My Philosophy of Teaching

The following is my philosophy of teaching that I created several years ago during my first MA studies. I, over time, would reflect on it, and then revised it considerably last semester here at Texas Tech. While this is primarily a philosophy of teaching, parts are supplemented with some references to Fulkerson’s article “Four Philosophies of Composition.”

As an adult educator, my philosophy of teaching has evolved through my experiences with students in the classroom as well as outside the classroom. My philosophy is enhanced by three thoughts that I carry with me.

1. Effective teaching involves reflection and action.
2. The learning environment should be collaborative.
3. Learning styles are diverse and should be recognized and nurtured.

In order for me to determine if my teaching is effective, I employ two of the four modes of reflection when teaching and put reflection into action. Lana Danielson, in her article “Fostering Reflection” (Educational Leadership 66.5), lists the modes of reflection as technological, situational, deliberate, and dialectical. My reflections tend to fall under the deliberate and dialectical modes, depending on the teaching situation. In terms of deliberate reflection, I take the time to seek out more information about the effectiveness of my teaching by reviewing material presented to the students, talking with other subject matter experts, obtaining feedback from students and colleagues, and review student performance on work to seek out patters, if any. The results I glean from this type of reflection would be used to improve or enhance my future teaching. The dialectical mode of reflection is a more enhanced method of deliberate thinking where I take the results of my reflection and implement them as solutions, often changing methods of teaching to effect change in student learning outcomes. While I may employ two specific modes of thinking, my reflective time is ongoing and as a result, I am striving to constantly learn what “clicks” for the student, and how I can best be an effective educator.

The learning environment should be collaborative. Adult learners are a different group from traditional K-12 students in such they have life experiences or prior knowledge and skills that can be beneficial to a collaborative situation such as a group project. As an adult educator, my goal is to empower students to strive to enhance that knowledge and the skills they have attained and to carry them through life and work experiences. By implementing a collaborative learning environment, I promote working together toward a common goal, learning from one another, sharing knowledge, and enhancing critical thinking skills. The collaborative environment also brings outs the different learning styles that can be challenging.

In addition to promoting a collaborative learning environment, I lean toward the formalist philosophy of teaching where, as Fulkerson shares in his article, I tend to “judge a paper a failure if it contains on comma splice or five spelling errors.” The one comma splice is a little extreme, but it is my opinion that a good paper should not have many spelling errors. Fulkerson quotes Janet Emig’s (The Composing Processes of Twelfth Graders) conclusion “most of the criteria by which students’ school-sponsored writing is evaluated concern the accidents rather than the essences of discourse – that is, spelling, punctuation, penmanship, and length” which are the four formalists criteria. For most, this may seem a little harsh for a teaching philosophy, but as society continues to change in terms of the digital media, it is of utmost importance for each student to possess good basic writing skills.

Learning styles are diverse and should be recognized and nurtured. As an adult educator, I am aware that there are diverse learning styles and as I teach, I am cognizant of each student’s knowledge, skills, and abilities, and try to enhance the desire to learn through recognition of these differences. Differences in learning may be auditory, visual, or kinesthetic. It is important to keep these three styles in mind when observing each student. The recognition and nurturing of diverse learning styles is also representative of what Fulkerson calls “Expressionism” as a philosophy. My formalist philosophy is peppered with expressionism where I strive to encourage students to learn about themselves, how they best learn. Fulkerson shares that expressionists strive for “interesting, credible, honest, and personal voice” and this is part of what I consider in the recognition of learning styles and encouraging students to learn about themselves through their writings. In addition, Malcolm Knowles stated that adult learners learn best when they understand why something is important, have the freedom to learn in their own way, learning is experiential, the time is right for them to learn, and the process is positive and encouraging. By implementing the collaborative learning environment where adult learners can work together, learning in their own way, and at the right time, the healthy exchange of ideas, experiences, and opinions can nurture these different styles.

Adult learners come into adult education with the foundation of life experiences and knowledge that is accompanied by a mutual need for respect. As an adult educator, it is my goal to meet this need through the method of teaching in a collaborative environment, the implementation of reflectivity in my work to ensure my teaching is effective, and through the recognition of learning differences, further enhance the knowledge and skills these learners bring with them.