Light of the World

I asked my husband What is the purpose of education? He responded, You mean what youre going to
do when you graduate, right? Well your job is to make the best human beings possible. I think he was on to
something. In making the best human beings I will foster an environment in which each student can reach their
fullest potential. To do so, I need to know myself like Socrates believed. I must know who I am and what I believe
as a teacher.
John Dewey believed that the purpose of education is more education (Noddings, 2012). I dont know
whether Dewey was referring to higher education, but for me, his comment relates to the idea of developing lifelong learners. Teachers have a responsibility to foster life-long learners; this will be my role. I also believe that the
purpose of education is to develop the future: the kids. This is what my husband referred to in making the best
human beings possible. I feel that making the best human beings means connecting to our Creator. Some
existentialists would agree with me. Soren Kierkegaard believed that a Christian was an individual who
consistently and continually renewed his or her choice to be connected to God through Christ (Noddings p. 62). I
am a Christian because I choose daily to become more Christ like. This is something that I want to share with my
students. For this reason education is also about teaching children values and morals. In our philosophy class at
Alverno we discussed the topics of Whose values? and Whose morals? I firmly believe what children need to
learn are Biblical principles and that there are different ways to learn them.
The Word says Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid (Matthew 5:14 King
James Bible). To me this scripture tells me to go into the world and be a light. Many people would tell me that as a
Christian, I should not teach in public schools; I feel as a Christian I can teach anywhere I want because The
Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek;
he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to
them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to
comfort all that mourn; To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy
for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified (Isaiah 61:1-3). Basically, I have been given the spirit of God
to speak His word wherever I go. Christian schools are not the only place for Christian teachers. It is a teachers

role to mend broken hearts and bring good tidings to children. Those who are in captivity are people who lack
education; sometimes, the lack of education creates a bondage of poverty. My goal as a teacher is to reach these
kids and let them know that there is hope. Whether they want the Hope I have or another hope, there is hope.
In addition to this I believe, like Noddings, it is my moral and intellectual obligation to present views in
opposition to my own. I do not struggle with teaching students about my own beliefs, but would like to share with
them the beliefs of other people. I will not teach against my conscience. Herbert Kohl gave this advice in the
article Teaching for Social Justice in Noddings book (p. 36). I will let my future students know about the world
around them. This is one way they can be globally aware. But it cannot stop with awareness. Dewey believed that
teachers needed to go farther than awareness. They have a responsibility to follow up - find out what students
learn as a result of their initial awareness and consequent investigations (Noddings p. 50). I want to show my
students the world: the good and the bad. I want my future students to know they have a voice and can make a
difference. For this reason I will need to give them opportunities to be involved locally and globally. One way I can
do this is by connecting with the communities the students are involved in. I must build a relationship with the
resources in the community such as police officers, state and local political representatives, teaching colleagues,
administrations, and most importantly, parents.

Building collaborate relationships with the people in our immediate community and global community is
important. The community as a whole plays an important part in the education of our children. Professor Nancy
Athanasiou reminded our class that the children that come to school are someones baby. I want to get to know
that someone or at least provide an avenue for them to get to know me. I also want to provide my students with
the opportunity to meet people in their community. That means students will be able to go to legit resources when
they need to and also volunteer at these places. I remember meeting dental hygienists and nurses in elementary
and middle school. I learned a lot about myself and my community; this is a beneficial experience I want my
students to have. I want to encourage them to learn about and be a part of their communities.

I am attracted to the call of community that Noddings mentions in Chapter Nine and many teachers
mentioned this in The New Teacher Book. We read about many teachers who wanted a certain climate in their
classrooms; I was most intrigued by Bob Peterson, Gregory Michie, Kelly Dawson Salas, and Bill Bigelow. There
are two comments in the book that I read and almost cried; these are the statements that connected most to my
personal philosophy. The following comment came from Kelly Dawson Salass article Time to Learn.

