Teaching Philosophy :: Education Teachers Classroom Essays

Teaching Philosophy What is my philosophy concerning education? For as long as there has been â€Å"learning†, this question has been debated. As with any â€Å"opinion question† this question brings forth very strong discussion. Everyone has his or her own thoughts regarding this. Parents, administrators, professors, teachers (those retired and those yet to be.) all have varying views on what education should be. In all the points I wish to make, the two which seem of utmost importance are to be flexible enough with your position that new thoughts and ideas are at least considered and to keep the welfare of the children first and foremost in all beliefs. I think being a teacher is the most important job in the world. If it wasn’t for teachers everything in the world would be different. When looking back on my 13 years of school, I recall few teacher who made a huge impact on my life. All of the teachers that I remember the most have something in common, which is they all taught extremely well academically, but their job didn’t stop there. They were mentors, helpers, listeners, and role models. I think it is important as a teacher to remember some students may not struggle academically, but their problems might be at home. It is necessary as a teacher to not only teach the core subjects, such as reading, math, and English, but also incorporate important concepts such as self-esteem, decision-making, character building, as well as other skills needed for life. A good teacher must keep in mind that anything said or done, even if it is little, can make or break a child. A teacher can also make a positive las ting impression on a child. This is the kind of teacher I want to be! As a teacher most of your time and the students’ time of learning takes place in the classroom. That is why it is important that the room is comfortable and pleasing to the students. In my classroom I want color and fun mixed in with learning. It is important to create an atmosphere that is comfortable, but not over stimulating to distract the students. It is a good idea to display the students’ work.

New criticism essay

Grace Lear Ms. Joan Richmond English 2261 17 Feb. 2013 New Criticism: A Focused Summary New criticism is a type of literary theory that focuses on the close reading of literature and how the literature functions as the object it’s meant to be. No external influences are to be taken into consideration, strictly the writing itself. This movement emphasizes the text in literature and explains the writers meaning to the reader. The author’s intention, excluding historical and cultural context is taken into consideration for analysis.When reading as a â€Å"New Critic† it’s important to separate emotion and the literal text used by the author, which can be hard to do. Close reading is something used by New Critics to bring out the straightforward and uncontroversial approach to understanding literature. Terms like paradox, ambiguity, irony, and tension help break down the story in different ways to understand the meaning new critics expect. These terms also sho w a conservative side to New Criticism taking away the controversial, external, social issues like race, gender and class.New criticism is sometimes looked at as the scientific approach to reading literature compared to other theories. In order to analyze in a new critic way its important to take notice of the terms above and the literal meaning of the setting, plot and theme. The subject and the object of the story should be separated and stable in mind while readers analyze in this type of theory. The focus should be literal not emotional and bring out the social function and effect of the literature the writer makes.The application of this theory, New Criticism can be shown through the story â€Å"A Rose for Emily† by William Faulkner. The title â€Å"A Rose for Emily† could symbolize death. This also could also symbolize her oppressed, sad life due to her father, possibly meaning she was dead before she actually died (437). â€Å"The man himself lay in the bedâ₠¬ ¦ what was left of him, rotted beneath what was left of the nightshirt, had become inextricable from the bed in which he lay† (Faulkner). This connects to the ongoing theme of an older generation struggling to keep its place in this modern era.The tension between the past and the present or two generations is seen in the background of this story. Emily’s house was called a â€Å"stubborn and coquettish decay† compared to the gasoline pumps next to her house. The older generation of the town took care of Miss Emily in respects to her father (who donated money to the city). â€Å"A sort of hereditary obligation†, until the new generation mayors and aldermen expected taxes from her (Faulkner). There are some flashbacks to the past, which create images of death in her past specifically her father’s death.Is it ironic she doesn’t want to believe he’s dead? â€Å"She told them that her father was not dead. She did that for three days with ministers calling on her and the doctors trying to persuade her†(Faulkner) This could possibly mean the past isn’t ready to let go of a new coming era, an ongoing theme shown throughout this story. The description of her home, old furniture, dusty rooms, and dark shadowy halls are sensory details. The smell of her home due to dead bodies is so bad towns people come by to drop lime through her basement windows.These all give an eerie, dirty image and mood for the story. The question of why wouldn’t she put postal numbers on her house is her almost refusing new society that rejected her right back. Her characteristics steady show stubbornness, isolation and rejection. The main point of the story is to show the comparisons between the old days and the new and tensions between them are shown through Emily’s sad life. Another story that can be used to explain New Criticism would be â€Å"Hills like White Elephants† by Ernest Hemingway in the use of char acters, symbolism and conflict.In the story the only character that is referred to as the American is the male protagonist. He is distant from her on an emotional level and create what he thinks would be a resolution to a problem he clearly cares nothing about. The other character is a non-English speaking waitress who is deep in her own but is indecisive and afraid to say what she wants. These characters create tension throughout the story. The symbolism is started in the title â€Å"Hills like White Elephants† making readers question the comparison between the two.The â€Å"White Elephant† is the burden and decision of the unborn baby. â€Å"They look like White Elephants† (Hemingway). The waitress is talking about the hills but later deciding they didn’t look like elephants, which could lead to her indecisiveness about what to do with the baby. The setting of the story is at a train station, which creates theme and symbol. The train tracks going in dif ferent directions are the crossroads of their relationship on their decision of what to do with the unborn baby. She comments on the hills being beautiful and the country being brown or dry

