages of elementary and junior high-level education. Children want to learn and be influenced. They need positive role models and leaders to demonstrate good character, as well as to be verbally taught what good character embodies. Success in society is highly dependent on likable social behavior and not just intelligence or mental capacity alone. Religion serves as guidance for many Americans, and most religions have a sociably acceptable set of pillars of good character, such as honesty, loyalty, and respect for one another. Many American children, however, are not introduced to positive influence of religion and deserve the same healthy influences in the formal education setting. Positive influence and good moral character do not have to be tied to religion and can be easily characterized as Behavioral Science, which should, without a question, be legal to teach.

Pillars of character education should be broad enough to be acceptable amongst an array of religions, cultures, and other institutions the student may be involved in. It takes an effective, successful, caring teacher to develop his or her own group of these areas of character education and not only teach them, but demonstrate and truly own them. Being able to successfully implement self discipline, self motivation, respect for others, and development and achievement of personal goals and objectives are outstanding pillars of character that deliver high results, especially in the education setting.

Teaching students self discipline and self motivation sets up positive learning environments that will help a classroom thrive. Successfully implementing obvious portrayal of respect for others and individual goal setting helps not only the growth of the class, but each student individually. Educators should want to be this type of influence and should work hard to yield results in other areas of their students’ education, other than solely the subject that they teach. It is why the title, Student to Citizen Act is such an appropriate title for portraying the importance of character education in schools. In order to truly educate and mold students into well rounded, successful citizens, we need to teach how to embody good character.

A Collective Philosophy of Education

Whether or not to implement character education into public school curriculum is still debated today, but is far from a new topic. My educational philosophy is a collection of three different philosophies: Existentialism, Social Reconstructionism, and Idealism or Essentialism. Each of these supports and has substantial documentation of the importance of character education. Appropriately, each supports the importance of the discipline of Social Studies in supporting the theory that true education is not only intelligence or fact based, but needs the construct of educating for successful citizenry and local control as outlined in chapter eight of, “Learning to Teach Everyone’s Children” by Carl Grant and Maureen Gillette. Just as knowledge of humanities and actual world events allows social outlook and behavioral change, education of these allows higher order thinking and delivers the critical message to students that they alone control their perspective of life, and thus immediate behavior.

Perhaps the hardest task in a human’s life is assessment and realization of one’s self. The existentialist believes that each must gain correct awareness of his/her own human condition in order to move forward with life. In “Existentialism is Humanism,” John Paul Sartre noted that, “Man first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up in the world, and defines himself afterwards.” Sartre also quoted, “We do not know what we want, yet we are responsible for what we are – that is a fact.” Young students’ minds should be freed to realize that it is acceptable to be anyone they wish and to pursue whatever discipline they wish, but to keep in mind that they are still responsible for their choices and behavior in the meantime. An effective educator should be able to deliver this idea and provide a free learning environment for students to acknowledge their own behavior and begin to practice moral development for the betterment of their social acceptance, and thus higher ability to learn.

In direct relation to the existentialist theory that a free learning environment allows social and fundamental behavioral growth, and in turn leads to better intelligence learning, is the theory of John Holt, a well respected social reconstructionist. After serving in the Navy, Holt began to teach and noticed that one particular class of fifth graders had exceptional intelligence quotient, but were socially timid. This social behavior was a hindrance in the classroom. Holt quoted, “The true test of intelligence is not how much we know how to do, but how to behave when we do not know what to do.” Holt outlined in his book, “How Children Fail,” that the schools of that time were the cause of students’ blundering educational progress. The students were fearful of ridicule from teachers and peers. Learning environment should be nurturing and open for discussion. An effective educator is a facilitator not a dictator. While an educator needs curriculum and well developed lesson plan, it is hardly intelligent to assume that every student will be interested in everything that is being taught all of the time. As a facilitator, an efficient educator is able to offer alternatives yet still remaining on curriculum plan.