I knew I wanted to build a classroom community in which students felt safe, both
emotionally and physically. I wanted each student to be able to bring his or her cultural
background and experiences into the classroom and to feel important and valued. I hoped
to create an atmosphere of respect and cooperation. I wanted students to behave
themselves without feeling threatened or burdened by punishments. (Salas p. 10)
Like Salas, I want to foster a classroom culture that students feel safe emotionally and physically. I dont want
them to be afraid when they come into my classroom; this may be the one place that they feel safe. I must
remember that students are impacted by many circumstances and forces outside of the classroom. They must
feel safe and know that their emotions and cultural backgrounds are relevant to our classroom culture. If they
cannot be themselves then there is an issue with the culture of my classroom. I also want kids to respect each
other and themselves; this means sharing their cultural background and experiences with each other. Like Bill
Bigelow I feel that building relationships and maintaining relationships are at the heart of teaching. Bigelow
believes that teachers who do not have healthy relationships with their students cannot effectively reach their
students nor can the students learn from them; I also agree with this. My goal is to build a consistent, respectful,
compassionate relationship with all of my students so they can effectively learn. Speaking of all, I want the
demographics in my classroom to be multicultural. This will make the classroom culture taste like a tossed salad.
I would also like to teach in an impoverished area; I wrote earlier that I wanted to provide students with hope and
feel that an environment like this needs the most hope. In her interview, Rita Tenorio said Curriculum is
everything that happens. Its not just books and lesson plans. Its relationships, attitudes, feelings, interactions
(Tenorio, p. 165). I believe Tenorio is right; the way I treat my students is my curriculum. Michelle Wade, a fellow
teacher and current central office employee, was the special speaker at a Student-Teacher Dinner. StudentTeacher Dinner is a celebration at Alverno honoring student-teachers, co-operating teachers, and instructors.
Michelle Wade spoke about two of her teachers; one teacher played and sang a special piano introduction for
each student who entered the room while the other teacher discouraged Michelle in math. She couldnt remember
what the nice teacher taught on a specific day or what he wore, but the negative experience with the math teacher
is engraved in her mind; she remembers what the teacher was wearing and what she was wearing. This
demonstrates that how we treat our students will affect how they learn and what they learn. In building
relationships with the students I will create a classroom where students want to learn about wars and science and
how to write a memoir. I must be relevant to them; the curriculum must be relevant to them.
Children learn best when there is active thinking and active engagement. To engage students in learning
they must learn about topics that interest them. Like Gregory Michie, who wrote the article Teaching in the

Undertow, I think the classroom should be a place where the students voices are heard and valued. This means
students make decisions regularly in the classroom about what they learn. I believe that the classroom should be
a place where students express themselves emotionally and creatively. I want to infuse art and different subjects
together so the topics are more meaningful; I know students learn best when they hear information connect to
more than one subject. Students also learn best when the topics are relevant to their lives in and out of school.
Paulo Freire, an educational theorist, was an advocate for critical literacy. He emphasized the importance of
minorities or oppressed groups who learned to read and write to be enlightened in their personal issues: they
should ask questions, analyze, and solve the issues faced by their people. I definitely want to bring this social
justice aspect into my classroom because I feel students learn best when they feel they are making a change in
the world. One way to change the world is to build better relationships. Building interpersonal skills are also a
must. Students should work in groups regularly for social skill building; this is something they will face in the real
world: working in a group. I feel that I lean more towards the social constructivist style of teaching: students work
with peers to create meaning about topics. I am there as a guide, but mostly for support and to let them know
mistakes are good especially when they learn from them. My goal is for students to think critically about their
world while achieving high academic expectations. So what does all this mean about my classroom?
If you were to walk into my classroom twenty years from now I would hope that you see several things. First,
you would see students completing assignments that bring their culture, families, language, and experiences to
the forefront. You would see students working together for a time period and working individually. My classroom
set up would not have desks, but tables. Some of those tables would be high enough for students to stand up;
these are for the ones that need room to fidget and move around. My classroom would have gadgets and projects
the students created. There would be a sand table; I dont care what age the children are because I can use this
table for so many different lessons. There would be a steady working buzz, except for reading, while students
worked. The theories that will be most in play are Vygotskys sociolinguistic theory, Howard Gardners Multiple
Intelligence theory, and the Seven Conditions of Learning Theory. This means students will have academic
conversations with their peers, be able to display what they know in different ways and my instruction would
include materials that resonate with the different kinds of learners in my classroom. For example, my mini-lesson
may have a movement activity with music or individual work time and group work time. Students would also
conference with me about their work. Im pretty sure what ever class I teach their will be some form of workshop
model in affect. My students would be mad scientists and mad mathematicians and mad readers at the same

time; somehow I will get subjects to connect to each other. If you were to ask any student in the classroom they
would tell you that they know Mrs. Marrero loves them and wants them to be the best selves they can be. I will
have a rigorous challenging curriculum because all students deserve to be stretched and taught how to think
critically. Like Kelley Dawson Salas said in her Dealing with Standardized Tests article, As teachers, we must
advocate for our students and insist upon their right to real, rigorous curriculum. This is a glimpse into my future
classroom. There is one more thing I hope for: my students.
There are two goals that I have for my students. The first is that they become the best version of themselves
possible. This means becoming life-long learners and critically thinking about their future. The second is that they
know who they are. If they know who they are then no one can tell them otherwise and they will continue on their
path. One hope for students is that they know Whose they are. I pray that through my interactions with them they
see the love of God in me and be willing to get to know their Creator.
I am hopeful for the future and my career as a teacher. I know who I am and what I am. I am the light of the
world. I am the salt of the earth. I have a tool kit of teacher tools ready to be used on my future students and a
healthy classroom culture to build. I am going places and so are my future children.