Family Traditions And Beliefs

Family is one of the biggest influences one can have in their lives whether it is for the good or the bad. What I believe, how I think, and who I am is a collection of what I have either accepted or rejected from my family. I think it is often easy to accept family traditions and values simply because it is “what’s always been done”. My mom taught me that the most important person to listen to was myself when it came to determining what was right and wrong. I think that this made it more difficult to find my beliefs, but I have also learned that my beliefs should grow and change with me. Both my own experiences and the experiences of my family members shaped my path and my values. One of the most important things I learned from watching my …show more content…
The majority of the women in my family that went to college have their degree in education. All of us have sought our degrees in education because of the desire to make a difference in people’s lives. Personally, I wanted to become a teacher because I want to make children not only love learning, but love themselves and love others. I want to be a positive influence for issues that may not be discussed in their homes, such as race and gender. I started teaching bible classes at my church when I was in middle school and I quickly realized how rewarding it was when I could get a child to think about a concept and get them involved in learning. I could also make children feel good about themselves and help their self-esteem, which is something I have always struggled with. This made me realize that if I could accomplish all of this on a small scale, I could do this on a larger scale in a real classroom setting. I was strongly supported by my family to become a teacher because I had the same love and desire to teach that they did. My mom was my biggest influence because she taught me how to be a teacher from an early age. She showed me how to do things like teach and write lesson plans and how to make a classroom environment that was both structured and a place where students could feel safe and …show more content…
I will be able to use the positive things I have learned from my family to leave a positive impact on my students. One of the biggest things I want to impart on my students is how important it is to accept themselves and others with all their flaws and hardships, and use that to better themselves. Counter to this, as an educator I will need to reject the part of my family’s culture that relies on prejudice and bias. Part of rejecting this means making sure I teach my students to do the same. I want to have a classroom that is open to talking about more difficult issues and overcoming our prejudices and our negative socializations. I can use my experiences from when I was growing up to better relate to my students and help guide