Teaching Philosophy

   I believe the purpose of teaching and learning is the passage of knowledge and the exploration of new ideas. The teacher is a facilitator for learning. They should be aware of the kinds of students in their class and be flexible with how information is passed to the students to provide optimal amounts of accumulation of knowledge. While the teacher is someone who is giving information they are also someone who facilitates an environment that encourages curiosity. An environment that encourages and facilitates curiosity is one where there is a desire to take in knowledge and discover new information. This is why the teacher should not only be focused on what and how information is presented but also how they can help students be ready to receive information. In this way the teacher is a catalyst in a chemical reaction and the student’s learning is the reaction between the materials and the catalyst.

  A student is curious. A student is someone who wants to learn, explore, and gain new experiences and knowledge. In many ways everyone is a student for their whole lives. A student who is in school is focusing on being a student, their main priority should be to ask questions, be curious, explore, and soak up information presented. If they disagree with information presented to them or want to explore information more deeply they should be given the chance to pursue this desire for information. If a student does not understand something the first time they should feel comfortable to learn more and try again. The main priority of the student should be to question and learn.

   If we think about the roles of the student and the roles of the teacher there is a picture of what methods would be likely to create these roles. The teacher, being a facilitator, should present information and tools for the students to use. The expectations and focuses should be explained to the students. Once the students understand what is expected of them and what tools they have at their disposal to reach those expectations. The teacher should allow the students the opportunity to explore and question to reach those goals, guiding students with questions and feedback along the way. In regard to assessing this kind of learning and exploration, there should be a balance between self-reflection from students and evaluation of whether students met the goals from the teacher.