Philogging Assignment #10

In examining my impact theory, it is clear that I must first define why I want to teach. I could probably easily come up with a dozen inconsequential reasons but the two that stick out in my mind are that I believe in every single child's ability and desire to achieve and that I cannot name another profession that can produce such meaningful and fulfilling results both for myself and also for those I will be teaching. However, if I am to dive deeper in to my desire to not only teach but to be an effective teacher, despite the vast inequality present within our nation's school system, I must also admit that my motivation lies in attempting to create the type of society I want my son, Jackson, to live in. Based on both the SES my son was born into as well as mine and my husbands educational experiences, I have little doubt that Jackson will not struggle to navigate through the education system. However, in my opinion, equality benefits everyone and even though he may not struggle to graduate high school or go to college, the world he will live in stands to be a much better place if others also do not struggle for the same education.
If our textbook has taught us anything, I would argue it is that schooling and public education have been marked by disadvantage, exclusion, and inequality throughout it's history but also that the entity that is public education has the ability to produce social change. Is that to say that historically it has been effectively used to promote social change, no. However, the possibility is clearly there. I never envisioned myself entering into the field of teaching for political or social reasons but upon careful reflection of my true motivations, apparently I have. Even though I still don't see myself as a "rock the boat" type of person, I do see both the inequality in the current system as well as the potential I have to make an impact and chip away at that inequality. Because of the first two reasons I laid out, my belief in both students abilities and the act of teaching itself, I am accepting that to work towards and accomplish any of my goals with regards to the social vision that I hold for education I must be willing to rock the boat from time to time.
One of the key terms I drew from Chapter 14 regarding impact theory is context. This course has not only asked us to examine the context from which we were socialized and approach the profession of teaching but also the context in which our students will be interacting with the education system as well as the historical context and relationships their families hold with public education. Along with defining my personal motivations to teach, constantly reflecting on the context from which the players in the public education system are coming from seems paramount to understanding and articulating my impact theory.