Education is

helping students
learn intimate
life lessons
through your
content.

Life lessons should be

based on instilling
altruistic virtues, with
a balanced approach
to social and
intellectual
development.
Schools based on altruism let
their culture drive a more
genuine education. Students
learn subjects to become better
members of a community.
Relationships and relevance
towards content is more
natural and intrinsic.
While the content is important, it is
impossible to truly educate without an
appropriate relationship. Relationships
between faculty are just as important as
their relationships with students. Teachers
are constant models for respectful and
caring cooperation. However, the element
of vulnerabilty is a characteristic all too lost.
Schools can be a tool for improving and augmenting a
society. Instead we hide behind the facade that a
school's purpose is to prepare for an unfair society.
Vulnerability and fear are the driving forces behind this
paralyzation. Politicians hide their indecisions to get
elected. Laws & Litigation mandate a principal's
attention and resources. Teachers guise their
imperfections to achieve data driven standards trickled
down from a cloudy mountaintop.
Education is not a service meant for corporate gain or industrial
models. An assembly line is ineffective when its product involves the
growth of an organism capable of free thought under various stimuli.
Education will always be an inexcact science with no true best practice
other than genuine purposeful care. Human beings aspiring to inspire
other human beings cannot occur without sharing vulnerability. A
teacher asking a parent for an idea. A mother sharing her toubles with
a principal. A faculty understanding the fears of their principal. A
politician changing his/her mind in front of more tolerant caucus.
Instead teachers focus on the weaknesses of their student body, while parents
and administrators look for flaws within their school. As litigators wait for
miscues in compliance. These acts, or lack there of, send a powerful message to
our young observers. Why not acknowledge the vulnerabilities and fears within
ourselves? Viewing education as an everlasting and inexcact science should
never restrict a community in their attempt to make education more explicit.
We only lose our way on the false notion that this quest actually leads to a final
destination. The highest form a resilency is striving towards a long-term goal
conscious that the goal will never be fully attained. Altruism is the only fuel for
such resiliency.

My first philosophy of Education was quite simple, To make learning fun. Over nine years of teaching, I
noticed that the fun teachers were not always the most profound educators.

Transitioning from third grade to eighth grade American history in 2010, a few lessons were picked up along
the way. Having the opportunity to teach my former 8 year olds as adolescents brought forth some
revelations. The students remembered moments over content and care over curriculum.

The great teachers at the middle school were easy to spot. Students would go out of their way to greet their
favorite teachers; standing in line to deliver their extracurricular updates. Certain rooms left traffic jams at the
first bell.

Teaching American History to kids who think theyll live forever has been tough. The more I focus on building
relationships through the content, the better I can relate material back to the students. The more I genuine
care for their wellbeing, the more receptive students become to my lessons.

When history is seen as hindsight and reflection, I have found that my classes are more engaged. Stories of
ones mistake and/or perseverance can provide the living with clarity and appreciation. Seeing the
imperfections of our presidents and the flaws of human nature bring relieving sighs from egocentric young
adults.

Once our founding fathers are seen as actual human beings, appreciating history becomes a skill of empathy.
Feeling the fearful hands that signed a Declaration with shaken quills. Reading the uncensored letters of Civil
War soldiers can be an emotional journey.

I do wish our society could show better displays of tolerance and empathy. It is something I try to model and
teach through our history. Historians often enjoy saying how our past presidents wouldnt stand a chance
being elected today. While jovial on the surface, perhaps the idea indicates a deeper problem.

Our expectations and demands of others squelch growth. Primarily because it restricts people from sharing
vulnerability. Teachers are great at creating safe classrooms for students to refine their thoughts without
judgment. What we lack is an ability to be vulnerable in front of administration and community members.

Schools can be a place that instills more tolerance and acceptance into our next generation. As a history
teacher with an elementary education certification, I had no choice but to embrace the art of modeling
vulnerability. I would like to see my students break political gridlock and resurrect a proud workforce when
society turns to them.