Evocative Draft

­­­I've had the luxury of forgetting. A student approached me asking me about a point of history that stood out in his reading. “They keep mentioning it. What is it?” It had meant so much to my adolescent self. And yet, my words fumbled. I closed my mouth, perhaps I smiled, and attempted a response. How ashamed of myself I would have been. Was it a hate crime? Not by legal definition. It had occurred in New York City, yes. In a tucked away section ignored, hopefully, on better days, but not forgotten. Oh, no, it was a police raid. Yes, that’s it. Policemen barreled in beating patrons bloody and throwing them in the back of wagons. Perhaps I should exclude this? I’ve picked up inklings. But the world is such a dark place—prepare him as of now. He may—will—need as much of a head start as possible. More than your luxury requires of you. He’ll be alone for a time—but, with offerings, spit, and faith in the night, not too long. 

Education Philosophy

Below is a draft of my educational philosophy statement. Ideally, I'd like to draft this to include specific statements for instruction of reading and writing.

Overview:
Teachers are students. This aphorism is perhaps the best way to sum my expectations as an educator. My primary role is to educate my students, whether it is as a “guide on the side” or “sage on the stage.” Ideally, educators must vacillate between these two paradigms, keeping enough of a balance so that our students are never bystanders as a part of the educational process. They must always be at the center of the work that we do. However, a secondary role (perhaps more essential in ranking) that educators must always keep in mind is that we should always be in a position to learn—especially from our students. Though we may have achieved a certain modicum of success, our goal is to transfer this ability to our students. We can only do this if we are constantly working to improve our practices, learn from one another, and continue searching always. We must learn to combine the abstract with the present details in order to create the change we seek to see in our students, and the world at large.