Like many things, my teaching philosophy has changed over the years as I “tinker” towards a utopia of my own. In 2003, I first typed up my teaching philosophy at the behest of one of my professors. At that time my teaching philosophy was that “all children could learn, but perhaps not all children could be taught by me.” The final bit of that revelation centered on the discovery that my idiosyncratic teaching style did not work for all children. I learned this lesson from a student with Asperger’s Syndrome. This particular student needed a predictable routine and a set schedule – which was in direct conflict with the free-flowing flights of fancy that my teaching often took. My habit of forgetting the schedule caused more than a few tantrums.
While I knew even then that classroom instruction should not be teacher centered, I had a hard time figuring out how to give this student what he needed. I was a firm believer that classroom instruction should be student centered. After all, don’t “student centered classrooms” allow kids to create their own projects and timelines? Don’t they follow the child’s needs and instincts instead of imposing rules of their own? What to do with a kid that needed me to be an authoritative figure? What to do with the kid that needed boundaries and rules in order to feel safe and comfortable?
In 2007, at the completion of my Master’s program, I rewrote my teaching philosophy. This time I focused on lessons learned from student teaching: balance. “Perhaps the necessity of balance is the only absolute there is,” I stated. To be sure, classroom dances are often delicate balancing acts. “As discussed by Paulo Freire in Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970), students develop this critical consciousness when teachers invite open dialogue and balance power structures between the teacher and the students. Absence of this balance gives the teacher free reign over the classroom in a fashion akin to the imperialistic attitude of one society conquering and oppressing another.” What I did not realize then is that this balancing act – balancing journal freewrites with high stakes essays, balancing lectures with project based learning – is not always in the teacher’s control. It was difficult to learn, but necessary. I had to relinquish a bit of control, both to my students and to my administrators, in order to make the classroom work.
Learning from this learning process, I’ve come to the latest iteration of my teaching philosophy. To be a good teacher I must first be a good student. Too many educators get into the classroom and stagnate, teaching the same thing year after year in the same ways to who they think are the same students. In the short time I’ve been teaching, it’s been tempting to rely on old lesson plans and blame the students when what worked last year didn’t work this year. Of course, it’s not a student problem, it’s a teacher problem. Each year, each class, each group is different. Yes, a fourteen-year-old here is like most fourteen-year-old students anywhere. The little ego-centrists have the same hang ups and insecurities, the same issues with writing, grammar, and learning how to think critically. As teens they are struggling to come to grips with who they are and their unique role within this world – and boy, are they unique! My students have so much to tell me – about being myself, being a teacher, being a mother, being a friend, and being an adult – if I’m willing to learn. Teachers must be willing to do this if they are to accomplish anything in the classroom. Good teachers are good learners, first and foremost.
I am, officially, no longer an initially licensed teacher. After just four and a half short years as an education professional, I have learned enough to no longer be considered a “newbie”. However, this does not mean that I don’t have more to learn. Fifty-four months after becoming a high school English teacher, I have become wizened and sage. I have, unfortunately, outlasted many of the good teachers that entered the profession with me. Most importantly, I have learned all there is to know about being a teacher. It’s a well guarded secret that I am willing to share, but only just this once, and only for you.
The only thing I can say I know about teaching is this: I know absolutely nothing.
Teachers must continue learning, striving, growing, and self-educating in order to stay fresh in this world. They must learn from their students. They must learn from each other. They must accept the fact that their knowledge will never be complete, that they will never know everything there is to know about their subject or about the art of teaching itself. Teachers must be able to handle the idea that their work will never be complete and that they will never “know”.