Running head: EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Educational Autobiography
Steven Clark
Ivy Tech

EDUCATIONAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY

INTASC Standard, Description and Rationale

Standard #3 Learning Environments

The teacher works with others to create environments that support individual and collaborative
learning, and that encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and selfmotivation.

Name of Artifact: Educational Autobiography

Date: September 5, 2014
Course: EDU 101

Brief Description: The purpose of this paper is to describe that all teachers draw from their own
past learning experiences to form the style in which they will teach in. These experiences are
molded from the educators that taught them as well as the environment at the schools that they
attended. This is not limited to just the realm of the classroom setting, but the social environment
that the teacher is from and the personal style of learning that was taught in that community.

Rationale: This creates the approach of the teacher in the classroom and the way in which the
teacher teaches their class in regard to social and collaborative style of instruction. The transfer
of this knowledge from each instructor is then individualized to an extent and made original from
their own past experience for each learner in their classroom. It is critical for a teacher to be able
to reflect on the learned practices of their past and adapt that to todays teaching standards.

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Educational Autobiography
Growing up I wanted to own my own business or be a prominent business person, until I
attended my first semester of college. By the end of that first semester I was a father at the age of
nineteen, exiting my college career and entering the workforce to provide for my new family.
The thought of becoming an educator was still many years in waiting. Most of the memorable
moments of my learning came from the elementary and junior high school environments. Not
realized by me at the time, it was my high school soccer coach that first planted the seed of
becoming a teacher. He selected me to work as an instructor at the high school soccer camp, and
the teaching experience began for me there. Because of the way I was with the children I was
able to work for three summers as an instructor. Still, I had no idea that my path would lead me
to teaching. As a father I started coaching my children in different sports as they grew up. Again,
teaching but not acknowledging it yet. The realization that this was the career that I wanted to
pursue was at our youngest childs parent teacher conferences. The way the children that I had
coached approached me at the school and the difference that my influence from the sporting field
made in them from the stressing of good academics. The teachers telling me that a number of
children that played for me were concerned with achieving better grades and their effort in the
classroom had improved dramatically. The final realization came to me when my daughter, quite
bluntly asked me, why cant you teach dad? So with that, I decided to turn my passion for
instructing children into a career. I am now doing what I have advised my children to do, have
passion for what you choose to do in life, and not just work at a job.

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4
Early Education

As stated earlier, the most memorable moments in my past learning were primarily at the
elementary level. There were some teachers in junior high that were influential and I still
remember some of their names, but the grade school teachers are the ones that I remember by
names and why they were important to me. It is my opinion that early education is the foundation
for all future study habits and vigor for learning. Most memorable though is that only one teacher
in my grade school was male. This is also one of the reasons that I think it is imperative that
more men like myself become teachers. Women are wonderful educators, but men bring
different and also much needed tools to the teaching arena. The one male teacher in my
elementary school was undoubtedly the most positive influence in my learning past. He brought
a caring to the classroom that was absolute every day. Not only to me, but a noticeable attention
to each child in his class, so as to not let anyone feel hidden or left out of the lesson. He was a
role model to me that helped shaped the principles and morals of learning that helped me through
high school. In reflection he is a major reason that I want to teach. To hopefully be able to help
and shape children in the same manner as he did.
Soccer Camps
At the end of my sophomore soccer season in high school my coach asked if I would help
with the high schools soccer camp during the summer break. That would be my first experience
as an instructor and coach. This is another example of a male teacher and coach that had a
profound impact on my future choice to become a teacher. He taught me to be a coach and the
importance of being a strong role model to the children around me. After a successful summer I
was asked to return the next three summers as an instructor due to the positive impact that I had
with the children at the camp. It was not unusual to see me refereeing at the community soccer

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fields with five or more of the kids from those camps following or riding on my back the whole
day. Looking back this reaffirms that I have a gift in how I deal with children and have waited
too long to pursue it. To this day I still use many of the methods that my high school coach
taught me when I coach or teach sports. This man saw something in me that took twenty four
years to become a reality and without his influence I would not be the man I am today.
Realization of a Passion
As my children entered high school and college my opportunity to coach lessened
dramatically. It was during this time that other teachers at my youngest daughters parent teacher
conferences started to notice the impact that I had on so many of their other students. It would
have been nice if only one had thanked me, but multiple teachers over the fifth through eighth
grade years had mentioned this, and thanked me for the help it gave them in their respective
classes. This is when I started thinking about the possibility of returning to college to become a
teacher. It was when my daughter, in a casual conversation with me, asked me why I was not a
teacher. She went on to describe to me her classmates opinions and impressions of me and the
amount of respect the garnered for the way I coached them. She stated that they appreciated the
importance that I had placed on grades and how it helped them with issues at home also. So in
her opinion, I had been teaching all along and just not made it official by getting a degree. This is
the conversation that changed my future, as well as, the future of every child that may enter my
future classrooms.
In summary, the reasons for becoming a teacher have been screaming at me for over
twenty years. From the early age throughout high school there have been very memorable
teachers, most in the elementary level. The one thing that is noticed while writing this paper is
that male teachers have been very important in my path to becoming a teacher. In reflection of

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the conversation with my daughter, male instructors are needed, especially for young men in the
classroom. To take on the responsibility to be that positive male role model is not taken lightly,
and is something that needs to be embraced by not only me, but many more male educators. I am
now taking the advice that I gave my children. Choose a career that you have a passion for and
your work will never feel like a job.