User:Mhama001

About Me
My name is Matthew and I am a 21 year old History/Social Sciences and Secondary Education major. I am in my fourth year of college and my second year at ODU. I spent my first two years at Virginia Wesleyan College and transferred to ODU because I wanted to be at a campus that was better for my spiritual life. At ODU, I have a great campus ministry, the Hampton Roads Church Student Fellowship, that I am involved with. I was introduced to the church that the campus ministry is started from, the Hampton Roads Church, when I was a senior in high school and became a christian that very year as well. My relationship with God dictates every aspect of my life as I try to glorify him in every way and through everything I do. Besides hanging out with my friends from church, I love surfing and have ever since middle school. I grew up in Virginia Beach, so it isn't uncommon to have gone through a series of extreme sport phases: Roller blading (4 years), Skateboarding(6 years), and Surfing(9th year and going). I have stopped all the sports except surfing at this point, but it is one of the greatest times of my life being able to go out on the waves and just chill in the water. I enjoy other sports as well especially football and soccer.

Educational Philosophy
I believe that teaching is essential to anyone's upbringing, no matter who (local, state, or federal) provides it. The main thrust of my teaching philosophy is that we need to teach our kids that Truth exists and they should use reason to discover it. The only way a class can work if there is an unspoken agreement that the teacher knows what he/she is teaching and that the students do not know as much. The teacher then employs many different methods, to engage every learning style, to help the students use reason to discover the truth as best they can and assisting when they cannot. Without the existence of truth and teaching our kids that objective truths exist, schools may soon be filled with astute children questioning the very establishment of schools. After all, if we can't really know anything, what's the point of being taught what no one can know? It will lead us to a society of people who simply think truth is whatever makes one feel good. As a history major, I understand that truths today may be looked back upon as fallacies the next (Geocentric solar system, Earth being flat, Race dictates how human one is). That does not mean truth doesn't exist, but that we didn't know it. Extreme skepticism does not lead to finding truth, but instead leads someone to saying they can't know anything, and if that's the case, why go to school?