I have worked in many different capacities over the years and have a wide variety of interests and have collected many interesting tidbits over the years. My primary job in the Navy was as an Electrician's Mate (Nuclear) on an aircraft carrier, and I learned a good deal about nuclear power plant operations and maintenance, damage control, and electrical machinery operation and maintenance. Alongside that, I learned a lot about shipboard damage control, shipboard cableways, and general knowledge about Navy operations. More relevant to my future in education, these roles included a lot of time spent training others, including one-on-one mentoring and tutoring, administrating tests, giving training presentations, experience that I believe will be invaluable. My current subject area is English, and I have a generally solid knowledge of grammer, informed partly by my study of Japanese, and some knowledge on a variety of literature and literary concepts. I speak Japanese at an intermediate level, which I often use when tutoring English online. I am broadly interested in cultural studies and history, as well, and have some knowledge on a variety of relevant topics. What it comes down to is that I know enough to know that I know nothing and have everything to learn. 

As I mentioned in the last section, my knowledge is great enough that I know that I know absolutely nothing. My knowledge is like a single molecule of water in all the oceans of the world. Time is too limited for me to learn everything that I want to learn, but I will do my best and specialize some in relevant areas. 

Areas I know I need to focus on in the coming years are as follows:

1. I need to learn as much as I can about the education system and how to navigate it. 

2. I need to learn about classroom management. I imagine it is very different to manage a group of children or teenagers than a group of adults in the military.

3. I need to read a lot more literature: I need to shore up my knowledge of "the classics," but also inform myself and understand the content that young people are reading today, so that I can promote materials that are relevant to them and encourage independent reading. 

4. To get my social studies and ESL certifications, I need to study history, geography, culture, and more about ESL pedagogy, which I have experience with but little formal knowledge. 

5. I need to improve my knowledge of useful software tools which I can use to create materials. 

6. I need to learn about resources for teachers and find out how to utilize them.

I have a long wish-list of things I want to study. I want to learn Spanish, Portugese, Vietnamese, Mandarin, and German, be a master home sewist, a philosopher, historian, and so much more, but time is limited, so I have to prioritize based on my current season of life and the expectations I am trying to meet. 

I want to become a supportive and caring teacher who can reach students who are struggling in school or in life, and who can encourage them to believe in themselves, as was done for me. I want to be an advocate for my students and my school, and to fight for what they need, while maintaining as close to healthy of a work-life balance as I can. I also want to be a good teacher, to learn how to explain everything I know a dozen different ways, and who can make my subject interesting and engaging to them. I want to be a teacher whose enthusiasm for the subject is infectious, and I want to bring my love of learning to my students. 

I personally ascribe to a primarily student-centered, existentialist and social reconstructionist educational philosophy. I believe that it is important to nurture students as individuals, not as a collection of statistics, and in fostering a mutual respect between students and their teachers. My ideal class would be a highly social and collaborative environment but also a safe-to-fail space in which student agency is supported as much as possible, while still maintaining standards. As a teacher, I am there to instruct and inform as well as to encourage and support students. The direction of the class would be informed by the student's interests and engagement as much as possible, because I want to encourage their own natural curiosity and pursuit of learning. I would prioritize participation and individual thought. I also do value an honest education which looks at the world and its history critically, seeking to explore and understand the truth and not simply what promotes the popular narratives. It is important to understand the underlying causes and systemic problems humanity faces, and this doesn't need to cause shame, as some may fear, when done correctly with openness and understanding, and a recognition that descendants are not responsible for the actions of their ancestors--they are only responsible to do their best today with what they have. Students need both a knowledge of societal problems, and they also need to be taught to value others and to value their role as a part of society, not only as an individual. I want to help them to find themselves and build their own character while understanding their importance to a larger whole. 

I am well aware of problems we have today such as the loneliness epidemic and poor mental health among children and teenagers as well as adults. My approach to the classroom would seek to remedy this in just one small part of their lives, whether I have them for 45 minutes a day or a three-hour block. I believe that human connection promotes success in all areas of life, and that a social atmosphere promotes learning. I also believe that students need protected in social environments, and that adults are responsible to prevent and stop bullying and shaming among peers. Students who are afraid, embarrassed, ashamed, or ostracized in school cannot learn to their best capacity. 

I believe that there are many valid approaches to teaching, and although I have significant one-on-one experience as a tutor and some classroom experience teaching military adults, my experience today may not translate well to a classroom full of children or teenagers. I will do my best to learn and adapt as much as I can to the needs of each group of students.

Finally, I think that teachers need to remain lifelong learners. We need to stay up to date with research, re-enforce the knowledge we have, and to continue to build upon it, rather than to fall into complacency and start losing our knowledge, our "spark" and love of learning which we are responsible to try to pass to our students. 

Making an image that expresses my educational philosophy.

For this image, I used the prompt: I have an assignment to use an AI tool to generate an image that demonstrates my educational philosophy/ideal classroom. I want a sketchy/watercolor looking image with soft colors that expresses a sense of "existentialism" theories and "social reconstructionism" in education.

I used Microsoft Copilot to make this image. I am quite pleased with the outcome, especially as was the first try. The aesthetic was exactly what I was looking for, and I even got some funky text in the background. There are no extra limbs, but there still some minor issues that signal that this is an AI-generated image. This image portrays a small group of students and a teacher seemingly in deep thought, as if they are all thinking together about a problem.

I used Bing AI to make some images around a year ago when this first came out, and I have watched a lot of videos critiquing the use of AI and decrying the societal implications. I generally oppose the use of AI for art in particular, but it is interesting and informative to experiment and understand what it can do. It can also make us more aware of when we might be looking at AI-generated content.