Reach One, Teach All

Teach One, Reach All

Delbra Jones

L25741661

EDUC 604-D02

Dr. Murray Williams

Abstract

Teach One, Reach All is my motto. If a teacher can teach one student, then the teacher can reach all students. I believe the true purpose of school is to help all students learn how to apply what they learned, in society. The role of the teacher is to help students learn how to apply what they learned, teach what they learned, show what they learned, think and reason. There are many types of learning styles, such as, kinesthetic, auditory, and visual. I believe students learn best in the visual learning style. They are able to applying what they are taught and show what they learned. Also, students learn best when they know that the teacher cares. The main reason, I teach is to introduce the Word of God to students, and plant the seed that is need to win them to Christ.

Keywords: School, teacher, learn, worldview, teach.

The purpose of education is to do what Proverbs 22:6 states, “Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” When teachers teach students they need to make sure their teaching methods reach all students. The Great Commission calls for us to reach ALL people (Ackerman, 2012). Mark 8:36 states that “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” The main purpose is to win student to Christ and to make sure students learn how to apply what they learned so they can impact the world for Christ.

If I can reach one student in the class then, I can reach all students. In order to reach all students, Christian teachers must learn how to teach differentiated instruction. Teaching in a Christian school allows me to teach all students. The school, I teach at do not honor Individual Education Program (IEP). Parents are informed that the school does not participate in the program. The purpose is to allow all students to function in a classroom with all people. Over the last fifteen years, I have taught differentiated instruction. It has been a joy to teach the students that has learning disabilities because I know it will allow Grace to take over. According to Graham (2003), Grace comes alive when things go wrong, when people mess up, when fairness does not seem to prevail. When everything is clean, neat, and tidy and students are well behaved and they do what we ask them to do, grace does not show up, it stays home, asleep (Graham, p. 256). I believe all students can learn but they learn in different way and in different times, by grace.

When students are train up in the Word of God then they have a seed that will grow in them as they get older. Education was the based on God’s Word and every since God’s Word has been taking out of public school, American education stop doing Proverbs 22:6 states and that is to Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” The concept of training up a child also indicates that it is a lengthy process. Christian Education is a life-long process(Schultz, 2003).. The education process continues from birth until child reaches maturity (Schultz, 2003). By following the Word of God will allow teachers to Teach One, Reach All.

Worldview & Philosophy of Life

Based on the information I have learned this semester, I believe my worldview of education is based on early education. I believe America would still be the world leader in education if three essential elements were still enforced in public schools; religion, morality and knowledge. They were the core of the education system that produces some of the world’s greatest leaders in areas from science and government to theology and jurisprudence (Barton, 2004). The core of education system back then is the core system at the school I have taught at for the last nineteen years. When the core of the school system was voted out in 1972, Benjamin Rush prediction came too passed. Rush policy papers stated that while the bible should remain a textbook of education and he warned them what would happen if the bible was taken out of public schools. We would waste so much time and money and it would prevent crime. He predicted that America would spend money and time to prevent crime (Barton, 2003). The world has felt the prediction. Public schools have spent so much money and time to prevent crime, such as shootings in different elementary and high schools, behavior in classes, ads, and commercials on bullying, and host of learning disabilities.

The way I describe life in general is according to Deuteronomy 6:5 “Love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and all they soul, and with all they might.” Every since I allowed God to coming into my heart, He has given me the peace that passes all understanding. I can show my students the joy of the Lord, in my classes. Every day my class starts off with prayer. If I forget to start off with prayer the students will remember. Now, just because I start off with prayer does not mean issues do not arise during the course of the day. The devil comes to steal, kill and destroy the lesson but the power of prayer and grace help me to sustain any attacks.

The way worldview will influence the practice as an educator is helping me to understand the student in the way that God intended for teachers. Gods directs injunctions to nurture children first of all to parents (Deuteronomy 6:6-9, KJV). Also, Paul adds that parents must bring children up “in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4, KJV) (Van Brummelen. 2009). When parent follow God plans then the teachers will have an easy job of teaching because the main instruction will have taken place at home first. According to (Schultz), the education of children and youth is the primary responsibility of parents. And yes shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in the house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up ( Deuteronomy 11:19, KJV).

The school I teach at is a Christian school but only 23% of the church attends the school. 77% of the student body is from the community and not a member of the school church. As an educator, I use worldviews as teaching tools. Example, last year I taught the computer application class about budgeting. A lot of the students did know about their beacon score. They did not know that the bible talks about having a good name. According to Proverbs 22:1, “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and gold.” Through the project students learned having good credit is high on Gods list. It was an eye opening for the students and it helped them understand what their parents were going through.

One of the idealism that I enjoyed reading about was Saint Bede. He became a deacon at age nineteen and a priest at thirty. He regarded scriptures as the highest authority (Gutek, 1995). As a teacher and writer, Bede was most concerned with assimilating and transmitting the scholarship of his predecessors by ordering this material into a form that would be intelligible to less sophisticated students (Gutek, 1995). His religious background no doubt influenced his desire to persuade people to lead moral lives, and this served as a powerful motive in his writing and teaching (Gutek, 1995).

Robert Owen was a man that wanted to make sure working and living condition was suitable for all people (Gutek, p. 207). He believed that employers had a moral responsibility to improve the living conditions of their employees (Gutek, p. 207). Believing that people were products of their environment, he set out to reform and reconstruct that environment (Gutek, p. 207). Owens turned to education, which he believed was one of the most potent instruments that people possessed to shape their environment and ultimately themselves (Gutek, 1995). I believe if you change your environment you change your mind.

