User:Dkuja001

Personal Info
My name is Daniel Kujawski, and I currently reside in Portsmouth, Virginia. I was born in Juneau, Alaska and also lived in Maryland, Ohio, and Tennessee. I graduated from Churchland High school in 2006, and earned an A.S. in General Studies from Tidewater Community College in the spring of 2008. I am now a junior at Old Dominion University, and majoring in English. Currently, I intend to teach English at the high school level, but I am still deciding if that is truly my life's ambition. I enjoy reading and playing video games in my spare time, which is no longer plentiful. I work at two different churches doing maintenance, and I will be substitute teaching very soon as well.

Philosophy of Education
As a prospective teacher, my exact commitment, role, and goals for my students are still coming into focus. I think that this is actually an advantage rather than a hindrance. A rigid mindset of these things could be detrimental for some, in that it could lead them to believe that there is only one reason for being a teacher and only one way to teach. The more open-minded outlook will serve me well for development.

My commitment to education comes from several sources. Firstly, it is a simple desire to spread knowledge to as many people as possible. I believe that kind of compulsion is the mark of someone who needs to teach, as they are someone who truly feels the passion, and their heart is in the right place. Secondly, my commitment to education stems from personal experience. My time assisting my mother with her duties and doing tutoring myself has shown me that I do indeed have a strong calling to teach. I have found that I have the patience to help students as they struggle to comprehend, and I have found that the feeling that comes when you can actually see understanding come to them is one of the greatest things in the world. Another source comes from stories told by my mother and by past teachers. Hearing them tell of their experiences with students and helping them to truly gain knowledge, and seeing their face as they relate these experiences serves to support the feeling that teaching is the life for me. My role as a teacher is partially defined, but not completely. My main focus is to at all times be able to convey to the students exactly what I need and mean to. While my methods may differ as time goes by, or change by the situation--as if when a student will simply not comprehend by some means and I use another--my ultimate goal of precisely teaching them what they need to know remains the same. I will do anything possible to ensure that my students are given as much opportunity as they can. However much time I may have to spend tutoring after school and helping in every way possible is essential. Some aspects of my role are not quite clear yet, such as my exact methods of teaching the students, how I will reward or administer to students, and other finer details, but they will come in time.

My goals for my students are fairly basic. I only desire for them to come away from the class with a love of the subject matter and a yearning to learn more. As long as I can carry on the spirit of education, I think I will have accomplished my duties. I do not need the students to look up to me or consider me as anything more than their teacher, although I am not opposed to it. My base intention is for them to consider me as something of a fountain of knowledge from which they should drink as much possible. As long as I can see every one of them absorbing, learning, and altogether progressing, I will be happy with my work.

So while I am aware that I have much left to learn about my intentions, I think I have enough to grow upon. My commitment is solid, while my role and goals are still developing, but I believe that is a necessary part of the process to become a successful teacher.