TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Teaching is an art. Becoming an accomplished artist requires more than raw talent. The artist who aspires to master his craft works diligently to hone his skills. Teaching is much the same. Though teachers may be born with talent, the accomplished teacher works incessantly to hone his craft, always learning new strategies, always looking for ways to improve, always finding new avenues for reaching students. Just as Picasso  brought life to a canvas, an accomplished teacher makes learning seem magical. Nancy Steineke (2002), in her book Reading & Writing Together,  points out that in reality, effective teaching is not magical at all but rather a learned art--the teacher having mastered the seemingly magical elements of an effective learning environment. Having taught now for more than a decade, I do not yet consider myself a master teacher. I do, however, realize that becoming a master teacher requires rigorous, diligent work, and I am committed to learning my craft, to honing my skills, to sharpening my tools to become a better teacher. Just as learning is a life-long process, so too is the process of improving my pedagogy. 

Caring About Students

Beyond sharpening my pedagogy, I realize that first and foremost I most care--genuinely care--about my students. Taking a personal interest in students--commenting on their winning shot in the basketball game, asking about their performance in a FFA career development event,  listening when they are upset about a family crisis--pays great returns in the classroom. When my students know I really care, they are much more likely to get involved in class, ask questions, and be committed to the class and to me, the teacher.

Being a Content Expert

Not only do students sense when teachers take an earnest interest them, they also recognize when teachers are experts in their content areas. Only when a teacher fully understands the complexities of his subject matter can he facilitate students in mastering that content. The rigorous education I received at Lyon college has given me a firm foundation in teaching English. Additionally, the AP trainings I've attended--multiple week-long summer institutes and training sessions--have polished my content knowledge and made me a better teacher. I continue to augment my knowledge base through avid reading and research. I am particularly interested in literacy and have, over the past couple years, read numerous articles and books on teaching literacy and have attended the Lit Lab training led by Ken Stamatis. Being firmly grounded in my content area enables me to do more than merely present the ideas in a textbook. Instead, I view the textbook as one source of information and strive to go beyond the textbook to synthesize information from a variety of sources--newspapers, current events, Internet, magazines, fiction and nonfiction texts--to create lessons and units centered around an essential question or theme. A fan of Wiggins and McTighe's Backward Design, I design curriculum units beginning with the end in mind, defining what specifically I want students to know and be able to do, which involves my selecting the standards from the Arkansas English Language Arts frameworks. With a firm grasp of the skills and concepts I want students to master, I then plan how I will assess students' understanding: I design authentic activities and projects that will allow students to demonstrate their understanding in a manner that encourages higher level thinking, connects students to the real world, and integrates technology. Knowing where I want to take students, I'm then able to design specific mini-lessons and activities to equip them with the skills and strategies needed to create or produce such products as portfolios, editorials, web pages, movies, or blog posts. 

Improving Pedagogy

While my English degree at Lyon college grounds my content knowledge, my Master's of Education at Grand Canyon University has grounded my knowledge of pedagogy. It is important that I be familiar with the latest brain research so I can understand how the brain learns. It is important that I understand different learning theories so I can better design instruction. It is important that I ground my choices about curriculum, instruction, and learning environments in sound educational theories, for understanding why I make the choices I do allows me to more purposefully manipulate the learning environment so that I can design and facilitate instructional settings that will result in genuine learning.  I subscribe to constructivism philosophy, implementing various student-centered learning activities in my classroom, including collaborative and cooperative learning activities. One of my favorite such activities is literature circles, a strategy popularized by Harvey Daniels, long-time educator and author. An integral part of literature circles is student choice: allowing students to choose a text to  read and discuss with a small peer group puts them at the center, allowing me to facilitate their learning. Meeting face-to-face and in online discussion boards, blogs, and wikis,  students voice their connections, interpretations, questions, confusions, likes and dislikes about the book. In mini-lessons, I teach active reading strategies and model strategies active readers use. Using literature circles, actively teaching reading strategies, and modeling reading strategies is a direct  result of my research in literacy and is an example of how understanding theory can inform practice.  

Infusing Technology

Recently, the growth of Web 2.0 technologies has provided tools that enable me to more easily create constructivist activities that engage students while teaching them critical technology skills-particularly those outlined by NETS for Students. I am passionate about infusing my own professional practice with technology and about creating a technology-rich learning environment. By utilizing Google Reader and RSS, I've created my own personal learning network, forging a network of teachers, administrators, and instructional technologists from around the globe with whom I collaborate, sharing best practices and staying on the cutting edge of educational technology.  

Modeling Lifelong Learning

In conclusion, I may never be a van Gogh, painting a priceless masterpiece nor a Harvey Daniels, leading a generation of teachers and students in groundbreaking strategies for literacy, but I am convicted about making a difference in education. I am convicted about continually equipping myself with the latest knowledge and pedagogical strategies. I am convicted that we can reform our schools to prepare students to meet the challenges of the 21st century.