Teaching Statement

“No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the

world.” -Robin Williams as John Keating in the Dead Poets Society

 

I’m a learner. I always have been. There is a part of me that craves understanding as to how the world and the people in it function. I believe that one of the many ways we can gain this knowledge is through the reading of different types of texts and the expression of our own ideas through a variety of mediums. Which is, in part, why I teach.

            I want my students to be learners as well. I want them to learn how to read a text and ask questions, to take what an author or creator is saying and push their ideas in a new direction, to learn how to further support an authors ideas, to learn how to respectfully and effectively go against what the author is saying. I want my students to be equipped to learn how to analyze other people’s ideas, and in turn, how to communicate their own ideas. I want them to know that they have the freedom to speak their thoughts and opinions. A successful learning situation is one in which they leave the classroom more intellectually independent and equipped than they were when they entered the classroom.

            To aid learning in this way, I see my role as a teacher much like a coach. My heart is for people. I want to walk alongside them and help them in any way I can, but in the process I want to hold them to a high enough standard that they both understand that they have the potential to reach that standard, and also that they feel internally motivated to push themselves to achieve the standard. I think this environment can be built by honoring student’s unique ideas, unique ways of learning, and unique modes of expression. My classroom is a place where they come to learn skills, but I also want it to be a place where they are made to feel like their ideas do matter. I am there to facilitate the deepening of idea and to help them achieve the level of success they want to achieve.

            To accomplish these goals, I’ve tried to give my students creative, but text-based, assignments in class. For example, I’ve had my students make a dating profile for characters in a book that we read in class (Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey). They were required to point me to areas in the text that influenced their decisions when making the character’s profile. This assignment engaged them in critical thinking skills and text-based analysis, but also gave them the freedom to express themselves and their ideas in a unique way. I believe that offering students the chance to be creative not only makes learning more interactive, but also shows them why literature and composition matter outside of a classroom. Writing is in the real world and creative approaches to teaching help students see that they read and write all the time, even down to the words they choose to define themselves on something like social media or a dating profile. A creative approach to assignments also opens doors to modes of self-expression that students may not have known were available to them.

            I prefer to grade students on a percentage scale. In a discipline as subjective as English, I believe there needs to be some sort of standard as to how students are being assessed. Even though I prefer a percentage scale, the scale itself is very loose in order to accommodate different levels of student thinking and engagement. I look at the quality of thinking and ideas before I look at the mechanics of student work. Both factors are important, but as an educator, I believe that mechanics come easier as the engagement with ideas becomes deeper. When I’m able, I lean towards projects and portfolios as assignments instead of papers because they allow students to actively put the skills I want them to learn into practice in a way that makes sense to them and their learning.

            There are two key words I would use to describe my teaching: equipping and freedom. A naturally shy person, my world changed when I learned that I could use my written words as a way to express my own thoughts and feelings. Once I was taught the skills to write, my intellectual growth, and personal growth, skyrocketed. That is what I want to give to my students. As a temporary authority figure in their lives, I want to equip them with the skills they need both in the classroom and beyond and encourage them to express themselves and their ideas freely. I know that they have the potential to change the world, and I want to help them get there.