As an educator, I take great care with the words I use to describe or explain things. This is why, rather than a teacher, I consider myself more of a guide. My teaching philosophy is founded on this distinction because I see my role as going beyond explaining or demonstrating and into the realm of leading, directing and planning out the learning process. Showing up as a guide means providing learners with an optimal learning environment, teaching the skills to acquire knowledge and presenting opportunities to practice applying that knowledge to solve problems. This three-step approach to my pedagogy aims to produce active and engaged citizens ready to face the world’s problems creatively.
Optimal Learning Environment
A cornerstone to my teaching is the space I create for my students to learn in. My own deep sensitivity to my surroundings, combined with a breadth of interdisciplinary knowledge positions me as an expert in space-making. Relationships also exist within the sphere of the classroom environment and I see it as a part of my responsibilities as the guide to help facilitate relationship-building among students in my class, providing a layer of security and safety to classroom members. Additionally, strong classroom routines and norms provide a predictable environment where students know what to expect, know what is expected from them and know their place as a participant in the space.
Foundational elements to a positive learning environment include classroom organization, decor and seating arrangements. Routines involve greeting students as they enter the class and displaying entry tasks to give immediate direction when students arrive. Grouping students by random and mixing often makes engaging in new social dynamics a consistent and normalized activity, building touchpoints between all classroom community members. My use of the classroom space is the key that unlocks the next step in my pedagogical progression, learning to learn.
Skills in Knowledge Acquisition
As a guide to student learning, I strive not simply to transfer knowledge to my students, but to develop them as lifelong learners by equipping them with the skills needed to seek out, discern the credibility of and synthesize the information that they find. Existing within a broader culture that is accustomed to quick hits of “hot takes,” baseless claims and fake news, it is imperative to our democracy and our decency that a key component of holistic development focuses on building up the capacity to question, critically analyze and validate the information that we encounter. I view this skill set as the paramount learning objective for my students, integrating it into our daily rituals and scaffolding precise skills that lead to students capable of independent research on a given subject.
In tandem with developing this fundamental skillset, as their guide I can elucidate the usefulness of knowledge acquisition. For many modern young people, knowing does not hold the weight that it should because of the easy access to information. “I can just Google it,” is a pervasive mentality, eroding the epistemological integrity of this generation. My anecdote is a simple analogy, easily adapted to the interests of a given cohort, that posits knowledge as the equipment and problem-solving as the game. It is pretty hard to play soccer without a ball or goals, just as it is impossible to develop effective policy when you don’t know enough about the problems being addressed, the people involved or the history of what has already been tried.
Real-World Problem Solving
What becomes possible through creating an effective learning environment and developing students’ research skills is the practice of solving real problems. Through the lens of Mastery-Based Learning, students can only ever reach the desired level of mastery through cycles of practice and feedback. In the same way a parent provides practice with small amounts of money to a child, in order to prepare them for managing large amounts of money in adulthood, so must we as teachers offer ample opportunity to practice the things we hope for our students to engage in as grown adults.
The classroom must be a safe place where students can fail, where students can explore multiple iterations of an idea, where students can test and experiment and most of all where students can recognize their own ability to creatively address the problems they see around them. When students have accepted ownership of the space and are capable of pursuing their own curiosities, the classroom becomes an arena to practice student-led, project-based inquiry and engage in collaborative problem-solving.
Philosophy in Practice
A great example of my three-pronged approach is an option I provide to my students around our seating chart. I utilize assigned seats in my classroom for many reasons, including behavior management, disability accommodations and simply to make clear to all students that they have a space where they belong in the room. On top of this, I allow students to submit a seat transfer request form if they are unhappy with the seat I have allocated for them. This form is an adapted version of my argument map, which is a scaffold I use to help students lay out their support of a claim and rebuttal against a counterclaim.
To complete the form, a student must be self-motivated (I will not encourage them to do this), they must speak to and obtain a signature from the student they wish to switch seats with, and they must write an argument, complete with a claim, reasons supported by evidence, a counterclaim and a rebuttal followed by a conclusion. The steps required to complete the process develop a student’s interpersonal skills, social studies skills and provide them with evidence that they can drive change in their own lives and communities.
Why This Philosophy
As an undergrad, looking out to the world, seeking a path where I could have the greatest positive impact, I was overwhelmed by the immense and diverse array of problems facing humanity. It was then that I realized how teaching could enable me to produce thinkers to go and solve those problems, providing an exponential influence on the world beyond what I could manage as an individual. So selfishly, my investment in my students is not merely an altruistic endeavor, but an attempt to extend and amplify my own ability to face the problems of the world and make it better.
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