Teaching Philosophy

I see the role of the teacher from the historical perspective of how it has developed in human history.

In our nomadic state, we taught our children, and our siblings children, the skills we personally used to make a living in the world, and the philosophies by which we understood the world to work. Over the last several thousand years we have slowly extracted teaching from that social context and relocated it in isolated institutions. We as teachers must now work within that institutional framework, and strive to teach the children of strangers as if they were our own.

I fully agree with the motivation theory of learning, that when a student is intrinsically motivated to learn, nothing will stop them. My goals for my students are based on what each student carries into the classroom. Learning something of the vast technical knowledge at our fingertips is the guiding principle; learning something about themselves is the bedrock.

A teacher needs to be all things to all students: guide, confidant, defender, critic, cop, and infinitely more. What makes a good teacher is patience, but what makes a great teacher is practice. There will be many moments in the career of each student, and and great teachers must first choose their moments, and be able to teach well when those moments finally arrive.