Masters in Teaching, Social Studies

Masters in Teaching, Social Studies Education All children are born natural economists and mathematicians, with a strong sense of curiosity about the world around them.

However, all too often they lose that innate sense of enthusiasm over the course of their education, and by the time they reach high school they often claim that numbers are 'boring,' say that they are 'not good in math,' or claim that economics is too hard for the average person to understand as someone who has always enjoyed math and history, and majored in economics at the University of Georgia, hearing students make such blanket students has always made me sad.

Understanding the mathematical concepts behind the social science of economics is an essential part a successful and well-informed life. If people do not understand math and lack confidence in their ability to understand basic economic concepts, this will limit their future vocational choices in many lucrative fields, spanning from quantitative finance to sales. It will also have a negative impact upon how they manage their personal finances, including saving for college and retirement, as well as how they create and structure a household budget.

I desire to become a teacher to inspire students with confidence about their ability to understand the math behind economics and to enable them to be more financially functional in the world. Understanding economics is particularly important for reinforcing basic math skills, because it underlines the relevance of math in student's daily lives. My desire to become a teacher is also grounded in the profoundly important roles that teachers have had in shaping my own worldview and life, including my father, who is a college professor.

The best teachers, in my experience, take a hands-on approach to helping students understand abstract subjects. Although finance can demand higher-level mathematical and analytical reasoning skills, students still need to be grounded an understanding of the real world impact that economic theory can have behind the decisions that shape their daily lives.

The TEEMS program would allow me to merge the higher-level knowledge I acquired as part of my discipline-specific undergraduate degree with the type of education-related knowledge I would gain through the Masters in Teaching, Social Studies Education program at Georgia State University. I seek further education in such elements of teaching practice as classroom management, lesson planning, and deploying a wide variety of pedagogical techniques, designed to address student's unique learning styles while still meeting standardized assessment goals.

I believe that I could be an asset to the TEEMS program because of my enthusiasm for teaching and my passion for expanding high school student's financial literacy. Students today have seen the impact a lack of financial knowledge can have upon the world in the wake of the recent subprime mortgage crisis. The recent recession that will continue to have an impact upon their future.