Teaching Philosophy

• A teacher is a bridge across each student’s gap in understanding.

Due to curriculum and state standards, there is a land mass that each child needs to reach while in the classroom, a chasm which he must cross to move on academically. The challenge for every teacher is finding ways to bridge the break between what the student already knows and what they must know by the end of the school year. Each child crosses the bridge differently: some run, some jog, some walk, some crawl. Some gaps are larger than others; but it is the teacher who bridges that rift, who stands firm and ancient, rising above turbulent waters, allowing students to reach safety on the other side.

Students must overcome innumerable chasms during their educational experience in addition to social, physical, and moral chasms. The teacher, as a bridge, must be able to help the student cross each gorge; that is,

• A teacher must care about each individual student as a unique human being, come to know his/her students, and use that knowledge to differentiate instruction and make learning an enjoyable, fulfilling, and rewarding experience.

This can be accomplished through incorporating culture into class discussions, relating text to students’ unique histories and experiences, and pushing to select texts which incorporate a wide variety of perspectives outside of the typical Western cannon of texts.

• The teacher must treat each child with equity.

As a bridge, a teacher must always stand firm to allow each student the opportunity to cross. However, the teacher cannot be rigid, unmoving, or unchanging. Rather, the teacher must be like the rope bridge which sways in the wind, soaks up the rain, and stands strong through time immemorial. Just as each student crosses the chasm differently, the teacher must differentiate instruction in order to aid each student in their crossing.

• The teacher must love his/her subject area enough that the students recognize his/her passion. In order to be a more effective educator, the teacher must also continually seek to become more knowledgeable within his/her content area and without.

The more the teacher knows across a wide variety of subjects, the more perspectives the teacher can present, and the better students will learn and develop critical thinking skills. A teacher should exhibit a positive attitude in order to encourage students. When approaching a bridge, no one expects it to collapse; one looks at it, says, "I will cross that," and then proceeds. The teacher should hold consistently high expectations for his/her students, believing that they will move forward, even if it is at different paces or the goal is at different distances.

• The teacher must strive to motivate students through praise, knowledge of her students, and through the communication of the relevance of academic tasks. 

Teachers Bridge the Gap Between

So will I seek enter the teaching profession as a bridge spanning the gaps I so clearly recall standing before with youth and trepidation. Never will I deny a student the right to overcome the chasms they face, nor will I do anything less than my best to be a strong bridge upon which he may cross. I will delight in my students’ learning, and will make all of my resources available for the betterment of every generation which stands upon my planks, continuing to learn to better myself as an educator.