There are many things I am asked when I tell people that I am an education major. I hear a range of things from "Wow, you're going to have to marry rich, haha," to "Bless you for being able to do that." Yet, no one comments on the fact that I am choosing this job to change lives.
Education is something that I am extremely passionate about. I am in the Inclusive Elementary and Special Education Program at Syracuse University and I am proud to be in such a prestigious program. However, some people do not understand why I chose to go into education. Some assume I chose it because "it's the easiest major" or because I "failed" at another major. This isn't why I went into education.
I went into education for many different reasons including my love for working with children, wanting to change children's lives/ education and I also want to change the way our education system now. Today, our education system is extremely flawed and it is time that there is a change. These are the three goals I hope to achieve as a future educator.
1. I want to make education fun and interesting for students.
As a child, I loved school. I loved being challenged, being with my friends and learning new things. In today's world, most students say they hate or dislike school. Nothing makes me more upset than hearing a child not enjoying school. Instead of teaching things by lecturing in front of students, I want to make school fun again. I want to make sure that my students learn and remember things that I am teaching through having lots of hands-on activities. Schools need to incorporate the students' lives into the lessons so they can relate to the material being taught. Unique and fun lesson plans need to be done in order for the students to have fun in school. I am willing to go above and beyond to change students' opinions of school because I loved school so much.
2. I want to help shift education into a less standardized way of teaching.
Teachers, today, base how they teach their classroom off of preparing their students for standardized testing and assess their students understanding of the material through exams. I want to advocate for students to be able to show that they understand materials in different ways.
Multi-disciplinary (different ways of teaching, presenting and assessing material to students) methods of teaching is basically nonexistent in today's classrooms. Instead of constantly giving exams to see students' progress, I want to do different ways of assessing if my students understand the material. Materials are only presented in a "standardized" or "traditional" way and students are taught how to take tests instead of learning different subjects. It is also affecting the way students are in schools. More and more students are getting stressed due pressured to do amazing in school. This is an unhealthy way for students to feel in school. I want to help schools see that students can show their understanding for core subjects and lessons through different ways other than tricky and difficult tests.
3. I want to make education more inclusive for ALL students.
One of the biggest problems, if not the biggest problem, in education is including all students in the classroom. Many schools advertise that they are a fully inclusive school where all students of color, gender, disability and more are included in classrooms. However, as I have taken more education classes and have had more time in classrooms, I have seen that this is entirely untrue. People do not realize that a fully-inclusive school isn't a school where a child with a disability spends some time in the classroom and sometimes in a separate 'resource' room. A fully-inclusive classroom is where a student with a disability spends the whole day in a regular, general ed. classroom. In reality, there are very few schools who support and have a fully-inclusive school.
I hope to change education in this way the most. I want to show children who are affected by disabilities that they belong in a classroom and they can succeed in a regular classroom. I want to change people's mindsets and perceptions of how they look at students who are affected by disabilities. I want my students to look at each other and see each other as equal! This will be one of the hardest things to change as a future educator and I am prepared to take on this challenge.
I don't want to be a teacher who accepts these unfair rules and who lets children with different disabilities waste their potential to succeed in education. I am tired of hearing stories of students with different disabilities being put into a self-contained classroom where they sit and do first grade work when they are in seventh grade. I am tired of seeing extremely intelligent students be told that they cannot succeed in a general ed. classroom. I am tired of seeing schools manipulate parents with students with a disability into thinking that they are doing the best for their child, when in reality they are not.
A very serious change needs to happen in schools and the education system. I am willing to fight and advocate for my students to get what truly is the right thing for them. Inclusion is what needs to happen and I hope that as a future educator, I can start this change.
