Philosophy Statement

At the beginning of this semester I never really put much thought in my mission as a future social studies educator. Coming into college I started out as a AYA Integrated Language Arts major, but within the first few weeks I instantly knew that it was not the right fit for me. Since my original intentions were not to be a social studies educator, I have had to do a lot of analyzing and thinking about my overall purpose and goal in this program. Over the past few months I feel that I have been able to identify what social studies is, why we teach it and the best ways to get my future students to retain the information, while discovering why I am qualified to do this. My goal as a future social studies teacher is to address the key components

So much of what is learned in the social studies classroom can, and is, used in the everyday lives of adults and children. Something that I am passionate about is the social and civic competence of students because I believe that it is an essential part of the educational program to teach students how to interact properly with politics and social outings. In an article about social studies education it states, “Social competence can be defined as ‘the ability to achieve personal goals in social interaction, while simultaneously maintaining positive relationships with others over time and across situations.’ Social competence is also viewed as a component of learning and development in the subject area of social studies.” (Kemple, 2016, p. 622) I feel that my teachers did an exemplary job providing me with the skills and information needed in order to succeed in social interactions, but I do not think I was given the proper tools to become civically competent outside of the social studies classroom. As a future social studies teacher, I realize just how important it is for my students to feel that they are an active part in society, but they must know that as they get older they must be able to make those decisions on their own. I hope that my classroom is a place where my students will feel safe asking questions about how to develop their thoughts and opinions about political, social, governmental, economical, and historical,