My Teaching Philosophy
Many people that I meet tell me that teaching is a noble profession and that they admire me; however, while they can remember a wonderful teacher or two that touched their lives, the conversation inevitably turns to a horror story about an evil teacher who made their life miserable. Since I can always relate to both the good and the bad in these discussions, I try to incorporate the lessons I learn from them into my teaching. From these many conversations, I have learned that good teachers focus on four basic values: critical thinking, personal accountability, civic responsibility, and social integrity. As teachers focus on these four basic values, they will produce successful students in all facets of life, and they will reap the rewards that come from touching the lives of the students they teach.
Critical Thinking
A mind once stretched by a new idea never regains its original dimension.
--Oliver Wendell Holmes
Students are confronted daily with people who tell them what to do and what to think. Some of these influences--like parents--are positive and can be of great benefit, while others--like reality TV shows--can be negative and even destructive. Since the negative influences far outnumber the positive ones in today's society, students need to be armed with the tools to sift the good from the bad and to think for themselves in the face of pressure. These tools fall under the label of critical thinking.
To me, the responsibility of teaching children and teenagers how to think for themselves is shared between parents, teachers, and mentors. Parents have the ability to instill this value in their kids at a young age and to encourage it as the kids get older. Teachers, on the other hand, usually don't meet a child until they are older and don't have the same type of contact that parents do; however, by fostering an environment of critical thought and honest expression, a teacher can reinforce these ideals in the student and have a long-lasting influence on them.
In order to foster that type of environment, a teacher must create engaging and challenging lessons that allow students to think and to problem solve by themselves and in groups. Discussion should be encouraged in order to allow the transfer of ideas. Questions should be open-ended, requiring thoughtful, well-reasoned responses. And, students should feel comfortable thinking outside of their comfort zone as they explore new ideas and thoughts. When students are free to explore and challenged to think and create, they will take ownership of their learning and be empowered to adopt critical thinking into their lives outside of school.
Personal Accountability
That which you call your soul or spirit is your consciousness, and that which you call "free will" is your mind's freedom to think or not, the only will you have, your only freedom. [This is] the choice that controls all the choices you make and determines your life and character.
--Ayn Rand
Philosopher and author Ayn Rand devoted her life to spreading the need for personal accountability and action. She saw the human soul as truly having only two choices, "to think or not." For her, the manifestation of thought in human beings was rational action and personal accountability. In our modern world, personal responsibility and accountability are not valued like they once were. Many people today tend to place blame and responsibility on others instead of focusing on their self, their decisions, and their actions.
As a teacher, I feel that one of my most important duties is to teach and expect students to be responsible for their own learning, their own actions, and their own success. I demand that every student who enters my classroom assume the philosophy that they can think for themselves, act for themselves, and succeed for themselves. I seek to instill in them the importance of coming prepared to learn and work hard in all classroom and homework situations. My hope is that by focusing on these things in class, students will learn to apply them outside of class as they approach the "real world."
Civic Responsibility
If you look back in history, you will find the core mission of public education in America was to create places of civic virtue for our children and for our society. As education undergoes the rigors of re-examination and the need for reinvention, it is crucial to remember that the key role of public schools is to preserve democracy and, that as battered as we might be, our mission is central to the future of this county.
--Paul Houston
While I was in college at Southern Utah, an education professor asked me what I thought the main goal of education should be. I responded, much like Paul Houston in the quote above, that the goal of public education should be to maintain an educated and involved populace. Without educated and intelligent youth to take up the reigns of leadership, our democracy will slowly crumble, and the values of self discipline and entrepreneurship that we value will disappear.
As a teacher, it is imperative that I take time each day to discuss good citizenship with my students. In my field of language arts, I have the opportunity to bring in discussions from many other disciplines, especially philosophy, history, politics, and human psychology. The great body of literature from which I draw my material contains a wealth of knowledge about good citizenship and can be of great worth to all who read and discuss it. While civic responsibility is not directly mentioned in my core area, I believe that the ability to take in information, process it, and communicate it back to others is a key element in civic discourse, and those skills are contained within the body of the language arts curriculum.
As students become more engaged in their civic responsibilities, they will also become more engaged in the world around them, taking a greater role in their communities and in their social groups. This engagement will help them to learn the leadership skills that they will need as adults and as future leaders of our great nation.
Social Integrity
Rules cannot substitute for character.
--Alan Greenspan
The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically... Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.
--Martin Luther King, Jr.
Students cannot succeed in life without good character. It's a simple idea, but it is one that is difficult to grasp. All of us can think of a story of a person who squandered away limitless talent and potential by engaging in unethical conduct. The recent troubles of NFL superstar Michael Vick are a prime example. Vick, believed by many to be the fastest and most explosive athlete in football, gave it all up to run a dogfighting and gambling ring. While his talent in football was incredible and his potential unimaginable, it was the flaws in his character and integrity that were his undoing.
As the quotes above demonstrate, there needs to be a focus on ethics in the classroom. By ethics I don't mean religious "morals" that are often thought of when one speaks of character education; I simply mean that we teach our students to be good people, to understand the ethics of treating others with respect, and to know that it is unacceptable to trample another person's rights for personal gain. Again, this topic is well illustrated in literature and can be safely discussed, debated, and pondered well within the confines of the language arts core curriculum.
As students and teachers alike gain an understanding of these four concepts, they will work together to make the classroom a safe and effective environment for learning, and, by extension, they will make the nation prosper as the youth grow into strong and ethical leaders. That is the true function of education, and as a teacher, I feel that it is my moral obligation to fulfill that part of my job with vigor and enthusiasm each day.