My Social Studies Autobiography

The next leg of my journey to become a social studies teacher begins here and now in this first assignment of EDU 654. For all practical purposes, one could say that this is the official start of my journey in teaching. Doing so, however, would fail to give credit to all the experiences that have led me to this point would be short-sighted and illogical. While I did not consider becoming a teacher until college, I fell in love with history at an early age as I listened to stories about my family’s history. Then, starting in the eighth grade, I had a series of outstanding social studies teachers whose passion for their content grabbed my attention and nurtured my own interest in the subject. Because it was the subject I enjoyed the most and did the best in during high school, I pursued a history major at Carolina. I was not exposed to European or World History in high school and therefore I maintained a stronger interest in U.S. History throughout undergrad. It should come as no surprise then that I want to teach U.S. History or Civics.

That is the abridged version of my “why history?” narrative. So far as the “why teaching?” journey, I have to credit my faith and my experience volunteering with a vulnerable population for bringing me to this point. As I volunteered with the Christian Appalachian Project last year I realized that I wanted a career in which I could directly serve others. I believe we are put here to help one another along the way, and I feel I can best do this through teaching.

I really hope to pass along my value of service to others and the community to my students. The social studies classroom is a great place to model and encourage that value particularly as we teach about the leaders of the American Revolution, Jane Adams’ work for immigrants, and the Civil Rights movement (among others). We can also teach and model civic activity in a way that students will want to participate in their civic responsibilities on their own. This leads me to the two essential characteristics of a social studies teacher: modeling civic activity (staying informed, voting, serving the community, etc.) and making material relevant and engaging for students. If we do not practice civic engagement ourselves, how then are our students to believe that they should be participating in our democracy? History can often be viewed as too factual and boring. If a social studies teacher cannot show his or her students why the material matters and is relevant, then the teacher has little reason to hope that her students will engage with and maintain an understanding of the material. I am anxious about being able to relate every topic to my students. It’s a good thing we have a methods class to help us get to that point!

This methods class is another stepping stone in my journey to teacher-hood. Actually, I suppose it is more like a bridge than a stepping stone. At the end of this methods course I expect to have crossed a significant divide. I will pass, from the realm of knowing teaching theories to the realm of practicing teaching theories, from the realm of knowing content to them realm of conveying content, and from the realm of simply wanting to help students to the realm of actually knowing how to help students.