Many saw John Holt’s as offensive against school systems, as he was a home-school advocate, but his writings also shared principles of distinguished professor, Dr. Marcia Baxter-Magolda. Both advocate that to motivate in the classroom, there is a critical need to validate students as learners and self-motivated achievers. In conclusion, Holt summarized his motive by stating, “All I am saying in this book can be summed up in two words: Trust Children. Nothing could be more simple, or more difficult. Difficult because to trust children we must first learn to trust ourselves, and most of us were taught as children that we could not be trusted.” (How Children Learn, 1967)

Essentialism embodies the best of both reconstructionism and existentialism, and effectively summarizes the importance of the preservation of human culture. Primarily, deliverers of this philosophy are motivated to be a role model for students, as they recognize the need for our students to be strong individuals with high social confidence. American philosopher and early essentialist, Ralph Waldo Emerson, said, “Character is higher than intellect. A great soul will be strong to live, as well as to think.” Accordingly, Social Studies, especially areas of History and Humanities, ties directly into specialty areas of essentialist educators. Time continues on, things happen, and the world changes. As change occurs, so shall lessons learned, as will the method of delivery of those lessons. Change is inevitable. Education on how to deal with social change Is essential for conclusive human progress.

Why I Chose to Teach.... Merry With a Motive

The ability to pursue a master’s degree and change my career to teaching was a long awaited blessing. In December of 2009, the opportunity presented itself for me to begin working on obtaining my teaching license to make a career change into teaching, and I happily accepted. After realizing that a master’s was achievable under my busy family life and job constraints, I thought I was starting with ample time to have a license secured by fall of 2010. With great motivation I got my resources together and entered two pre-teaching courses at Jackson State University.

My name is Jenny Weaver. I went to a small high school. Out of my class of seventy or so, there are only a few I remember well. For junior high and high schoolers, being a member of the “right group” is the center of the universe. The few girls do I remember were in that "right group" and wore name brand clothes. I, on the other hand, wore hand-me-downs, played sports and mingled with several different social groups. Starting in seventh grade, I played on the basketball team, I cheered on the cheerleading squad, and I ran all distance races for the high school track team. In ninth grade, I joined the high school softball team. That spring semester, I started Newton High School’s first cross country team. This means that I recruited other teenagers my own age, athletes and non-athletes, and convinced them to run an average of five miles a day. There is no dispute that I am a natural motivator.

I was often the topic of discussion and center of rumors, as I was the only white female-athlete in the entire school for years. Allow me to express to the fullest extent that I know what it is like to struggle with the Erikson’s developmental stage of establishing identity throughout junior high and high school. I know what it is like to be discriminated against by other students in some situations, and by teachers in other situations. I know what it feels like to be misjudged daily and treated poorly simply because your choice of friends does not meet your teachers’ standards, because you missed their class last week for a track meet, or simply because they remember that your older sibling was not very interested in academics.

I seek to be the educator who recognizes and breaks this type of behavior. I will be the educator who begins with a plan to set each student up for success, whoever he or she may be. It is for this reason that I have chosen to teach social studies in sixth through twelfth grades to help relax the struggle of the identity verses role confusion stage. Educators should be available to help young students smooth the transition from finding identity to developing and holding healthy relationships with other people. Educators are there to make sure that students understand that they are cared about and are not being judged in the academic setting. It is my belief that the success of education and mastery of skills taught are dependent on educators’ ability to put into practice these skills of pure sincerity and dedication to each individual student’s achievement.

My aim is to coach cheerleading, as well as to teach. My coaches reserve my fondest memories of interaction with adults during my adolescent years. In my experience, coaches seldom judge, are always approachable, and give credit where credit is due. Cheerleading put me through college, I have an outstanding success record with cheerleading, and the word “cheerleader” is simply a good word to describe my personality and outlook on life. I am a supporter, a team player, and once again, a motivator.

While remembering my travels for six years coaching cheerleading with the Universal Cheerleaders Association, I remember most my teams’ progress and gratitude once they achieved the skills taught. Everyone is highly correct in saying that the reward of teaching and knowing that you have positively influenced another life is like no other. There is an actual sparkle in their eye. This is seemingly more evident if the student at first does not actually believe he/she can achieve what is being taught. I want that experience and reward back.

Besides aspiring teacher and cheerleader, my other titles also include Wife and Mother. I want my own daughter to have positive influences. Every mother wants to be something that their children can look up to. I want my daughter to thoroughly understand the importance of education. “Educator” is something that can be looked up to. Education is something that should never have an end. I wish to continue gaining and giving education for as long as possible. Always pursuing further will mold me into a better educator that students and schools need, that is, when I find one ready to handle a fireball like me.

Picture of our family: