Teaching Philosophy
I am an educator because I want to change the world. While I realize what I hope to accomplish is limited, I know education is where I can have the greatest impact. I want my students to understand that the world they will inhabit, the school, is not immutable.
I wholeheartedly endorse what the Russian educational psychologist L.S. Vygotsky said about learning: it is socially constructed. Thus, my students need opportunities to collaborate with each other, as well as with me, to learn and gain expertise about the concepts being presented to them. To be an effective teacher, I must have the opportunity to take responsibility for my students becoming life-long learners. This means sharing with others what they learn and realizing all the things that they have not yet discovered. I want my students to become empowered by their own learning and development. I create situations where students can take charge for what they learn and how it applies in their lives. My goal is to teach the whole person, i.e., the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of the human being. The film classic The Wizard of Oz is a wonderful allegory for how I want to teach. An effective teacher is like the wizard who must help each individual appreciate the potential that resides within all of us: the potential to make the best use of our minds, our hearts, and those behaviors that can make the world a better place.
It is impossible for me to be all things to all students. It is healthy for my students to see that I don't have all the answers and that I must deal with contradictions about life just as they will. To embrace these contradictions and gaps in knowledge creates the opportunity for new understandings and ways of looking at the world. Technology is an important part of my work because as an instructional tool it brings up contradictions for teachers regarding their conceptions of what it means to teach and learn in the Information Age. Furthermore, the rapidity of change in instructional uses of technology keeps me constantly searching for ways to enhance student learning.
In summary, I believe that as much as possible, students should be in control and responsible for what they learn. I believe accepting responsibility for learning does not occur in a vacuum; it also involves those with whom they work. I develop a sense of community in my classes. As members of that community, students are responsible not only to themselves, but to the other members of that community, including me.
I wholeheartedly endorse what the Russian educational psychologist L.S. Vygotsky said about learning: it is socially constructed. Thus, my students need opportunities to collaborate with each other, as well as with me, to learn and gain expertise about the concepts being presented to them. To be an effective teacher, I must have the opportunity to take responsibility for my students becoming life-long learners. This means sharing with others what they learn and realizing all the things that they have not yet discovered. I want my students to become empowered by their own learning and development. I create situations where students can take charge for what they learn and how it applies in their lives. My goal is to teach the whole person, i.e., the cognitive, affective, and behavioral dimensions of the human being. The film classic The Wizard of Oz is a wonderful allegory for how I want to teach. An effective teacher is like the wizard who must help each individual appreciate the potential that resides within all of us: the potential to make the best use of our minds, our hearts, and those behaviors that can make the world a better place.
It is impossible for me to be all things to all students. It is healthy for my students to see that I don't have all the answers and that I must deal with contradictions about life just as they will. To embrace these contradictions and gaps in knowledge creates the opportunity for new understandings and ways of looking at the world. Technology is an important part of my work because as an instructional tool it brings up contradictions for teachers regarding their conceptions of what it means to teach and learn in the Information Age. Furthermore, the rapidity of change in instructional uses of technology keeps me constantly searching for ways to enhance student learning.
In summary, I believe that as much as possible, students should be in control and responsible for what they learn. I believe accepting responsibility for learning does not occur in a vacuum; it also involves those with whom they work. I develop a sense of community in my classes. As members of that community, students are responsible not only to themselves, but to the other members of that community, including me.