The following insights guide my own teaching philosophy.
I share my philosophical background that supports my teaching methods and strategies to provide transparency of who I am and where I am coming from and to invite you to consider your own theoretical or philosophical framework.
I am a humanist, social constructivist and critical theorist. Our learning is shared together and we honor individuality, our collective diversity, different ways of learning, expressing and sharing in our learning community as culturally responsive people and educators.
The kind of student you are will determine the kind of educator you become. If you are scared of learning, you will teach with fear. If you want to control what students learn, you will try to control their learning. If you honor children and their creativity and playfulness, you will celebrate the ways in which they learn and give them ample room for discovery, support and validation.
If you learn because you have to or somebody is making you or because you are supposed to do it that way, or that’s what they want, then you will place limitations on your learning experience and, in turn, those of your students.
Learn because YOU want to. As a professional, it is not about what is easiest or most convenient for you in earning your education degree. What is most important is trying to be the best, to challenge yourself; to stretch yourself from the comfort zone and to be comfortable as a learner. Teacher, learner and change are synonymous. Change means you have learned something in the process. Learning means you have been changed in the process. Change implies you have learned something new. I hold myself up to the same standards I am requiring of you. I will never ask you to do anything I would not do myself. My learning is intertwined with your learning.
“Imagination is more important than knowledge,” as attributed to Einstein, is what I wrote in my philosophy of teaching many years ago. And so, I believe it is even more so applicable today. For what are we preparing students: a world of constant change and dealing with problems that have never existed before? So what is important in educating children is to nurture flexible, independent thinkers who can problem-solve cooperatively, respecting and communicating with diverse people within diverse settings, virtually or face-to-face.
Your learning is for you, guided by your interests, motivation and curiosity. I expect that you are confident learners who are nurtured in a stimulating environment of inquiry where goals and objectives are set; yet the way to them are as different and creative as the number of people in our seminar. Communication and trust are crucial to building our learning community. We cannot grow during the semester without this honest level of trust and communication. Without it, I will flounder in supporting your learning and our collective learning will be out of balance.
As culturally responsive educationalists, we honor the stories that children bring into their learning environment and use those as the content and context for learning. As reconceptualists, we do not take everything we teach for granted but become discerning educators who recognize bias, censorship, racial proclivities; inequalities in the curriculum we teach; disparity in the system of education and the policy makers who establish the rules which govern our profession.
Professional integrity is also important to me, therefore, it is imperative that we hold ourselves up to a high standard also. We should have adroit writing, reading, spelling and communication skills. We should think of ourselves as writers and readers who are constantly challenging ourselves. We should never ask of our students to do anything we would not do ourselves.
I am a forward-thinking educator who does not settle on what is, but rather what can be in the best interests of students and their learning. We do not need to teach our students but rather give them opportunities to learn about themselves in the process of learning. We have created a Frankenstein in our educational system, and now we are dealing with the consequences. We cannot turn our backs on our students or denounce them for what we have created them to become. A reform is overdue to revision our educational system in new ways and to invite learning that is relevant, stimulating, engaging and not demeaning to this digital generation of children. (Reflection, January 21, 2008)