— Henry D. Thoreau
I
read this passage for the first time in a high school English class and for
years I have carried it around in a box. While I was going through items and
deciding on things to keep and things to discard, I came across it again. The
timing was perfect and although it has been years since I last read these
words, they still have a powerful impact on me, probably even more so now since
I have made a choice to follow a career path into education. In fact, my
experience in the last 2 months have led to a mountain of knowledge and have
helped me to develop my own philosophy of teaching based on my interpretation
of what has been taught. I have come to
understand that knowledge is continually evolving and as I go through the human
experience of living my knowledge and ideas change. What does this mean to me
as a teacher and how does it shape my educational values and beliefs? The short
answer is contained in one word: empowerment.
My educational philosophy is centered in the empowerment of each
individual student that comes in contact with me as the teacher.
According
to Carolyn M. Shrewbury, author of “What
is Feminist Pedagogy?” (Shrewbury, 1997) , to be
empowered “is to be able to ‘claim an education’, to recognize our abilities to
act to create a more humane social order, to engage in significant learning and
to connect with others in mutually productive ways.” I believe that every student should be
encouraged to develop and maintain an attitude of self-empowerment. I believe
that each student is a unique individual and each one has his own set of skills,
experience and energy to bring to the classroom. I believe that each student
has the right and the power to ask, “why am I being taught this and how is it
relative to my future and to my place in society?” I believe and value each student’s autonomy
and his right to exercise it to further enhance his understanding of the
subject matter. Empowerment involves
four strategies that I plan to incorporate and that will guide the planning and
management of my classroom. They are taken from Shrewbury’s article and when I
first read them, I was able to identify with them and recognize them as
completely in line with my own thoughts and ideas of teaching and educating
young people in the public education system of today.
1. Enhance
the students’ opportunities and abilities to develop ones thinking.
2. Develop
the students’ independence as learners.
3. Reinforce
and/or enhance the self-confidence of class members and the role they play in
course development.
4. Expand
the students’ understanding of the subject matter of the course and of the joy
and difficulty of intense intellectual activity.
(Shrewsbury, 1997).
As I go through each of these
strategies I will explain why it is relevant to my teaching philosophy and how
I plan to apply it in my classroom. It is my intention to use the concept of empowerment
in all of these areas in order to create a goal of lifelong learning while
providing an informed basis in the content area.
Enhance the students’ opportunities and
abilities to develop ones thinking.
I
value the individuality of each student and believe that each student is
capable of making and achieving individual goals. My role as a teacher is to
give the students an opportunity to make individual goals, not only
academically, but also socially and environmentally. As they create goals for themselves and work
towards the objectives they have set they will discover within themselves new
abilities and develop their own strategies for thinking about how to continue
toward the path they have envisioned.
This process will involve more than just a straight lecture from the
textbook. I intend to begin each topic in my content area with an example of
how it applies to the lives of the students in the present day. A student
begins to actively participate in discussions that are of interest to him. For
example, a student may find little to interest him in a discussion of what
percentage of the world’s rice production comes from Asia, however, he may be
greatly interested in the finding out what percent of his father’s corn field
is consumed by the people in his state.
It is imperative to find the connections that spark the interest of my
students and to guide them to self-motivate towards finding the answers
themselves.
Develop the students’ independence as
learners.
The phrase
“independent learner” has become quite common in the education world in the
last several years. And the phrase itself seems to inspire something desirable
that every educator should want to attain. But what is an independent learner? I believe an independent learner is someone
that can work with teachers and peers to determine how to make choices that
will motivate and progress his own learning needs. Studies have shown that “students in
self-regulated learning environments are more motivated to learn, report more
enjoyment of the material and are more actively involved in their learning that
those who study in more restrictive environments” (Delong, 2009) I believe that it is important
to learn about my students – their interests, backgrounds, abilities and needs
– in order to create lessons that are relevant to the students. I believe that
students can become more self-directed when they are given choices (with in a
range) for interesting assignments and topics. I also believe that an
independent learner is created when he is given responsibility for the
decisions he makes and is allowed to self-evaluate along side the teacher so
that he may give insight regarding his choices. As a teacher it is my
responsibility to teach and demonstrate learning skills that enhance
independent thought and learning. I believe that it is important to teach how
to develop skills in “planning, negotiating, evaluating and decision making” (Shrewbury, 1997) and that these skills will move
the student towards achieving his own learning needs. The following quote by
E.M. Forster illustrates why it is so important for teachers to do more than
just give the answers, but to teach students how to “find” the answers: Spoon feeding, in the long run teaches us
nothing but the shape of the spoon.”
