Teaching Philosophy
I firmly believe that education is a life-long enterprise. I believe that each and every one of us is both teacher and student, forever in communion with a diverse, multicultural, and technological society. Each student brings with them their own unique experiences and uses them to construct and share knowledge, resulting in a community of tolerance, compassion, and understanding, thus emulating the ideals of equity and social justice. I believe that taking a student-centered democratic approach to education that emphasizes inquiry, collaboration, and problem-solving is the best way to achieve these ideals I have laid out.
We live in a constantly changing world, and we must give our students the tools in order to successfully adapt to it. Rather than teach them what to think, we should teach them how to think by having them participate in experiential and collaborative learning, which follows the scientific method for teaching and learning. This will allow students to examine their beliefs by encouraging involvement and employing methods that teach them how to think clearly and critically in order to create innovative and unique solutions to problems. Emphasis will be placed upon the learning process so that students will be able to apply their methods of thinking to interdisciplinary problems (Dettmers & Brassler, 2017).
I am and will continue to be an excellent facilitator by guiding students as they construct their own ideas, identify real-world problems, and pose solutions. I will have my students examine cultural heritages in context with authentic issues, employing a democratic process in doing so. Content will be taught and centered on student-centered questions and discussions. Students should conduct their own experiments and investigations, ultimately leading them to examine the consequences in context of the above-mentioned phenomena (Beane, 2024). Democratic ideas of fairness, mutual respect, and freedom will be used to set the tone of the learning environment. Diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments will be used to assess and support student growth and learning. Class discussions, group projects, presentations, and papers are a few forms of assessment I use to examine students’ learning.
My classroom will host a free exchange of ideas and questions that lead to new innovative solutions to real-world problems of practice. The environment will be one of complete acceptance of diverse cultures, practices, and points-of-view that combats social injustices (Ayers, 2020). If possible, classroom furniture should be arranged in a circle so that everyone can clearly see and hear one another. This allows for optimal classroom discussion. I will begin class by introducing a topic, which students will then critically analyze through discussion. Then, I will facilitate the construction of new learning and provide opportunities for authentic presentation of that learning. An example of this could be using a text to introduce “hot lava” (McVee & Boyd, 2016) issues including but not limited to racism, sexism, and gender discrimination, and then having students engage in a meaningful discussion in which they examine these topics in context with other cultural and personal perspectives. This could be done either in class or online via a blog or forum in an online learning management system (Hyslop-Margison, 2004). I would then ask the students to create a series of questions about the topic that they can later research. The lesson would conclude with an appropriate assessment such as a traditional paper or multimodal creation including but not limited to a collage, presentation, or video, discussing the negative effects of social injustice in America. I will adapt the lesson in order to accommodate different student learning styles and preferences (Trinidad, 2020). I will also enhance my lessons by implementing different technologies.
Every action that takes place in the classroom should help develop students’ knowledge and character. It is my job, as a teacher, to foster educational growth and teach these students to the best of my ability, using every tool I have picked up along the way. I will engage in constant reflection and professional development by keeping up with the latest educational trends and advancements, in order to assure that I am providing the best quality education available. Moreover, I will model the ideals of democracy, inquiry, social justice, collaboration, and problem-solving that I instill and expect from all of my students.
References
Ayers, R. (2020). The struggle for strong democracy: We need to go deeper. A response to “Democratic spaces: How teachers establish and sustain democracy and education in their classrooms.” Democracy & Education, 28(1).
Beane, J. A. (2024). “Because it’s your education, not mine”: a retrospective on student voice in curriculum decisions and school policy. Education 3-13, 52(6), 799–810. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004279.2024.2332860
Dettmers, J., & Brassler, M. (2017). How to enhance interdisciplinary competence--interdisciplinary problem-based learning versus interdisciplinary project-based learning. Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning, 11(2). https://doi.org/10.7771/1541-5015.1686
Hyslop-Margison, E.J. (2004). Technology, human agency and Dewey’s constructivism: opening democratic spaces in virtual classrooms. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(2), 137–148. https://doi.org/10.14742/ajet.1356
McVee, M. B., & Boyd, F. B. (2016). Exploring diversity through multimodality, narrative, and dialogue: A framework for teacher reflection. Routledge.
Trinidad, J. E. (2020). Understanding student-centred learning in higher education: students’ and teachers’ perceptions, challenges, and cognitive gaps. Journal of Further and Higher Education, 44(8), 1013–1023. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877X.2019.1636214