Teaching Philosophy

Teaching Philosophy Statement

My teaching philosophy is predicated on deep interest in the written word as artifacts of human knowledge and experience, profound respect for the processes and unique experiences of students, and unwavering belief that my primary responsibility is to share what passion and understanding I possess with others to make the world a more compassionate, inclusive place. I believe that the goal of education is not just to improve latent skills, but to provide a mode for students to explore their own development as human beings. My approach to English Studies embraces Expressivist and Process pedagogy as a basis for teaching and learning within the community of the classroom. As students engage in class discussion, frequent and varied writing opportunities, and metacognitive reflection, they not only gain an understanding of the skills that lead to academic success, but also a deeper understanding of themselves as participants in the creation of human knowledge and experience. 

I believe that English Studies encompasses all the ways that we create, distribute, archive, research and study language and storytelling in the English language. It includes creative writing, linguistic studies, literary criticism and rhetoric—if it consists of words, it is part of the discipline of English Studies. For me, the core of English Studies is stories: we read, think about, analyze, and create narratives in order to make sense out of the chaos of our world. We neglect the study of words at our peril, because storying isn’t just a thing we do with language, but is instead how we transmit knowledge. English Studies encompass the creation, preservation and study of deep, secret knowledge; to study English is to be a historian, an anthropologist, and a philosopher in one stroke. Studying stories and words is to engage in the work of gaining perspective and understanding. Joseph Campbell, who is deeply interested in archetypal stories, says, “When the story is in your mind, then you see its relevance to something happening in your own life. It gives you perspective on what is happening to you. With the loss of that, we’ve really lost something because we don’t have anything comparable to literature to take its place.” To study the written word and create our own is to study who others are, who we are as individuals, and who we are as a human collective. Students of English Studies embrace the idea that words and stories are not just artistic expressions—our identities, cultures and values are predicated on the stories we tell.

My philosophies of teaching have been heavily influenced by Parker Palmer and Peter Elbow. From Parker Palmer, a seasoned teacher, I take the idea that good teaching and learning are an exercise in risk: we must show up in the classroom as we really are--with our knowledge and ignorance, hope and insecurity--and be vulnerable enough to create a community in which all are welcome and tension is not avoided. I believe that ingrained patterns of marginalization and misunderstanding are overcome by the commitment to sit with the tension that happens as a natural result of engaging with the stories of the world and giving voice to our own stories and understanding. Palmer asserts that it is “only when people can speak their minds [that] education [has] a chance to happen.” In my classroom, students have the opportunity to engage in classroom discussion and private free-writing in which they can explore their thoughts in conversation with others and themselves. I recognize that all students are writers when they enter the classroom, and with the freedom to practice comes skill. I use low-stakes writing assignments to allow students to practice putting their thoughts on the page, so that when they are faced with higher-stakes writing, they know their own voice and are less intimidated by the process. From Peter Elbow, I have learned the value of replying to instead of editing student writing. I believe that in order to be open to improvement, students must know what they are doing well. My approach to grading is that the student is having a conversation with me about what they know, and I will first look at high-level skills and processes before suggesting low-level edits. I will value what is good in student performance before I suggest improvements.

I also respect that all students are first individuals and then members of a community. In my classroom, I respect that some students are comfortable with speaking and leading, and some students are not. I believe that if I want to create a respectful space where students feel free to try, I must embrace that students must first feel safe. Therefore, I do not only value collaboration and participation, but I also value reflection and introspection. I provide opportunities for students to discover what their own natural processes are for reading and writing, what areas of improvement they think they need to make, and metacognitive reflections after high-stakes writing assignments to help students learn about themselves and their modes of learning. In my teaching, I will seek to create a community of learning that is predicated upon deep respect for the individual and for the collective. Writing is--as learning is--a personal and social act, and I will endeavor to treat my role as an instructor with that premise in mind.