My Schedule

Period
Class
Room
1
Planning
Faculty Lounge or Social Studies Resource Room
2
U.S. History 1 Section C
114
3
U.S. History 1 Section B
112
4
U.S. History 1 Section B
112
5
Duty-Cafe A/B
Cafe
6
U.S. History 1 Section A
219
7
U.S. History 1 Section B
219

Philosophy Statement

There are two main beliefs behind my teaching philosophy. The first is a broader view about learners (students) and facilitators (teachers). The second is the more practical, how I apply myself to the task of teaching in today's real world. I accept as true that an educator must have a basic philosophy and premise of education to be effective and successful in the classroom. I also accept as true that education professionals can and do have different philosophies of education which lead to different teaching styles in the classroom. I will outline mine here.

Basic Educational Philosophy

My fundamental philosophy focuses on the learner (student). It is part of our nature as humans that we are inquisitive and desire to learn. From the time we are children we are curious and need to discover. We all have it in us to learn, the question is, learn what? A natural learner will gain knowledge for two reasons, necessity and enjoyment. There are things that must be learned for survival of the individual, family and community. In earlier times this would be to farm, hunt, make homes, etc... Today survival learning is the same but what we need to learn has changed. Most likely it is not thought of in this way but the principal is very much the same. Today, society (consisting of parents, boards' of education and local, state and national government) has established an institution to teach children. These institutions teach children survival in our society.This is done for both the individual's success and the community. The individual must learn a trade or become an expert in a field. There are things that are learned for enjoyment. These are things that we learn about because we find them enjoyable. An example, a stamp collector will read and learn about history, commerce, math and art during the course of his hobby. The collector learns primarily for a sense of pleasure so he/she can better enjoy the collection. In earlier times there may not have been a lot of time for this type of learning but as we have become more productive and have more time many learn this way. Excepting these tenets as true; people naturally want to learn, we learn for survival and we learn for enjoyment, the primary purpose of an educator is to guide or assist the learner in early stages so they can continue to learn throughout their life time.

Teaching in Today's Classroom

Keeping this basic theory in mind, in the classroom, as a teacher, it is my goal to get students to be independent learners and stay naturally inquisitive both for enjoyment and survival while meeting content standards established by the community. Students will learn the skills and knowledge needed to function in society and to continue their life long learning. I consider learning to be enjoyable for whatever reason but it must be approached with seriousness and dedication. This will manifest itself in many ways in the classroom. Teaching can be simply delivering information to a group, but often it is showing a learner how to inform herself. I enjoy a classroom discussing ideas rather than a lecture. In the classroom you will see students engaged in a discussion, or listening intently to me or another student sharing knowledge. Students will contribute as much to their learning as will others in the room. You will see students working in groups engaged in a collective assignment or helping each other with individual goals. They will build self-confidence and become independent learners. We (teacher and student) are all working towards the same goal. In order for all students to succeed you will find structure in my classroom. I require all of us to follow four basic principles; be responsible, be truthful, conduct with honor and dignity. With these guidelines and school policy we will build the necessary skills and knowledge for life long learning.