The more I looked, the more I noticed that many of the arrows began to point in one direction: curiosity is an essential part of the way human beings learn, and it always has been. In order to learn something, we must first wonder about it. This was true of our distant ancestors, and it is true of all of us.
Josh Eyler, How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching (West Virginia UP, 2018), 18.
I agree with John Taylor Gatto that school isn’t always focused on learning. However, while Gatto’s work has been used to support homeschooling children, I take the opposite view: rather than taking children out of school, let’s take away the boredom, the rigid expectations of obedience, and the conformity. This is the foundation of my teaching philosophy, which manifests as a collection of core beliefs about my students and about my responsibilities as an educator.
Core Beliefs About My Students
My students deserve the chance to succeed, both academically and personally, and will rise to meet high standards when they are given the tools, the space, and the support to do so.
I recognize that many of my students at City Tech may not be as confident in English and literature as I was as a college student, and this motivates me to try more unconventional methods. I believe my students can be successful in my classes, sometimes even when they don’t share that confidence, and I know this success will serve them well when they leave my class. My literature courses give students the opportunity to experience worlds beyond their own experience, and to develop empathy, imagination, and flexible thinking; my composition courses establish habits that will help them succeed in their academic and professional careers. The ability to communicate clearly and effectively will serve them well in any career that involves interaction with clients, patients, supervisors, or employees.
While it is important for me to establish a comfortable, collegial environment in the classroom, it is equally important for me not to let this friendly atmosphere equate with lax standards. I expect my students to turn in work that represents their best effort on any particular assignment, and my evaluation methods hold students to difficult, exacting standards; I do this because I know I’ve given the students the tools they need to achieve those standards. It’s important to note here that it’s more important to me that a student submit work they’re proud of, and which shows their best work on the assignment; it’s less important to me that they do so by an arbitrary deadline on the calendar.
My students can be more successful, both academically and professionally, when they can write thoughtfully and determine the most effective medium to reach their intended audience.
I believe that clear communication and the ability to analyze and discuss literature have real value. I believe that when a student succeeds in my course, it is because they have demonstrated skills that will benefit them in other courses and in their daily activities: critical thinking, creative problem-solving, effective and responsible use of source materials, clear communication with an awareness of an audience’s expectations and needs, and logical explanations of their ideas and arguments. Because I consider these skills to be part of my “course material,” I approach all my courses with the belief that they are essential foundations of any degree program or career path.
My students learn best when they are engaged in unexpected activities that help them discover connections.
I try to keep my students engaged in course material by presenting that material in ways they may not have encountered before; this is especially important since many of my students may not feel confident with English (either as a subject of study or as a language they are still learning), and because some students may have felt alienated or frustrated by traditional approaches to writing instruction and literature. By demonstrating that lessons and material can be learned through active, enjoyable participation, my classes invite students to become contributors to the course itself. It is my hope that they will see the course not only as a required part of their degree program but also as a space in which their ideas and questions hold value.
Furthermore, if I succeed at connecting the activities in my class with events in the world beyond the classroom, I’ve succeeded at encouraging students to become active, engaged contributors to the worlds they live in.
Core Beliefs About My Responsibilities as an Educator
Effective educators prioritize students’ development as thinkers, rather than their ability to remember “information.”
Processes like critical thinking, creative problem solving, active reading, argumentation, and supporting one’s own original argument are skills that need to be practiced in the safe spaces of class discussion, informal writing, and scaffolded formal assignments. Written assignments in my classes present students with opportunities to practice new thought processes and strategies. This makes for challenging writing assignments that demand original ideas rather than repetitions of me, of class discussion, or of the assigned readings.
Effective educators model sensitivity toward different cultures, personal expressions, and experiential histories.
I believe that my classroom should be a safe place for academic inquiry and creative engagement. Students should feel comfortable expressing their ideas honestly. I assign texts by authors that represent different cultures and lifestyles, and I welcome all contributions to class discussion. I hope to be a model of tolerance and acceptance for my students.
Effective educators relate their course materials and lessons to students’ various learning styles, their learning experiences, and their lives beyond the classroom.
Students learn in different ways, and they approach the English classroom with different expectations, anxieties, and skills. When teaching in the physical space of a classroom, I use games and activities that require students to perform various combinations of different activities, from working independently to locate and record meaningful quotations in a text, to working in a group to create and follow through on a competitive strategy; from navigating the classroom to learn about a specific term to working in a group to teach that term to the rest of the class. I use materials like multi-colored signs and index cards, and I also use the chalk board (or white board) and computer projector (if available). In remote classes as well as in-person ones, assignments challenge students to connect our class materials to their personal experiences, their majors, their careers, and their communities. Understanding the significant role of language in our lives and cultures leads to more communicative, successful adults.
Effective educators center empathy, professionalism, and respect in their classroom policies.
I incorporate a transparency into my classes, explaining to students how to navigate their college experience and, when necessary, how to advocate for themselves. I make every effort to plan my classes so that necessary activities and assignments have the time they need. In asynchronous online classes, I explain the week’s materials in print and in recorded lectures, and I make sure students have multiple ways to reach me with any questions.
Most importantly, I practice patience and empathy whenever possible; to me, it’s more important that a student submit a paper they’re really proud of than they submit one they stayed up all night — and then missed class — to finish on time. Emphasizing careful attention to the reading and writing processes, rather than an arbitrary deadline, gives students the chance to discover their strengths and interests rather than seeing each assignment as a task to cross off their list.
Effective educators use appropriate and current technology when it helps achieve course objectives.
Digital literacy is essential in today’s English classroom. The internet has made information available easily, widely, and quickly. Because my students are accustomed to such availability, I believe it is my duty to teach them how to evaluate and respond to this information effectively and without plagiarizing.
I also teach many classes online, asynchronously, which gives busy students access to required courses that they may not otherwise be able to attend. Using technology to expand the classroom this way means recording my lectures, preparing visual aids for those lectures, ensuring that my online materials are ADA accessible, holding office hours on Zoom, facilitating group assignments where students may never meet “in real life,” and being much more available for questions than I was when only teaching in person. Allowing students to send questions by text message has made it easier for me to address their concerns quickly; allowing them access to my calendar to make appointments reassures them that I’m here to discuss any issues that may need a longer conversation.
