My Teaching Philosophy

I believe that students are too often overly accepting of whatever is presented to them, participating in a blind obedience to others’ agenda. In my classroom, I desire to promote critical thinking by challenging students to deeply assess their beliefs, asking not only “what?” questions, but also “why?” questions. I believe that my role in the classroom includes finding a balance between allowing students to drive the discussion while simultaneously modeling an assertive, confident role for my students, especially the young women, in order to demonstrate to them the type of behavior in the classroom that is not only permitted, but also encouraged. I push students to think on their own, to develop informed opinions on matters that they believe to be important, and to arrive at conclusions through their critical evaluation. Through literature, I believe that students have the opportunity to explore other perspectives and develop authentic empathy which drives them to be open-minded individuals better prepared to be responsible and active citizens.

While I envision a classroom in which serious topics are embraced, not avoided, I engage students by creating a classroom environment that is welcoming. Students do not become better writers by intimidation from an authority figure or through dozens of red marks on a page. Students become better writers when they are presented with opportunities to develop opinions and practice expressing those opinions, both in discussion and in writing activities. Humor is welcomed in the classroom, and I find it difficult to avoid. This is one reason why I frequently incorporate texts with themes of satire as these texts include comedy that challenges authority figures or dominant systems. I also believe that students tend to enjoy and relate to satirical works as they can easily dissect sarcasm and analyze it for its true meaning. So many students today have an unnecessary disdain for English, literature, or composition classes because of their past experiences with these classes. This is why I believe that part of creating a welcoming, engaging classroom involves making what is being learned applicable to current day events and emphasizing the importance of writing throughout a variety of fields.

            Students’ ability as writers cannot and should not be measured by their knowledge of punctuation and grammar, but rather by the ideas they develop, their personal style of communication, and their effectiveness in delivering a message to an audience. Therefore, I find it necessary to erase wrongful ideas that have been preached to students repeatedly and focus on what I believe to be essential components of good writing. It is necessary, however, to prepare students for the teachers and tests they will encounter that are merely interested in their ability to “properly” capitalize and spell. This is why I am a proponent of teaching students the information they will need to know in order to succeed on standardized tests while also demonstrating through my actions that I am not looking to grade them as if I were a computer analyzing sentence variation. When reading student writing, the most important element is that the student has something worth writing about because I hope that all of my students are learning, and I want their writing to simultaneously express and increase their learning. While I do believe that writing is a means of communication and is always situated in context and purpose, I also believe that writing is a way in which students learn and explore new ideas. Thus, when I teach writing to my students, I am specifically asking them to venture into the unknown and to effectively move a conversation onward. As an educator, I believe I must always be willing to learn and to challenge my own ideas if I ask students to do so; this is why I encourage students to discover their own voice so they become better writers, not regurgitators of information they believe I want to hear.

            In terms of classroom assignments and grading, I use a combination of low and high stakes assignments. Low stakes assignments are meant to balance the grading and to allow students to focus on learning instead of making perfect scores. However, I am not an advocate of busy work, and I design all assignments to be worthwhile and to promote student learning. The low stakes assignments include in class writing activities, some of which are graded on a check basis (i.e. did the student do the activity?) while others are smaller writing assignments to be completed out of class and graded according to a rubric. Higher stakes assignments include group projects, essays, and tests. I believe that group projects are important because they teach students to work with other individuals, to respect others’ ideas, and to be prepared for college groupwork. I create group projects that are enjoyable and interesting to the students since many students may initially oppose the idea of a group project. Tests focus on assessing students’ analytical and writing skills, not a student’s ability to memorize a large amount of information.

            My classroom is one that centers around critical thinking, engagement, and genuine learning. I believe it is my role to hold high expectations for all students and to provide the resources and guidance necessary for students to grow while also considering the uniqueness of each student. I also believe that I must always be willing to learn and grow while also speaking up for what I believe in, as I model for my students the type of behavior I encourage them to exhibit. Promoting deep involvement in the classroom and asking students to become critical thinkers is my goal as it deviates from the idea of a “mainstream” classroom that produces students who regurgitate information. Instead, my classroom promotes critical thinking and active participation with writing that reflects these characteristics. This teaches students to be active participants of society on a much broader scale, critically evaluating the world they live in and actively looking to promote positive change.