-student-directed learning
-portfolio assessment
-no-grade zones
-open mindedness
-students' opinions as valuable and valid
-non-standard approaches to written material
-an emphasis on higher-order thinking rather than an obsession with line-editing-level details
-group work
-peer review
-writing with a real purpose
-special attention to those who find writing difficult or frightening
-and learning at least as much from my students as they do from me.
This doesn't sound like a philosophy as much as it sounds like a laundry list. However, at this stage of my development as a teacher I am still gathering ideas, thinking about how I might apply them, considering teaching methodologies, and discovering insights and suggestions.
While I don't believe in a carved-in-stone philosophy of teaching, or anything else, what I have is an adaptation of my philosophy of life, which is something along the lines of: question authority and remain open to serendipity. As a teacher, I think that will mean that I treat my students as individuals with something to contribute, that I don't teach what or how the teacher before me taught just because that's the way it's always been done, that I seek out other teachers for advice and counsel, that I continue to read the literature of my newly chosen profession and formulate my own ideas about it.
In terms of the larger picture, I consider the teaching of English the opportunity to do more than educate students in grammar and literary analysis. It is my job to teach them to read; to read for content, and for intent, to read for subtle meaning, and disinformation. As an English teacher, I am responsible for teaching them to think for themselves. This is the most important job a person can have, for it has implications far beyond the classroom, far beyond the individual student. It has implications for the very future of our society. If young people are not taught to realize when they are being fed propaganda rather than news, when they are being influenced by what they read, they will be unable to protect themselves from those who wish to influence them. If they are not taught to express themselves with clarity and concision in a variety of formats, they will not be able to advance whatever ideas they might come to believe, or to question those in positions of authority in an effective manner.
In short, the teaching of language arts is essential for a free society, for without it citizens cannot participate in their governance. Without a thorough grounding in reading and writing, it is near to impossible for a young person living it today's world to become a constructive and valuable member of society. How can they decide on a candidate for class president, or determine which candidate to back in larger post-high school elections if they cannot decipher the platitudes and sound bites all candidates are trained to offer in place of reasoned answers? How can they make intelligent choices (career, relationship, life), communicate their interests, and explain their decisions if they cannot converse fluently in a variety of different contexts? How will they know that what is acceptable in an email to a friend will get them fired in an email to their boss if they are unaware of the power of language and its implications?
Because of this essential belief, I think it is vital for teachers of English to work together with teachers of all other subjects to insure that reading and writing are essential elements of all class work. It is important to promote language as a crucial building block of education in general, and, I believe it is the responsibility of English language arts teachers to promote that understanding within their schools and within the teaching profession in general. This is not to imply that teaching English is somehow superior to teaching physics or history or art, but that a command of the English language is essential for teaching and for learning all of those subjects in an English-speaking environment and thus should be incorporated into the basic core of all of those classes as well.
I am enthusiastic about becoming a teacher; a step on the ladder of education that students climb from nursery to dissertation, because I believe it is a vocation in which one has the opportunity to touch the future and to impact the lives of students in a meaningful way which may stay with them throughout their lives.
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