Statement of Teaching Philosophy

I want my students to be aware of the world around them and to be able to examine their environment critically, but nothing I can teach my students—how to think critically, how to write well, how to interpret literature—has any worth if I can’t teach my students to care about what they are doing. I believe that there are only two reasons to care about anything: because it is interesting, or because it is useful. I try to inspire my students by choosing activities and projects that have meaning for them and help students recognize the ways in which our classroom activities can be translated to real life, practical concerns.

I believe that the first step toward doing well on a writing assignment is feeling connected to it, and I attempt to help my students connect to their writing in several ways. One strategy I employ is creating a free-writing exercise to precede each assignment. These exercises echo the requirements of the major writing assignment while requiring minimal or no outside research and are completed within the scope of a class period. For instance, to match an assignment in which a student is required to construct a well-researched ethical argument, I ask my students alone or in groups to construct a brief argument on an issue that affects them personally using all of the pieces of Toulmin’s Model of Argument. Students are able to concentrate on their writing because they have the information needed for this project already in their minds and they are already interested in their own lives. I also find that students who initially balk at the terms Toulmin uses automatically incorporate most of them into their arguments, and revealing their abilities in this way allows students to approach the major assignment with more confidence. One of the most valuable lessons I can impart to my students is that they should have confidence in themselves rather than rely solely on the guidance of their teachers. The ability to think independently is especially important at the college level, since students who have previously been dependent on parents and teachers will soon be required to function independently. I see my role as providing guidance for students as they discover their own potential.

In addition to drawing connections between the curriculum and my students’ personal experiences, I hope to draw connections between what we do in our class and what students will need to do in other classes, specifically in their major area of study. I strongly encourage my students to choose paper topics on areas that are related to their own chosen fields. Writing papers on topics related to their major helps students learn how to research within that area and allows them to increase their familiarity with concepts considered important within the major. Most importantly, however, I believe that writing papers in the areas in which students have chosen to major engages students deeply in their work. It is my strongest belief that when a student is interested in and excited about what they are doing, they perform at a much higher level than when they are only marginally interested. I encourage student investment by engaging students on subjects in which they are interested and proficient as well as on issues that relate directly to their lives. When I connect what we do in the classroom to my students’ lives, I engage them, elicit their interest, and create methods of exploration that naturally lend themselves to future application.