Although I may have called it something different at the time, I have been teaching all of my life. Helping my friends learn how to skip the monkey bars. Reading to a child with special needs in grade school. Modeling an attitude of respect to my coaches as captain of my basketball team. It’s a part of our natural instinct – to help, to share, and to teach. My first role where I assumed the more typical mindset of the teacher, the sharer of some kind of knowledge, was in a small, hole-in-the-wall studio with a group of 60-something year old men who spoke French spattered with a few choice English words that they had picked up from who-knows-where. My task was to teach them to learn English. For me, though, it was so much more than that. These men were part of a welfare program with a goal at the center of it to bring joy back into their lives. They had lost something in life – money, the ability to stay in their native country, faith, love, and especially hope. They came to this class, not because they needed to learn English to pass a test or meet a job requirement, but because it was a reason to gather and a way to be more than they were before they came. We were strangers that were brought together by a kiss on each cheek and a very empowering, almost overwhelming, impulse – human curiosity. This combination of one’s natural instinct to share knowledge and an overwhelming impulse to explore that knowledge is why I became teacher. 

                  A quote that has been a favorite of mine for years and I am certain will remain a favorite throughout my life guides my teaching practice was written by Robert Fulghum, author of All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten:

“Live a balanced life – learn some and think some and draw some and

paint some and sing and dance and play and work everyday some.”

Curiosity is at the heart of this quote and is something that I try to foster every time I teach. Experiences that make us happy, test our abilities, challenge our intellect, and allow us to prove ourselves make us better people. By letting education be about experiencing a variety of learning opportunities – and maybe even some just-for-fun-dancing – students will find a way to be engaged, and in turn, they will learn. No question. Imparting knowledge is an anthill of a task. Developing passion and having that imparted knowledge stay with a student years later is a teacher’s Everest. My purpose is to climb it every year with fresh eyes.

In practice, my teaching style involves a lot of group work, discussion, and question storming. Lecture has its place as well, but I let that provide the backbone for the discussion and a process of digging deeper into the content. I try to encourage students to take advantage of my office hours to share struggles as well as enthusiasm for specific topics. The more that I am available to facilitate their growth and development (no matter what level they are at in the learning process), the more that I am able to get to know them and see how they are learning. Every semester I take the time to reflect on my main learnings, ways that I need to change, and new ideas that I can try. Teaching can be a bit of an experiment and if we are willing to adapt to the individuals and information that is constantly evolving, we will be able to make education a matter of lifelong learning that grows and adapts, rather than a stagnant piece of literature that forgets to look ahead.

With my teaching philosophy as my spur to teach, I have established three goals that reign over the course outcomes as lifelong learning expectations that are facilitated by my actions as a professor:

1. Encourage questions. Just one is enough for me, at least to start. The classroom is where curiosity can be answered with more questions. My goal is to create a space where this is always encouraged.

2. Be available. The more I can be available, with my time, my knowledge, and my willingness to try new things, the more the classroom will be a place of growth and maturing in knowledge and confidence that the world needs.

3. Provide challenge. Students should understand that memorization is nothing compared to one’s ability to simply learn and challenge what they already know. Tests, quizzes, and papers are necessary as an assessment tool, but my goal as a teacher is to find ways to challenge beyond what is expected, to teach them that learning is so much more than knowing something.

There it is—my philosophy, my intentions as a teacher, and my life’s work-in-progress. My curiosity of the people that students are becoming drives my passion to teach. What excites them to learn and dance and draw and paint and work and play everyday some? I intend to continue finding out…everyday.