User:Wwieg001

About the Author:

Hi,

My name is William Wiegratz. I have two adult daughters who have given me five beautiful grandchildren. I am a verteran of the U.S. Army where I served for three years from 1971 until 1974. I reside in Norfolk, which is where I have lived most of my life. During the seventies, I attended Tidewater Community College where I earned two Associate in Science Degrees. For the last thiry years, I have worked in the business world where I have managed and owned small businesses. Last year, I returned to school to change career fields and entered into The IDS Prek-3 undergraduate program. I am starting my senior year of that program.

My Educational Philosophy:

In recent years, the teachers I have met and have known have been very frustrated because of having to teach to a test because of the requirements of the SOL's in the No Child Left Behind Law. It also seems that one of the pimary reasons they are still teaching is because of the schedule of summers and holidays off. I wonder how much happiness they bring to their profession and students. I still have a way to go to learn about my educational philosophy and feel that's what I am here at ODU to pursue. Some of my feelings coming into this pursuit are that accountability and standards are good things, but we have to be responsible to the students that they get a good education in all disciplines, not just a couple we want to obsess about.

Children today are born into a technological world of which most of this technology was unheard of just a few years ago. I believe it is time to stop spending money and energy on ideas that don't seem to be working and take the money and energy and invest it into integrating technology into curriculums in all classrooms.

I hope to be the type of teacher who brings to the classroom a sense that I want to be there and to not only teach the academic content but pass on values and nurture the children, so as to give them a good start in their academic career.