Philosophy Statement by Luisa Escalera

Luisa I. Escalera

July 15, 2008

Students are free thinkers. They have the occupation of explorer. With this occupation comes the responsibility to question and challenge the obstacles they face in their life. They must be prepared to think critically.

The nature of teaching is to motivate others to seek purpose in life. The first motivator should come from the parent. For example, my Parents allowed me the freedom to be who I wanted to be as long as no one was killed, jailed , or maimed during this process of exploring knowledge and self discovery. They used to say, "If you want it....work for it and be the best at it". This simple phrase instilled the idea that a person can do anything that they want. However, this possibility comes with the responsibility that you must learn about the craft you chose and be willing to perfect it until some semblance of mastery is achieved.

In the example given, the parent is the first teacher. However, as a teacher, the classroom experience will illustrate that not all children have motivating parents. These children are students seeking motivation. They are also seeking for a reason to their education. They are an explorer of purpose.

The connection established between one's purpose and life experiences is that one will affect the other. One's experience in life can influence their views in life(purpose). For example, an individual who has an exposure of limited opportunities of his/her environment (be it economic, community, family, or education) may have a core belief of simply surviving the challenges of living in an oppressive environment. "They feel alienated from their schoolwork, separated from the adults who try to teach them, and adrift in a world perceived as baffling and hostile," (Noddings,1992, p.2).

This can also hold true in the reverse. One's core belief can drive ones life experiences. For example, if the same individual were to have an awareness of the challenges he/she faces and decide to overcome them, it can affect their life experience. By creating their own core belief, the individual would seek new experiences that would strengthen their belief. "In critical moments we all realize that the only discipline that stands by us, the only training that becomes intuition, is that got through life itself," ( Dewey,1959, p.31).

Education is to explore meaning. It is to learn from others as well as from yourself. Education fosters an awakening of thought. "By viewing teachers as intellectuals, we can illuminate the important idea that all human activity involves some form of thinking," (Giroux, 1998, p.125).

An extremely high value is placed on education. It allows us to open doors to alternative thoughts and opportunities. These opportunities can present it self in the form of economic prosperity or social understandings. Education provides flexibility in ones' own survival within the world. The more you know and are willing to learn allows for alternative routes to the type of person you wish to become.

Education has a big impact on lives. As a teacher, one is responsible to nurture inquiry, expose a potential skill and provoke thought within a student. As a learner, education allows one to acquire a skill, gain exposure to an alternative point of view (the teacher and fellow students) and determine how how it all fits in their future. The relationship between teacher and student should ideally allow for a quest in connections between what is taught and what is applicable to life.

An efficient and effective Learning Process would be to establish an environment that would a respect for thought. It would be a process that would probe and question the problems in life. It would also allow for the learner to think critically about the elements around them. This form of learning can happen as scientific method. It would ask the "why" questions and focus on the process of how it happens. "In teaching the blind, and the deaf and dumb, in kindling the latent spark of intelligence that lurks in an idiot's mind, and in the more holy work of reforming abandoned and outcast children, education has proved what it can do, by glorious experiments," (Mann, 1848, p.81).

The purpose of education is to break individual boundaries. Everyone should be entitled to breaking them through the pursuit of an knowledge. These boundaries are the limitations that can prevent you from achieving self perceived success. They can come in various forms: community, family, or lack of exposure to learning. Ignorance should not be considered a blissful state because you will become victim to the will of another and boundaries will become established for you. Education should help foster self awareness and world awareness.

A teacher must be aware that education can become a political minefield. Our students are caught in a system of oppression. According to Freire (2000), "their perception of themselves as oppressed is impaired by their submersion in the reality of oppression," (p. 45). The values of the teacher, the students, the school culture, the District can foster or hinder the pursuit of truth and the development of critical thinking.

As a result of teaching experiences of the past year, it has been realized