Teaching Philosophy

An Opening Thought
Introduction
Teaching Principles
Practices that Facilitate these Principles of Teaching
Passion, Purpose and Pedagogy

AN OPENING THOUGHT …

Teachers, like the one portrayed in this Robert Harris painting, are:

• Responsive to the needs of their students and the communities in which they teach.
• Knowledgeable about their curriculum, their students and their own practice.
• Expected to help students understand and explore new ideas.
• Accountable to their students, their institution and their profession.
• Leaders within the community who help all its members learn.
• Strong in their convictions.
• Passionate about their purpose and pedagogy.

INTRODUCTION

Every academic year begins with a set of personal and professional goals. They act as focal points for individual growth and development and they become the groundwork for future reflection and for setting new goals. The following principles reflect my continuing commitment to transferring the classroom skills I honed in the public school system to Faculty of Education programs for pre-service, and in-service teachers.

I spent 8 years developing my skills as a university teacher. That development has been in large part a process of “finding my theory.” I pondered questions like, what are the basic underpinnings of what I do as a teacher. What are the principles and practices that inform me as a reflective practitioner? How best to go about my teaching responsibilities? I have spent a great deal of time reflecting on my over twenty years as a teacher and I have discovered certain “truths” that I know sustained me and helped me be as successful a teacher as I am. My overall teaching goal now continues to be to take any new understanding and give life to it in the context of teaching teachers.

TEACHING PRINCIPLES

I have developed several statements that act as the framework for the development of my yearly teaching goals. Each principle is briefly explained and then details are given on how it is currently developing.

1) The development of a positive student/teacher relationship is the cornerstone of a successful learning environment. Students need to feel that you understand their needs, that you have the experience and knowledge that they seek and that they can trust you to be fair and honest with them. My credibility as an experienced elementary teacher has helped me establish positive, working relationships with my students and I continue to nurture the skills that allow me to connect with my students. They recognize me as someone who has "been there and done that”; and they quickly learn that I can relate my experiences to their early fears and apprehensions about their own choice to be a teacher. In my classes, I use many examples from my elementary classroom experiences; I use many of the teaching materials that I developed for my elementary students; and I provide students with meaningful lessons and activities that will give them the confidence to grow as teachers.

2) Teaching is a creative act. All of my courses stress the fact that to be a good teacher you must be creative. This does not mean creative in the sense of artistically gifted like a great painter. However, to design a meaningful, stimulating and enjoyable learning environment, teachers need to have great creative energy. Discovering students’ abilities, interests and needs and then designing curriculum to match those needs is basically a creative act. It takes imaginative thinking; it requires various materials and media; it involves making and creating; and it relies on the teacher expressing conviction, passion and understanding in creative ways. Just like the artist, the teacher helps students see what they didn’t see before, feel what they may never have felt and understand something in a new way. I strive to make my teaching creative and I demonstrate to my students how to use a variety of instructional strategies in order to stimulate and facilitate learning.

3) Learning is an active process. The biggest adjustment students have to make when they take one of my courses is the shift from their past experience with university courses, which were mostly content-based and measured by quantitative measures, to the realization that my courses are structured to facilitate learning as an active process. Students must get involved with their learning and not simply be regurgitators of information presented by the instructor. My instructional strategies require students to be actively engaged in class, while the course assignments force them to apply the course materials into the “real” situations in schools. For example, in Literacy in the Elementary Grades, rather than having students make traditional presentations on key issues in literacy today, they prepared a Poster Session for all Faculty and students. Each poster had information on their topic and was assessed by peers and me. They integrated visual representation with oral presentation and course content.

4) Teachers act principally as facilitators of learning. My job is to
make learning happen, not to make students learn. In fact, I can’t make students learn. I can only act as a  facilitator of learning.  I create the learning environment; I provide the materials; I create the opportunity for students to use their skills in new ways; I provide the input of new information; and I design activities that allow students to connect new information to past knowledge and then to create for themselves new understandings. I facilitate learning in my courses by providing students with well-prepared presentations on the course topics, followed by a variety of in-class activities which connect new information to prior knowledge.

5) Learning must be connected across subject areas. It is important for students to understand how my courses fit with the other components of the B.Ed. program. I do this by talking to my colleagues about the topics they cover in their courses and by sharing with them the areas of my courses reinforced in their areas. In class, I use clear examples in my presentations and in any learning activities which help students make connections with other course content. In several cases, my colleagues and I developed shared assignments where students produced major assignments combining applications of content from two courses.

6) The classroom is a community of learners. I want my students to feel that they are part of a group with common interests and expectations, but with differing learning needs. I want my students to feel that they can make mistakes, take risks and share with all of us their ideas, experiences and feelings. Creating this ‘safe’ learning environment is one of the most difficult things to achieve since I see the students very few times a week and for such a short term. I share my own new learning adventures with technology and demonstrate to students that teachers always have new things to learn if they are to stay in touch with their students and on top of their area of expertise.

PRACTICES THAT FACILITATE THESE PRINCIPLES OF TEACHING

To make these principles of teaching a reality in today’s university classroom, these teaching practices are essential.

A) It is essential to be well-prepared. I prepare well for all my classes and for all my extra work with students. I use data projection tools, classroom displays, presentation boards, music, art and various hands-on tools to facilitate the teaching and learning.

B) It is essential to be accessible to students. I keep flexible office hours and offer my assistance to students outside the regular teaching and expected office hours. I also conference one-on-one with students each term in each of my courses.

C) It is essential to be professional at all times with my students. I stay focused on the course expectations as they have been described and on my students’ interests and needs.

D) It is essential for the teacher to also be a learner. I stay abreast of developments in my course areas by reading widely, visiting classrooms in the local schools and discussions with Department of Education consultants. I present myself to students as someone willing to learn from them and what they bring to the course.

E) It is essential for a teacher to be a good communicator. Since I teach courses in literacy, it is doubly important to demonstrate effective communication skills and to be an active listener. Giving directions, explaining concepts and setting up group activities all require clear communication of purpose and procedures.

F) It is essential to be well-organized. I manage the work load through several tracking procedures that involve daily records of lessons, organized evaluation procedures and new applications of technology.

G) It is essential to monitor student progress and provide them with opportunities for feedback on a course. My students complete a mid-term assessment of the course where they react to what has been taught so far and make suggestions for improvements. I read their course journals midway to give feedback and help stretch their thinking.

H) As your course instructor, I don’t make you into a teacher; you make yourself into a teacher.  Many students feel they are going to receive a set of tools or recipes that they follow and suddenly they will be a teacher.  I work very hard to show them that teaching is 20% inspiration and 80% perspiration and that they need to become self-directed in their learning to be a good teacher.

I) You become a teacher. Teaching is a process that involves examining your own beliefs and attitudes and working out what you feel is important for students to learn. Teaching is tranformative and it takes us to places we never expected to go. Teaching is done in a collegial atmosphere where one teacher supports another and together we create a powerful learning community.

PASSION, PURPOSE AND PEDAGOGY

These three words say it all for me. My teaching is grounded in a constantly developing pedagogy which is reflective and reflexive. It is a ‘praxis’ where theory and practice are dynamic and interconnected. Helping to focus that practice and propel it forward is purpose – purposeful activity and authentic learning experiences which have meaning for the learner who constructs and controls the learning. The creative energy for the whole process comes from the passion I have for literacy, for teaching and for learning.

I tell my pre-service teachers that I no longer teach children in the public schools on a daily basis, but that everything I do with them in my courses at university and when I supervise them in the school practicum is for my “unseen” children, the ones they will teach once they have left our program. So my responsibility is ultimately to those children, and everything I do, I do it for them.