Researches led to the development of Scholasticism as a formal methodology of inquiry, scholarship, and teaching although the scholastic accepted the general theology associate with Western Christianity, they differed on metaphysical, epistemological, and ethical issues (Gutek, p. 106). Realist epistemology was based primarily on the recognition of the universal, or general, ideal (Gutek, p. 107). One thing I want the student to know is reality, understand that God is a forgive God and no matter how far you fall, God will be there to pull you through.

Life has a way of showing you how real life can get. As a student in school, I did not think about how life would be when, I turned forty years old. The goal of education is to help individuals understand and apply the principles of science to help solve the problems plaguing the modern world (Gutek, 1995).

Philosophy of Schools & Learning

One important philosophy know and believe is “The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next” (Barton, 2004). Key theories that will impact my teaching are:

1. Harvard mottoes – “For Christ and the Church and “For the Glory of Christ” (Barton, 2004).

2. Yale stated that all the scholars are required to live a religious and blameless life according to the rules of God’s Word, diligently reading the Holy Scriptures and constantly attending all the duties of religion(Barton, 2004)..

3. Princeton stated that There shall be assigned to each class certain exercise for their religious instruction and no student belonging to any class shall neglect them (Barton, 2004).

Education psychology Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis. His psychoanalytic theory held many implications of a general educational nature (Gutek, p. 336). One of Freud’s most intriguing insights was that the human mind is divided between the conscious and the unconscious. For education, Freud’s theory was important for illuminating children’s emotional or affective development. In particular, it pointed to the importance of early childhood experiences on later mental and emotional development (Gutek, p. 329).

The way professional knowledge will guide the practice is by allowing me to apply all the tools need to help the students. The different books that I used for this paper will help me for the rest of my career. The information I have attained this year is priceless. Every day, I learn something new.

The second education psychology I enjoyed reading about was John Dewey. His major trends in American education were:

• Development of experimentalist educational philosophy

• the rise of progressive education

• the acceptance of the high school as the major institution of secondary education

• the quantitative and qualitative extension of higher education

• a further development of teacher education

• a movement to achieve racially integrated schools in multicultural society. John and Freud are meaningful to me because they were able to incorporating theories that changed lives (Gutek, 330).

My belief about education is simple. I believe that God is the center and the bases for all education system. I compare and contrast the belief with Noah Webster that stated that his philosophy was that Christian religion is the most important and should be the first thing instructed. I agree and this is what I do on a daily bases in the class. Psalm 32:8 states, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

Educational Practice

The way I will put the different theories I discussed in previously is by implementing lesson that allow me to flow with different bible scripture. Working at a Christian school allows me to implement biblical worldview in my classes. The practices or methods I tend to use the most are implementing scriptures into the lesson. The reason I will use biblical worldview in the lesson is because it allow student to learn about God’s word and it helps students to understand God’s word as it relate to the subject matter. The instructional strategies I will implement is teaching student the Word of God, allow students to apply what they learned with visual. The outcome I pray will come from the different strategies is a student gives his life to Christ. This is the utmost goal of teaching.

The way my life have shape the philosophy of education is see so many students attend our school and having a hard time adjusting because the teacher tried to reach the student and not the student soul. When I teach, I need to teach to touch a life forever. As a teacher, I need to preserve the past; reveals the present; and create the future (Schultz, p. 51). I want to be able to incorporate the theories that will change students’ lives. The way the philosophy of education will shape my professional practices is by allowing God to use me to teach his students. I am a vessel for God. As an educator, I must allow my student to come to me for help and receive what they ask me. In Matthew 19:14, Jesus said, “let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.”

Teacher-Learner Relationships

I believe the role of the learner is to apply what is taught and have fun learning. The role of the teacher is to reach all students. The way teacher and student relate to each other is by respect. The reason, I say respect because if the relationship of student-teacher is respected then the classroom will be a learning environment and not a classroom of behavior problems.

I believe no two persons learn in exactly the same way. Each person has unique gifts from God (Van Brummelen, p. 96). Finally, progressive educators like John Dewey and critical theorists like Paulo Freire considers students to be primary agents of social change. They emphasize problem solving and critical thinking. They use inquiry and other strategies that help students transform society. However, they put the child rather than God at the center of the universe (Van Brummelen, p. 98-99) Psalm 127:3 states that behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Students are a gift from God.

Diversity

Factors that need to be taken into account by the teacher is that at some point in their career, or perhaps every year in their career, have that student who really challenges them; a student who cannot organize and who doesn’t know how (Ackerman, p. 97). Working with diverse and struggling learners is a challenge but through Christ all things are possible. Ephesians 4:32 states that “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I want to make sure that every child in my class is able to learn and apply what is taught in class. The main goal is to make sure every student is reached. My motto is “Teach One, Reach All. In order to accomplish this goal student must be Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

Reference

Ackerman, B. (2012). GUIDE to differentiated instruction. Lynchburg, VA: Liberty Press. ISBN

Barton, D. (2004). Four centuries of American education [DVD]. Aledo, TX: Wallbuilders. ISBN: Item # DVD 07.

Graham, D. L. (2003). Teaching redemptively: Bring grace and truth into your classroom. Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design Publications.

Gutek, G. (1995). A history of the western educational experience. (2nd ed). Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc

Schultz, G. (2003). Kingdom education. (2^nd ed). Nashville, TN: Leadership and Adult Publishing. LifeWay Press.

Van Brummelen, Harro (2009). Walking with God in the classroom: Christian approaches to learning and teaching. (3^rd ed.) Colorado Springs, CO: Purposeful Design (ACSI).