TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

 

 

 

Whom I Teach

In my classroom, I strive to reach every student, from the extraordinarily -motivated achiever to the waiting-for-lightning-to-strike pupil in the corner.  I believe that every student is a genius…at something.  I teach to the 5-year old who lives within each of my geniuses, to that child who was once thrilled to learn a bit, explore, make mistakes, and learn some more. 

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How I Teach

I strive to capture my students’ hearts before I make the attempt to engage their minds.  I believe firmly in the pedagogy of the heart; I show them I care about who they are and what they want to become.  I engage them in personal conversation from the beginning. I call them by name as early in the semester as possible to show them that they matter in the space that we share.  I strive each day, too, to make my passion for my students’ learning contagious in that space that we share. 

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I treat each day in the classroom as an expedition.  I am forever on the hunt for the perfect example, video clip, story, joke, topic to wake that 5-year old inside.  I use skits, in-class activities, presentations, debates, the Socratic method, student-led lessons, active learning strategies, and a wide array of classroom assessment techniques to deliver the lesson and to confirm its receipt.

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I am a firm practitioner of rubric use because it evens the playing field to a large degree.  I use rubrics as a platform for engaging students in dialogue about the above average or subpar quality of their work.  When possible, I prefer to show students anonymous samples of previous students’ work in class and allow them to discuss and “grade” the sample using the same rubric by which they’ll graded on the same assignment because they become much more critical of that work and of their own in the end.  

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I use technology (digital media, real-time surveys, quick-response tools, cell phones, presentation software, etc.) in my lessons to 1) communicate in a shared language with my digital native students and 2) to teach them how to transition from using technology as a social tool to using it as a professional aide. 

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I tell the truth, ALWAYS.  I encourage disagreement with me and with one another to help strengthen my students’ critical thinking skills because I teach them that true learners are those who can and will support their answer, their beliefs, and their decisions with a vetted system of research, wisdom and experience. 

 

Why I Teach

It is difficult to put into words reasons why you have a passion for a thing.   To say that I was called to teach while watching a United Negro College Fund commercial would sound poetic, but trite.  I did not always want to be a teacher, as some blessed few claim.  I was drawn to the profession, kicking and screaming.  I had for so long entertained visions of black robes, gavels, and courtrooms.  However, once I gave in to God’s will for my life, I realized that one of the reasons that I want to teach is spelled FEAR.  It frightens me to think of the number of potentially bright futures that are put out to pasture by a momentary brush with ignorance.  Fear of facing the era of the hopeless and the apathetic drew me to the classroom.  Now that I am here, I want to help my students conquer their fear of success.  To many of those that I teach, true success, beyond cars, money, and “Supersized” lifestyles, seems to be a distant galaxy, replete with a language and social and moral code of its own.  I want to teach them to build the rocket ship that will take them to live in this galaxy and build new cities, governments and institutions.  I want them to discover for themselves that they already have the materials.  All they need is a blueprint and a will to fly. 

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It would be criminal to suggest that I expect to change the world by teaching.  I only expect my students to change it.   In general, I expect that I will occasionally go home exhausted, confused, hungry and frustrated wondering why I ever decided to walk into a classroom, praying that the Lord would release me to do something…anything else.  I also expect that I will remember that light bulb moment for one of my students as I drive home each day.  I even expect that I will wake up the next morning, thank God for trusting me with His children, smile, and leap at the opportunity to do it all over again.