Last week, I was meeting with my interns and they asked to see the portfolio I created when I became a teacher. I haven’t seen the portfolio in a while although I keep it in my classroom file cabinet. Part of my portfolio was my philosophy of education. I wrote it for a class my junior year in 2004. I revised the paper during my masters and added a few ideas from my experiences in student teaching and internship.
I read the words started seven years ago and revised four years ago and they surprised me. I’ve been through a lot as a new teacher: four different adminstrative teams in four years, some very trying classes with students who pushed me to my limits but who taught me much, an extremely toxic environment last year when I really thought I was going to have to leave teaching altogether. With all of these experiences I thought the words I wrote as an idealistic college kid would at least be somewhat different, maybe even cynical. I read the words and found that every single one of them rang true to me even now.
My core values of teaching have stayed the same. I still believe that every kid can succeed in one way or another. I still believe in urban education that proves on a daily basis how the diverse and (now I’d add 4 years into this, sometimes sad) experiences my students come to school with, strengthen their ability to connect with texts and concepts. My belief in the power that education brings to the children of Hartford has not wavered. My belief that our kids, my kids in Hartford deserve better has only strengthened. I’d like to think the 21 year old who wrote that philosophy of ed would be proud of the 27 year old that is putting his words into practice.