Kill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee - 1270 Words

In a book â€Å"to kill a mockingbird,† which was written by Harper Lee. the main character in the book was Atticus Finch, who is a lawyer in Maycomb, Alabama. he has two children, who are Scout and Jem. the symbol of Mockingbird in the book title and the story related to the innocent and oppressed people, which the people judge them without knowing them right, in another world take advantage of someone weaker than you. there are many Mockingbirds in the book, but I want to focus on the most Mockingbirds who are Tom Robinson and Boo Radley in this essay. The book is very interesting. It tells a story about something always happens in our life. Which is judge people without knowing them clearly. Atticus Finch is a lawyer and a gentleman. All the town people respected him, but after he took the case of Tom and defends him, all the town people hated him. In addition, Tom is a black man and racism was strongly excited in that town, that s why they hated Atticus. Even though Tom w as innocent and Atticus proved that with the evidence in the court, but the court decided that Tom was guilty. Which led to making Tom loosing hope and die. In the other hand, there is Boo Radley, who was imprisoned by his father in the house for a long time. because of he was wild and he got trouble with the law when he was a child. People in the town made many abusive stories about him while he was not as they saying. At the end of the story, he shows helping scout and Jem of murder by Ewell andShow MoreRelatedKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1049 Words   |  5 PagesTo Kill a Mockingbird: How a Story could be based on True Events in Everyday LifeDaisy GaskinsCoastal Pines Technical Collegeâ€Æ'Harper Lee was born in Monroeville, Alabama. Her father was a former newspaper editor and proprietor, who had served as a state senator and practiced as a lawyer in Monroeville. Also Finch was known as the maiden name of Lee’s mother. With that being said Harper Lee became a writ er like her father, but she became a American writer, famous for her race relations novel â€Å"ToRead MoreTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee1000 Words   |  4 Pagesworld-wide recognition to the many faces of prejudice is an accomplishment of its own. Author Harper Lee has had the honor to accomplish just that through her novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, a moving and inspirational story about a young girl learning the difference between the good and the bad of the world. In the small town of Monroeville, Alabama, Nelle Harper Lee was born on April 28, 1926. Growing up, Harper Lee had three siblings: two sisters and an older brother. She and her siblings grew up modestlyRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1290 Words   |  6 PagesHarper Lee published To Kill a Mockingbird during a rough period in American history, also known as the Civil Rights Movement. This plot dives into the social issues faced by African-Americans in the south, like Tom Robinson. Lee felt that the unfai r treatment towards blacks were persistent, not coming to an end any time in the foreseeable future. This dark movement drove her to publish this novel hopeful that it would encourage the society to realize that the harsh racism must stop. Lee effectivelyRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee873 Words   |  4 PagesIn the book, To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee illustrates that â€Å"it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird† throughout the novel by writing innocent characters that have been harmed by evil. Tom Robinson’s persecution is a symbol for the death of a mockingbird. The hunters shooting the bird would in this case be the Maycomb County folk. Lee sets the time in the story in the early 1950s, when the Great Depression was going on and there was poverty everywhere. The mindset of people back then was that blackRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee963 Words   |  4 Pagesgrowing up, when older characters give advice to children or siblings.Growing up i s used frequently in the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. Harper Lee uses the theme growing up in To Kill a Mockingbird to change characters opinion, develop characters through their world, and utilizes prejudice to reveal growing up. One major cause growing up is used in To Kill a Mockingbird is to represent a change of opinion. One part growing up was shown in is through the trial in part two of the novelRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1052 Words   |  5 PagesTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee takes place in Maycomb County, Alabama in the late 30s early 40s , after the great depression when poverty and unemployment were widespread throughout the United States. Why is the preconception of racism, discrimination, and antagonism so highly related to some of the characters in this book? People often have a preconceived idea or are biased about one’s decision to live, dress, or talk. Throughout To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee examines the preconceptionRead MoreHarper Lee and to Kill a Mockingbird931 Words   |  4 PagesHarper Lee and her Works Harper Lee knew first hand about the life in the south in the 1930s. She was born in Monroeville, Alabama in 1926 (Castleman 2). Harper Lee was described by one of her friends as Queen of the Tomboys (Castleman 3). Scout Finch, the main character of Lees Novel, To Kill a Mockinbird, was also a tomboy. Many aspects of To Kill a Mockingbird are autobiographical (Castleman 3). Harper Lees parents were Amasa Coleman Lee and Frances Finch Lee. She was the youngestRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1695 Words   |  7 PagesIn To Kill a Mockingbird Harper Lee presents as a ‘tired old town’ where the inhabitants have ‘nowhere to go’ it is set in the 1930s when prejudices and racism were at a peak. Lee uses Maycomb town to highlight prejudices, racism, poverty and social inequality. In chapter 2 Lee presents the town of Maycomb to be poverty stricken, emphasised through the characterisation of Walter Cunningham. When it is discovered he has no lunch on the first day of school, Scout tries to explain the situation to MissRead MoreKill A Mockingbird By Harper Lee1876 Words   |  8 PagesThough Harper Lee only published two novels, her accomplishments are abundant. Throughout her career Lee claimed: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Goodreads Choice Awards Best Fiction, and Quill Award for Audio Book. Lee was also inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. This honor society is a huge accomplishment and is considered the highest recognition for artistic talent and accomplishment in the United States. Along with these accomplishments, herRead MoreKill A Mockingbird, By Harper Lee1197 Words   |  5 Pagessuch as crops, houses, and land, and money was awfully limited. These conflicts construct Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mocking Bird. In To Kill a Mocking Bird, Lee establishes the concurrence of good and evil, meaning whether people are naturally good or naturally evil. Lee uses symbolism, characterization, and plot to portray the instinctive of good and evil. To Kill a Mocking Bird, a novel by Harper Lee takes place during the 1930s in the Southern United States. The protagonist, Scout Finch,