Philosophy

Jess:

I began teaching because I love language. As the product of a bilingual immersion education, I learned the value of language early. Studying Spanish as a child afforded me greater insight to the nuances of my first language, English. This, fused with my love of literature, gave me great respect for the transformative power of words when used intentionally and adeptly. Guiding young people toward a similar appreciation of language, literary expression and control of their own linguistic choices in speech and writing is an immensely gratifying pursuit.

In my sixteen years of teaching English and Spanish, I have learned that the single most important thing I can do to ensure that my students progress and achieve learning outcomes is to help them see the connections between course content and their lives. It is impossible to learn in a vacuum: students succeed when they engage in academic pursuits that are rich in application to their lives and links to the observable world around them. Such connections occur on many levels, and in order for me to create and manipulate them skillfully, especially in an international classroom, I must be an observant, engaged participant in the world my students occupy.

Since I began teaching, I have sought ways to connect content to my students’ lives. For instance, during my tenure as a Spanish teacher in South Korea, my study of the Korean language made it possible for me to point out grammatical and syntactical links between Korean and Spanish as well as English and Spanish, strengthening the new structures and vocabulary students acquired. When I taught English in the U.S., Venezuela, and China, assigning creative writing and personal reflection tasks has enabled me to know the members of my classes as individuals as well as students. That knowledge constantly informs my teaching, facilitating my emphasis of themes and ideas in texts that can be related meaningfully to the issues my students face in their lives. In their formal and informal assessments of me as a teacher, my students highlight such school-to-life links as a strength of my instruction.

In my classroom, I want my students to forge and refine sophisticated relationships with the English or the Spanish language, both as readers and writers. The teachers who inspired me to become a lifelong writer, reader and language learner did so by leading me to avenues of self-expression and literary study that helped me make sense of myself. The self that reading, writing, and serious discussion cracked open for me was not a generic everyman, but a unique and important me. English and Spanish can be intensely meaningful classes for every student, and more importantly, can highlight roads to meaning that students will continue to travel for the duration of their lives. This possibility is central to my vision of the ideal language and literature classroom, and the goals that I set for students.

Effective educators recognize that they are learners as much as they are teachers, and pursue professional growth daily, not only on isolated occasions. Although conferences and coursework are one important approach to professional development, our students are our best teachers. I have learned more from my students around the world than I did in my Master’s coursework, and I know that the new group of students I encounter in my next position will cause me to improve and polish my instruction in ways yet unimagined. I believe my teaching methods to be successful because my students meet the clear goals and outcomes I’ve established for them before instruction begins, but I know that methods that brought success in one setting may not be as effective in the next. By using a variety of formative and summative assessment strategies, I hope to put my finger on the pulse of my new students’ learning, and place my courses among those that they remember when, as adults, they use language deliberately and effectively to engage with and positively transform the world.

Chris:

I have always been fascinated by the world of science. At the age of six, while helping my father unearth a root in our backyard, I found an oddly shaped item that I was convinced was a dinosaur fossil. Over the next three days, with much pestering, I finally convinced my parents to take my fossil and me to a paleontologist at a Natural History Museum. My delight at finding the first dinosaur fossil in Connecticut was quickly dashed when this expert explained that the fossil was actually an oddly-shaped lump of concrete. His response, however, did nothing to curb my enthusiasm for science: I was hooked. I reveled in exploring, questioning and attempting to explain the world around me.

Throughout my academic career I was privileged to be exposed to many dynamic and engaging educators. These teachers transformed the classroom into an oasis of critical thought through open dialogue. More importantly to my discipline, they also allowed me to question, experiment upon and analyze the world around me. Upon graduation I embarked upon a career in scientific research. For the next ten years, working in the neuroanatomical and molecular biological fields, I had the opportunity to perform research and explore many fascinating questions; however, this lab environment left me empty, as I felt there was little outlet for sharing my passion for science with a greater audience.

It is this passion that drove me to become a teacher. When I think of my favorite teachers they all share one attribute: enthusiasm for their subject. This excitement is contagious. It creates an electrified classroom that is engaged in a positive and productive way. The animation I display when teaching and discussing science produces an energetic environment where students are eager to learn and contribute.

I believe that a teacher should not be an instructor, but rather a guide and companion along a student’s educational journey. Teachers should not be spigots of information that spew forth facts and contextual bits of knowledge to be consumed passively by our students. Rather, teachers should provide environments in which students are motivated to direct their own learning and education. In science, this can be achieved through a hands-on educational approach. By hypothesizing, developing and performing novel experiments and then analyzing results, students build critical reflection skills and higher-order thought processes. Nurturing an environment where students are encouraged to explore answers to their own questions as well as carry out the work of professionals develops the creative scientists that will be needed in the 21st century.

Central to teaching are relationships, and I believe that a teacher is only as good as the relationships that he or she forges with students. Building caring relationships breaks down the hierarchical framework of teacher and student, and establishes bonds based upon equality and trust. These bonds allow our students to see that learning is a two-way street that is deepened by the experiences we both share and the knowledge we both impart. Learning does not end in the classroom; rather, it is a process that continues throughout our lives.

The lessons we share with our students should not be limited to our academic disciplines. By creating a classroom founded upon fairness and inclusion we foster respect in and amongst our students. By placing the highest value on integrity and acceptance of others’ beliefs and ideas, we model what it means to be a citizen of the world. Through group work, students should come to understand that openness and strength in diversity are the ultimate tools for learning how to tackle the major problems of our world.

As I enter my eleventh year of teaching, now more than ever, I am amazed and awed at the responsibility that this profession entails. This responsibility can never be taken lightly. We must view every day as an opportunity to not only learn from our students, but also instill in them the confidence necessary for a successful life.