My Philosophy

As with all philosophies, they are subject to change from external and internal forces.  Creating and maintaining one with ties to two incredibly large areas like education and technology is an impressive and demanding feat.  From my own experiences and interactions I have only begun to formulate mine. 

The purpose of education is to introduce those involved to new information, concepts, and the relationships between them.  By helping a student develop a useable bank of knowledge and how to apply it, a full and complete picture of any type of subject matter can be made clearer.  Looking back, I can see that two particular teachers helped me to reach this conclusion.  My favorite and best teacher, my ninth grade geometry teacher, taught me the importance of learning the “rules of game” as he called it.  After learning these rules, or the basic concepts of geometry, I found that playing “the game” was much less difficult and that I could rely on certain facts when trying to further my understanding.  Helping to solidify this concept, but in a less attractive way, my high school physics teacher decided that “the basics” were common sense and made little effort  to establish their importance before delving into the chaotic world of physics. 

These two experiences also did much to help me identify what role teacher and student should play.  I can honestly say that my approach to teaching shows my understanding that baby steps, topic connections and relationships, real world examples and context clues are part of not only the way I want to teach, but they’re also in the way I approach everything.  I take my physics teacher’s open ended class and pulled a need to prove and test for understanding and not just assume it.  I need direction in my class.  I can’t see myself allowing much of a “discovery” method of teaching to occur.  This is because I know the feelings of being lost and confused, and I feel that being the source for those feelings would be infinitely worse.  I guess that’s why I’m always checking myself and my lessons for confusing tidbits and tangential statements. I believe a teacher needs to aim to be slow and steady, and not fast and heady.  Concerning students, I want learners to not only take away the basic knowledge from my lessons but also how that knowledge interplays within itself to form their resulting concepts.  More importantly still, I want them to take away that they are responsible for 99% of their success, and I am only teaching them how to be responsible for that last percent.  They need to be held responsible for their own improvements and understanding.

From this I find that I am a follower of realism.  I believe in the necessity of measuring understanding through assessment.  I understand the need for developing assignments based on the levels of ability present and how each individual’s ability helps to represent their role in the assignment.  I believe that this all stems from the understanding that instructional environment that arms the students with the core knowledge needed to perceive more advanced information and concepts is key.  I find that there a need for accountability in the classroom and this method clearly supports it by have the student display their knowledge through in-depth and varied assessments.  The way in which you teach to this method, lecture and guided practices, is an efficient means to move through various concepts while being able to make the needed connections between them. I choose the methods I use because they make use of my own way of thinking.  How could I teach art to someone if I myself don’t understand it?  I also find that making adjustments to my methods, for the sake of my students’ understanding, is much easier when I understand them best at their most basic parts.  I can tell and show my students how I see it if I teach them how I was taught.  I can always try different less familiar methods.

            The inclusion of technology into my classroom is made fairly easy by its saturation within the system already. I would make heavy use of the burgeoning norm to supply class internet home pages for each class.  These home pages give students access to everything concerning the class such as lesson outlines, homework assignments, and procedural examples.  I’d also be able to supply feedback and support as well as an area for students to share ideas and questions over the material.

            This philosophy is in no way concrete in its formation or its durability.  It is not only subject to change but attracts it due to its dependence on the ever changing world.  The only way for it to be plausible is for it to be pliable.