Philosophy of Education

I teach two classes at MHS, Flex U.S. History and AP Human Geography.  While the needs of the students in all each class are different and the structures slightly vary from class to class, any class I teach is framed around a Growth Mindset.  

Simply put:

• Motivation is key to success.  If we aren’t motivated, we aren’t going to be successful.  

• Struggle is key to learning new things.  If we aren’t struggling with new concepts, expectations, or understandings then we aren’t really learning.  

• In order to keep kids motivated and in order for them to learn, they’ve got to struggle in an environment where it’s okay to make mistakes and where they are able to recover from them.

With that in mind, in all of my classes, no grades are permanent until the end of the semester. Students will have the opportunity to improve their grade on each assignment / assessment.  The only exception to this are final exams and large projects which have checkpoints along the way. However, finals and projects are not weighted any heavier than other assessments through the semester.  This process works differently in each class so please look to the page for that individual class. 

To learn more about Growth Mindset, watch the video on this page.