Philosophy of Teaching and Learning

Introduction 

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When they trust the teacher to be wholly an ally, students are more willing to take risks, connect the self to the material, and experiment.  Here is the source not just of learning, but also of genuine development and growth.  – Peter Elbow 

 

I will always remember the first time I stood in front of a classroom of students. I was not nervous, nor was I overly confident. I was in awe of the weight – the magnitude – of the role I had just assumed, and more than anything else I wanted to excel in this role. Today, fifteen years after that first course, I am certain that there is nowhere else I would rather be, and few other privileges for which I feel as grateful. When I wrote my first philosophy of teaching, I drew from scholars like Lisa Ede and Andrea Lunsford; Mike Rose and Peter Elbow; Gesa Kirsch, Nancy Sommers, and David Bartholomae. The literature that I consumed shaped my planning rituals, my assessment protocols, and the stances I assumed in the classroom – not just erect at the front of the class, but next to, behind, and with the members of our learning community. In hindsight, I realize that perhaps most importantly, the literature I consumed hinted that change needed to come, and that I needed to be ready to adapt and grow. It was only the beginning.  

 

Reflection 

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Education has failed to involve students in scholarly projects, projects that allow students to act as though they were colleagues in academic enterprise.  – David Bartholomae 

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I realize that as a student, I have been so fortunate for the teachers who have guided my journey. In kindergarten, I didn’t want to be the brown bear in our class play. I wanted to be a frog. Ms. Frost wrote in the part for me. In high school, I persuaded my calculus teacher to let me write a report rather than take the calculus final. In undergrad, Dr. Meg Harper gave me an A on a paper I wrote on memory and diaspora. In my rush to turn the paper in on time, I had stapled the seven pages together, completely out of order. Her marginal comment, that she was impressed with the bold statement I was making about complexity of memory recovery in diaspora, was kind, and it was effective too. These memories and many more stand out for many reasons – but primarily because in those moments, my teachers had eliminated any sense of the hierarchy that barricade students from experiences other than the traditional student teacher dichotomy.  

 

Evolution 

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We live in a period where there’s no time for urgent-free pedagogy. Our instructional pursuits must be honest, bold, raw, unapologetic, and responsive to the social times. – Gholdy Muhammed 

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When I began teaching, my approach was guided by efforts to create clear and comprehensible instructions; measurable and fair criteria for assessment; and a lively and engaged classroom. I am certain that this approach was appropriate. I am also certain that had I not been prepared to be ready to adapt and evolve, I may have missed the critical signals that our classrooms need to adapt and evolve.  I may have missed the existential threat that the integrity and authenticity of the artifacts teachers and professors in public schools and universities have at their disposal to teach is under.  I am alarmed at the outcry against critical race theory in education. I am not content with teaching students out of textbooks that have been revised to white-wash and otherwise tamper with, restrict, and ban literature that tells stories which challenge the narrative of the American dream.  I am driven to come to school each day ready not only with objectives and class plans, but also ready to advocate for the right of every student, instructor, administrator, and support personnel in these halls to work with and learn about characters who look, sound, and believe like they do. 

 

Philosophy 

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Something I think that committed teachers eventually come to understand about teaching writing: that good teaching is not about the teacher. – Robert Yagelski 

 

The professor must genuinely value everyone’s presence. There must be an ongoing recognition that everyone influences the classroom dynamic, that everyone contributes. These contributions are resources. – bell hooks 

In the classrooms I share with my students, through the reading and writing we do together, the discussions we share about our discoveries, and the questions we ask about the meaning of it all, I expect that we will all emerge with fresh ideas about teaching and learning – empowered to take risks, to collaborate, to learn from each other, and to make our voices heard.