Wednesday, August 5, 2015

My Teaching Philosophy 
I have chosen to post my Teaching Philosophy in order to communicate what I value in education. It has been an intense 6 weeks and the things that I believe and value in education have gone through a major transformation. I have discovered that I am not satisfied with the same methodologies and approaches to teaching that have not produced the quality of education that I believe is needed for our young people and for our future society.  This teaching philosophy is going to be a challenge, but I feel that I must make bold decisions and take unconventional action in order to make learning a lifelong endeavor and to make the student in charge of his own educational progression.




 “Knowledge can be acquired only by a corresponding experience. How can we know what we are told merely? Each man can interpret another’s experience only by his own.”
    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.
Good Reads...

There were two articles that I read this semester that made a very big impact on me.  The first was written by William Cronon and titled "Only Connect..The goals of a liberal education."  Cronon makes a list of ten qualities that he admires in people and I have printed out the list and added it to my file of resources.  I intend to refer back often to this list and use it to help me define myself as a teacher. The one that I like the most and want to work towards is #9: "They nurture and empower the people around them."  This is very basic and yet I believe at the core of what I, as a teacher, should be striving for as I try to make connections with my students.
The second article took me by surprise and I am guilty of "judging a book by it's cover" or in this case "an article by it's title".  I tend to cringe at the word feminist.  Although I am proud of being feminine and I embrace my inherent qualities, I am usually against what most would consider feminist movements. However, I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that the article was not about a feminist movement.  The article is called "What is feminist pedagogy?"  and was written by Carolyn M. Shrewsbury. I enjoyed it mostly because it presented a style of teaching that focused on the student and teacher relationship as a joint adventure into exploring the world together. I have become fairly disenchanted with traditional teaching methods and I thoroughly enjoy finding new ways to bring joy and wonder and excitement for learning back into the classroom. This article is a "must-read" for anyone that wants to break out of the test-driven world that the politics of education are forcing on schools and to really explore the nature of engaging in learning through empowerment, community and leadership.

I found most of the reading for this course to be interesting and useful, but I was able to relate on a personal level with these two.  They have helped to shape my teaching philosophy and I highly recommend them.

Sunday, August 2, 2015

The Beautiful Risk of Education

What a challenge it was to read this book!  But how exciting it is to have my ideas also challenged. Part of my personality is to question the "normal" and look for a better way of doing things. I enjoyed this Beista for just this reason. I think that he purposefully wrote in long sentences with hard words and consulted meanings to make me (or any reader) have to really concentrate to get meaning. It many ways this is an example of how he suggests the teacher in education should present to her students. The goal is to make the individual responsible for the learning and knowledge he receives. The teacher is part of the process not the dictator of the process.
I have had to re-think my ideas of what makes a successful classroom environment and I am thoroughly enjoying the thought process. I know that I viewed my upcoming career as a teacher as the traditional school marm standing in front of the class writing the board and the students all taking notes and then I give a test and assign a letter to each child's test performance. Beista has completely altered my view of my future classroom. I want to create an environment where students can ask questions and motivate themselves to determine how and why the content is related to them and to their lives outside the classroom. I heard once that law schools teach students how to research to find the answers and I have always thought that this was a much better way to teach then to lecture and expect memorization of the facts. If a person has a reference point to begin to search out the meaning and answers to his questions then the learning itself takes on meaning and purpose beyond the test.

This is what "The Beautiful Risk of Education" has done for me. I am looking at new strategies and techniques for teaching math. At first is seemed like an impossible task. How can I teach math with just showing the problem and having the students copy the process?  Now I know that it takes creativity and student involvement  and interaction with the world around me to see opportunities for teaching and learning. Whether it be math, science or art - the risk of letting the student take control of his own learning and the risk of having the teacher allow the student to be in charge can lead to a beautiful education!

Saturday, August 1, 2015

A Beautiful Risk...

What is beautiful?  One literal definition states "possessing qualities that give great pleasure or satisfaction to see, hear, think about, etc; delighting the senses and the mind". I believe most people would agree with this in an overall general way. However, what gives great pleasure to one person will be different to another. So what is beautiful in education?  Again this is different for everyone. My perspective beauty in education is from the viewpoint of a teacher.  I think it is beautiful that as humans we have the opportunity to learn from others. In a traditional classroom this usually beans that the students learn from the teacher. However, what if the beautiful part comes in when the student learns from himself and his peers. Or the teacher learns from her students. Or what if the classroom is a forum for curiosity and discovery to take place in whatever forms it appears. To me the beauty in education is the potential for such discovery and the light that comes into a student's eyes when he realizes he has just made that discovery.
But in order to provide the opportunity of curiosity and discovery there is risk. Sometimes the risk is minimal because the students are eager and open to content that is provided by the teacher. However, sometimes the risk is great and that is when the "beautiful risk" is created. I would love to be able to create an environment where my students are inquisitive and drive the lesson through their own discussion and questions and answers. In todays politically driven education system this is a great risk. What if the student doesn't learn what the "standards" have determined is important. What if the test is not mastered? How do we determine if the child has learned anything if we do not assess him based on a set of rules?  For me this is the risk. I believe that children can learn in a low-structure and highly creative environment and I believe they can master the skills necessary to guide them forward. This is what education is supposed to be about. My students will take the tests and they will show their skills in memorization and technique, however, the beautiful risk they will take is that they will also think for themselves and discover the parts of getting an education that "delight the senses and the mind"!

Friday, July 31, 2015

Something to think about...

I feel as if I'm on a new journey of discovery. Every page I read these days brings new information and prompts questions. The questions are all seem to be pointing to one big question... "What type of teacher do I want to be?"
My latest discovery is the concept of the liberationist teacher. This is a new team for me and I latched onto it immediately. What is a liberationist teacher?  Part of the definition is simple and yet a true teacher of this style would provide a few well chosen sentences and then let the reader (or student) explore those ideas and see where they lead. This concept intrigues me because I believe firmly in a student being his own best motivator for what he learns. A simple definition of a liberationist teacher would be a teacher that guides a student to explore, question and discover his own meaning and purpose in the world around him. The goal would be a young human that is contributing to the world around him and making it a better place through his own efforts. Imparting knowledge is a specific goal of the liberationist, but reciting facts and memorizing dates is not the same thing as imparting knowledge. For the liberationist teacher to be successful the student must seek out the knowledge that is important and can make him a better contributor to the world outside of his own "personal bubble".
It is exciting to think about empowering students in this way. However, the risk is that not all students (or teachers) can or will respond to this type of classroom environment. Many teachers, students and administrators in todays educational climate require the concrete test scores, the "proof" that something was taught and therefore something was learned. How can the liberationist teacher provide these results?  I really do not know. However, I still maintain that traditional teaching is not working and that this progressive style might be a tool to incorporate into some of the lessons.  Students need to be able to take charge of their education and I believe this is a step towards empowering them to do so.