Reinforce and enhance the self-confidence
of class members and the role they play in course development.
I
believe that every student has value, not only the value inherent in being a
human being, but in particular the value that comes from his own unique
culture, experiences and perspectives. Too often in todays educational system
the test score and academic achievement determine a student’s worth, when this
is only a part of the process. I believe that promoting self-confidence in a
student means encouraging him to belief in his own abilities to achieve and
succeed in all areas of his life. I do not believe in comparing one student to
another in order to determine ability or understanding. Grades are a necessary
component to today’s education system and in many aspects the student is
dependent on a grade to determine his success in the course. However, I believe
that grades are not a good way to determine if a student is learning or
progressing and that an “A” is just a particular form of extrinsic motivation
to perform to a preset standard. I do
not believe in giving extrinsic rewards to my students and strive to minimize
the “grade” as the end-goal for my students (Kohn, 1994) .
As I mentioned earlier, learning should be the reward in and of itself. The
student’s will gain confidence in himself and his abilities as he participated
in developing his own goals, choosing his assignments and contributing to the
classroom environment through open discussion. My role is to make the
environment a safe place for the student to do all of these things. My
student’s will be allowed and encouraged to collaborate with each other, ask
questions and to explore beyond the words in the textbook. A student that
believes in himself and knows that his teacher is supportive and encouraging
and believes in him also is far more likely to continue to be motivated in his
educational and social endeavors outside the classroom.
Expand the students’ understanding of the
subject matter of the course and of the joy and difficulty of intense
intellectual activity.
In
this final strategy, I address the teaching of the subject matter. The specific
content of the course is important and essential and without a degree of
knowledge in it, my teaching goals would be irrelevant. Up to this point my
strategies have been universal without regard to the particular subject being
taught. However, I believe that my
greatest challenge as a teacher will be in incorporating this strategy into my
classroom. I will be teaching mathematics and to many students this is not only
tedious and boring topic, but it also tends to be irrelevant to their present
lives. I mentioned before that making content interesting and relevant are
things that I believe motivate a student. In order to accomplish this with math
I have developed some ideas that believe will make the subject of math an enjoyable
and still intellectual experience. Each of my lessons will incorporate a
real-world example (hopefully one that has familiarity to the students) of how
the math is used. Also, besides assigning homework direct from the exercises in
the textbook, I will encourage the students to explore their own environment
for examples. So much about math involves making an argument and proving it
true or false. This concept is applicable to almost every facet of the human
experience and to bring this concept into the classroom expands the math lesson
beyond the mix of numbers and equations. This involves the second part of the
strategy “understanding … the difficulty of intense intellectual activity. Some
parts of the study of math are easy in comparison to other parts – but if I
only expected the easy content to be mastered the student would quickly become
bored and uninterested. I believe that students find challenge and excitement
in taking on the task that lie just beyond their current understanding. The accomplishment of achieving those tasks
leads them to great self-confidence and in fact, I believe creates a cycle that
joins all of the other strategies together.
My
teaching philosophy revolves around empowering the student. I value the
individuality of each student and the unique culture, experience and
perspective he or she brings to my classroom. I believe my role, as a teacher
is less about teaching my students and more about empowering them to learn. I
believe that every child has the desire to learn and better himself. I value education and believe emphatically
that education opens doors for every individual, regardless of the level they
achieve. I believe in allowing students to take responsibility for their
learning and in allowing them to make choices about how and what they learn
will benefit them and how they will use their education to better the world
around them. I believe that, as a teacher, I am a tool for the student to use
to facilitate his acquisition on knowledge. I am a part of the process and I am
a student also.
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