As part of the Elementary Education program at Appalachian State University, I am presently working full-time as an intern in a local fifth and sixth grade combination classroom.  The school is a small Kindergarten through Eighth Grade school in a tight knit community.  One of the seventh graders stopped by my classroom the other day to show me her new niece and to introduce me to her fourteen-year-old sister; the baby's mother.  It struck me mightily that of the two influences on a child, genetics and environment, this newborn had only been influenced by genetics at this stage in her life.  I thought about the family the baby had been born into, generational cycles of drug abuse, alcoholism, welfare, foster homes, and manual labor jobs.  For just a split second, I wanted to steal the baby and give it to my parents.  Because of my parents, I grew up with love, discipline, a passion for learning conquering ideas and hobbies.  My parents made me a well adjusted, self-reliant, compassionate, hard-working, helpful person who sees life as an exciting challenge to be mastered.  For that second, I wanted to give my life to that little baby so that she would not have the same problems that her seventh grade aunt and her mother had experienced.
     But, I don't have to do that because I am a teacher.  I know that every child I have in my classroom is a mixture of their genetics and their environment.  Each child has parents or not, learning disabilities or not.  These are factors I can not change.  I can not take the children in my classroom home to my parents to raise.  I can impart to them, from a teacher’s vantage point, knowledge of the world and of themselves that leads to being an educated person who makes their own decisions regardless of their genetic or home environment limitations.
     I can make the children in my classroom safe for the amount of time they are in my classroom.  There will be no name calling, bullying, or physical violence.  Neither will I use corporal punishment, public humiliation or demeaning discipline in my classroom.  I will not threaten my students with punishments—real or imagined nor will I allow other teachers or students to threaten them.  I will not make students read their grades out loud in front of the class.  I will not discuss their personal information with other teachers or parents, and I will report neglectful and abusive home situations.
    I will foster an environment in my classroom where the ideas of the students are valued and counted as precious.  Children’s work will cover the walls of my room.  We will make class books of the work they complete for me and do classroom projects, initiated by the students, that benefit the school and the community.  I will write encouraging notes to my students that comment on their ideas and their work in the classroom.
    Because I will also expect fifth grade students to work industriously, efficiently, and independently at their instructional level, I will provide an educated teacher and a myriad of resources.  As the teacher, I believe, I am required to know the subject matter being presented, have a basic knowledge of important things to know (for example, “How many time zones are there on Earth?), and be prepared to teach lessons every lesson I expect my children to learn.  I believe that a Social Studies textbook is a fabulous resource, a means to learn, in the hands of a teacher who knows history and wants to relay its importance to her class.  An ignorant teacher with a textbook is of little use to her students.  A teacher who is a Mathematician can teach math using a textbook as a resource, but an ignorant teacher with the power of a textbook is only a source of confusion and frustration for students.
    Because I expect my students to further their education in my class, I will provide as many resources as possible to assist their learning.  A classroom should be equipped with dictionaries, thesauruses, encyclopedias, an Internet connection, newspapers, magazines, Weekly Readers, books about history, biographies, books of experiments, manipulatives, science materials, music from different periods in history, and books made by the children.  Students will learn how to use first hand resources by interviewing their parents, local professionals, and each other.  Students from higher grades, parents, and volunteers will be used as tutoring resources for the students.
    I will demand respect for others, the school, and the materials my students use.  My rules for the classroom will be posted and reviewed periodically.  We will have class meetings regularly to discuss the students’ actions in the classroom.  Students will be responsible for their own materials, the organization of their desk and locker, their own homework, and their own actions.  The consequences for laziness, disrespect and irresponsibility will be harsh and implemented consistently from the first day of school.  No child can learn in a setting where his total participation and attention is not required.
    Because the goal of school is not containment or management, but citizenship and a pragmatic education, my teaching will not be restricted to discipline and factual information.  I will teach lesson plans and projects that teach both the intellectual responsibility and the compassion of citizenship.  Students will learn multiplication and probability to be educated and to understand the world around them.  Students will learn how to write friendly letters in order to send them to legislators in the hopes of making their ideas heard.  Students will read about the Holocaust to learn empathy for a horror they have never seen.  Students will do community service to learn humility and service.
    I can not make a welfare recipient into a lawyer, a fast food waitress into President of the United States, but I do not have to pity children in my class—or try to change their parents into my parents--because by my teaching and my influence, the students who never had parents as great as mine will have the same choices that I, an educated person, have.  Students with the benefit of both educated parents and an educated teacher will have more knowledge, more responsibility, more discipline and more education than they would have had otherwise.  That all my students will be able to choose their own lifestyle instead of being victim to their own ignorance is my goal and my philosophy of education.

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