Callum Reeve

Roger Harty

Education 2500 A

18 November 2019

Coming Full Circle:

My New Perspective on Teaching from My Experience in Education 2500

I hate the idea of a teacher being this fountain of knowledge pouring information into the

empty vessel that is the student’s mind. To me, teaching is constructive guidance that allows the

student to choose the tools that works best for them and how to use them effectively. I became

passionate about literature because it helped me, to use a cliché, find myself, as well as

challenged my previously held beliefs. I do not believe growth comes with challenge alone,

instead I believe growth comes from the overcoming of, and mastery over, a challenge—and for

this reason I feel people are far more capable than they may think.

My philosophy of education has inspired me to pursue the English Education combined

degree, but the Education 2500 course has revealed my strengths and weaknesses as a potential

educator. Starting off somewhat unsure of myself in my placement classroom, I have quickly

become comfortable teaching in front of a class and getting students engaged in the material.

Sometimes, I am a little too comfortable and fail to maintain classroom expectations (for

example, no blurting), though I feel with more experience I will find the balance that works best

for me and the students. During my public school years, I hated going to class on often found

school unimportant, believing I was destined to become a famous movie director. For this reason,

I think I can be too empathetic towards the students behaving poorly, and I struggle with being
too lenient. It was not until I found what appealed to me, through an encouraging high school

teacher, that I started to apply myself in school and achieve my first 90%. By maintaining the

goal of providing students with the tools of success, as well as remembering the encouragement

my teachers provided me so I can achieve, I can abandon some of my weaknesses and strike a

balance between a comfortable and inviting classroom and a productive one—not that they are

mutually exclusive. I did not realise how fulfilling it would feel to be in a classroom until I tried

it in Education 2500; building a relationship with the students and helping them grow has been

one of the most incredible experiences of my life so far. With—hopefully—two and a half years

left of my degree, in five years time I see myself going for my masters and on my way to doing

my doctorate, in order to become an increasingly educated and useful teacher as time goes on. I

am very excited to begin my career as a teacher, I know I have found the place for me.