Philosophy of Education

I have a passion and a gift for teaching. My style is adaptive, creative, and intentionally challenging. I love challenging assumptions with alternate possibilities and giving students tools to develop new perspectives for old contexts. I seek to inform, guide, and mentor students in the process of formation and the development of the ability to integrate new learning in practical ways.

My father emphasized the importance of education. Even with a BA he found limited opportunities in the 1950s. Still this soft spoken intellectual insisted that education was everything. A lifetime later I am finally, and most acutely, aware of what my father meant. Education is everything because it is influenced by our experience and it influences the ways in which we engage in and respond to the human experience.

I believe the goal of education is formative in its intent, social in its context, and integrative in its design. I firmly believe that education seeks to integrate into the many human social arenas a mature, well rounded student, able to adapt and contribute in healthy ways, through the ongoing integration of skills, knowledge, gathered information, and personal experience.

I view the role of the teacher from the philosophical approach of a subject specialist. The teacher is primarily a subject matter expert, mentor, and guide in the learning process. Though the most important task of the teacher is to provide expert content and creative methods for engaging the subject matter, the ultimate goal of self actualization through ongoing personal formation is most effectively met through the use of lesson plans and activities which fall under the philosophical approach of teacher as humanist. This approach emphasizes multiple ways in which students understand, learn, experience and interact with content and resources, and the teachers’ role is that of facilitator and co-learner. Additionally, the philosophical approach of the explorer, which emphasizes the use of technology, research, and personal projects offers the teacher the ability to guide the student in developing the tools of self-directed study and research. In this approach the role of the teacher is that of consultant and interpreter. The role of the teacher, then, is to be the subject matter expert and mentor for the primary content, facilitator and co-learner for activities and lesson plans, and consultant and interpreter for student directed study, research, and projects.

I utilize a variety of activity types in my teaching. This includes everything from humanistic activities that include journaling and student selected projects, to explorative activities that include independent studies, research, and creative use of technology. An example of a subject based activity that I use is to combine lecture with the viewing of a video, and follow up with a discussion that seeks to integrate the primary lecture and any related content with the observations the group made while watching the video. At the end of the discussion I might facilitate a group summary of significant learnings.

My classroom environment is content oriented with high use of technology and multimedia. A culturally enriched environment where differences are respected and creative alternatives to learning are encouraged. I believe that while individual responsibility should be stressed. It is important for the teacher to model the desired behaviors. While traditional essay and objective tests are effective tools for evaluation, alternative methods of assessment including portfolio assessment, peer and self assessment, and other creative assessment resources are essential for effectively evaluating a variety of learning styles.

My goal as a teacher is to have mastery of the subject matter and to teach it creatively and effectively with appropriate use of technology and multimedia in ways that consider the different types of learners and encourage student initiated learning. I strive to balance student to content, student to peer, and student to teacher interaction, and to create opportunities for personal reflection and integration that will finally have a significant impact on the formation of the student as a mature, effective, contributing member within the human social structures.

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