TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Teaching is a privilege.  I must approach this privilege with humility.  I do not and will never know it all.  I will never stop learning with my students and from my students.  As I prepare and run my classes, I am inspired by five words: greatness, uniqueness, connections, risk, andjoy.

Greatness is a journey.  It is my job to inspire my students to want greatness, constantly seek greatness, and never settle for less than greatness. 

There are multiple paths to greatness.  As I get to know each of my students, I must try to understand their personalities, strengths, and interests.  I must use this understanding to help my students find their niche – and excel within it.

A guide helps a traveler make connections between a point of origin and where he or she wants to go.  As a guide, I must help my students connect their previous knowledge, the content of a particular course, and their future careers.  This is best accomplished if students are encouraged to apply newly learned concepts in real or simulated scenarios.  Further, I want to help my students make connections with one another.  I believe in cooperative learning and will strive to create learning communities within my classrooms.

I believe that tolerance of risk and failure are key components of success.  Lessons derived from mistakes tend to be more vivid and memorable.  My students will likely benefit from an environment in which risk is encouraged, mistakes can be corrected, and failure becomes a catalyst for learning. 

Joy is a gift.  While I understand that not all students will enjoy all my classes, I can still strive to create an enjoyable learning environment for most.  Further, I will do my best to infect my students with my own joy of learning and teaching.