Note: This is MY personal teaching philosophy. Feel free to agree or disagree.
You are not required to share it. People ask me about my teaching philosophy
quite often, so I have posted it here for informational purposes.
I believe the best teachers are those who have not forgotten what it was like
to be a student. While pursuing graduate degrees, I have taken note of things
my professors did that I liked as a student and have tried to incorporate them
into my teaching. Similarly, they did things that I did not like as a student
and have tried to cleanse my teaching of these as well. I try to use the
Golden Rule in teaching (He who has the gold makes the rules! Just kidding!).
What I mean is that I try to be the kind of teacher that I would like to have
as a student. Conversely, I hope the students try to be the kind of students
they would like to have if they were the teacher.
If students only acquired two things in high school, it should be these two:
(1) the ability to communicate intelligently and accurately both orally and on
the written page and (2)the ability to understand and interpret the world
around them in terms of numbers and functions. As a math teacher, I am
primarily concerned with #2; however I do not neglect #1. I value
intellectualism, individualism, and being broad-based in knowledge. While math
is my focus, I do not neglect the other academic areas in my teaching. In
fact I try to incorporate as much as possible to give students a sense of
interconnectedness.
Math is the queen of the sciences. Galileo said it was the language with which
God has written the universe. It is objective and clearcut with little room
for subjectivity or debate. Math deals with absolutes. Inasmuch as the
underlying axioms and postulates are true, the results of mathematics are 100%
true a priori, apart from any physical experimentation. Math is both an art
and a science. I incorporate the logical and the creative in my teaching. I
firmly believe that every student can learn math. I do not believe that there
is some special math gene that only certain people inherit. A good teacher
can make seemingly boring information into something that is fun and easily
understood.
I believe very strongly in the use of technology to aid in the learning of
mathematics. I also believe very strongly in the understanding of what the
technology is doing. What is needed here is balance. Once students have
acquired certain skills and demonsrated their understanding of those skills,
technology is a wonderful way to eliminate those same boring, repetitive
steps. I teach program writing and expect students to learn to write programs
on their own.
I believe in employing Vygotsky's zone of proximal development in my teaching.
Lessons are based on students' prior knowledge and the new concept is
initially placed just out of their intellectual reach. Then, they must grow
mentally with my help to be able to reach it. I also believe in employing a
balance between constructivist and objectivist teaching. There are times I
need to be the "sage on the stage" and disseminate information directly to the
student while there are other times I need to be simply the "guide on the
side" and let students discover their own knowledge.
I firmly believe in our school's motto, "Success Is a Choice." I believe you
can succeed or fail in school or in life as much as you want by the choices
you make. It is not a one time, Matrix-style, overt choice where you choose
the red pill if you want to succeed and the blue pill if you want to fail.
Rather it is the sum total of all the little decisions you make on a
day-to-day basis. Students have a hard time seeing the big picture. All they
see is the turn; they don't see the road ahead. Choosing to value education in
general, choosing to want high grades, choosing to set high standards for
yourself, choosing to come to school every day, choosing to be on time to
school and to class every day, choosing to do your homework every day,
choosing to study for tests and quizzes, choosing to take notes, choosing to
be organized and well-prepared for class, choosing to come early and stay late
as needed to get extra help, choosing to be honest and not cheating, choosing
to take challenging courses, choosing to pay attention, choosing to ask
questions as needed, choosing to go the extra mile when doing a project,
choosing to behave properly, choosing to be moral in character, choosing to
take personal repsonsibility for your actions or inactions, choosing to have
friends who value what you value and will influence you to make good
decisions, and choosing to abstain from drugs, alcohol, and premarital sex.
Some students will choose wisely, and some students will choose poorly.
Hopefully, I can steer students to make the right decisions on at least some
of these.
In addition to teaching math, I try to instill character and integrity into my
students. Twenty years from now, no one is going to care what grade they got
in math class, but their character, their core moral values, that they are
developing now will still be with them and determine their destiny.
