My Education Philosophy

In the run up to another feature in my Road Ahead series, I've been reading about education reform.  This is more than idle speculation for me because I am a teacher with more than 15 years of experience in various classroom settings (preschool, high school, and college).  I'm not quite ready to write about education reform but all the reading has got me thinking about my own philosophy when it comes to the classroom.  And all that thinking means that there must be some writing.  So this weekend I offer some thoughts about how I teach.

1.  Care About the Subject
I love what I teach and it shows.  My students may or may not walk out of my classroom filled with the fire of inspiration for the study of history and politics.  But they will know that I am inspired; they will know that their time is spent with a teacher who is passionate about the discipline and our mutual knowledge of it.

2.  Care About the Students
For me, teaching is about the relationship I form with the students and with the class.  As a group of students comes together, a class develops a personality and a groove.  The basis of that relationship has to be my investment in the members of the group.  Their learning matters to me, of course.  But I also care about them  as individuals and I signal that fact in every way possible.  In my view, students who know that I am invested in them will take greater risks and learn more.  As much as possible, I want to make that happen.  So I care and they know it.

3.  Meet them where they are; move forward
One of the things I have the least patience for is the teacher who announces that his or her students aren't up to muster.  It's true that some groups of students are more accomplished and more capable than others.  While each group's skill set varies, what they have in common is the ability to move forward.  I start every year by identifying a group's strengths and weaknesses and then I seek to move them forward. 

4.  Content matters
These days, I teach high-school age students at a college prep school; I teach in specific subject areas (History and American Government).  In my experience, there is nothing a teacher needs more than content.  And more is always better.  I refer to this as growing my fact hump and I am passionate about it.  With new facts and ideas comes the room to think and explore new ways of understanding my disciplines.  I teach at a school with an ethos that supports professional development that is content based and I am so grateful for that shared value.  In the last year, I have taken classes or workshops on Mark Twain in the Gilded Age, the state of democracy in the world, and the life and times of Thomas Edison.  History, Economics, Politics, Literature, Philosophy....it all has something to offer my classroom and me.  The teachers whom I most admire are folks who are looking for a new ways to inform themselves and their students.  I want to be in that crowd of folks.

5.  Be Human
One day last fall, in a discussion about heathcare reform and end-of-life care (remember Sarah Palin and her death panels?  That's what got us started), I unexpectedly got tearful.  It wasn't caused by anything in particular.  And those of you who know me well know that I am not afraid to cry.  But the students were a bit startled.  I got command of myself in short order and our discussion moved forward as we sorted out truth from fiction in the healthcare debate.  In the next few days, nearly every student in that class came by my classroom to talk some more about healthcare reform.  Countless times I have learned this lesson: share a bit of yourself and your experience and the students will find a connection that adds greater meaning to their understanding.    And so I am not afraid to be myself. 

6.  Make room to fail
One of the things that is least understood about teaching is the ways in which every year is a new year.  This is also true on a daily basis.  I may find that yesterday's seemingly brilliant lesson about political behavior is a flop today.  Last year's inspirational discussion of Jim Crow laws is this year's yawner.  It works in the other direction as well: last week's confusing discussion of Congress is this week's nuanced command of the same.  In short, a successful teacher will succeed and fail all the time and must be willing to roll with the punches.  Perfection can't last because there will be a new crop of students next year.  Failures can be amended and re-tooled into successes.  But the job is more exciting when I am challenged and that means I must make room to try new ideas; new methods, and new tools.  That means taking risks.......failure must be an option.

That's it.  My educational philosophy.  As I've been thinking about my approach to the classroom, I've been considering which of my experiences translate to the larger education world and which ones don't.  Later this month I will offer up my thoughts on education reform. 

You've been warned.