My Teaching Philosophy

 

 

 

Based on my experience in the teaching and learning space, it is clear that my life experiences provide a unique and dynamic approach to my educational philosophy. As an alum of the High Tech High network, I truly understand the student experience within this school network. As a former public policy researcher and local, state, and federal government staff member, I have built upon the foundation High Tech helped me construct. I believe that the teacher’s primary responsibility is to nurture the holistic development of the students in their care. Educators should guide students to set aspirational, yet achievable, goals that foster self-motivated learning. 

 

Before curriculum planning or deep learning, it is crucial to establish a strong, thoughtful classroom culture. Social emotional learning (SEL) drives how I conduct behavior and academic interventions. I walk with students whenever possible, which I strongly believe takes some pressure off of these discussions while also removing distractions. Since students must receive support in naming their emotions and understanding how they affect the space that they are in, I use an emotion and feeling wheel to help students specifically name their emotions beyond just “happy, bored, tired.” SEL allows an entry point to establish psychological safety within the classroom, celebrate authenticity, and ensure that students feel heard. Students must feel psychologically safe in order to learn, and inclusivity is key to this. This work must be rooted in celebrating students’ authentic selves, and include opportunities for students to engage in self-work. I often utilize the 2X10 relationship building strategy to uncover what student behavior is communicating, and we address the underlying dilemma before brainstorming solutions to in-class behavior.

 

Students, particularly adolescents, thrive when they understand what is expected of them. To ensure this, I use co-constructed assessment rubrics, project one pagers, and classroom norms. Generally, I choose to co-create standards of assessments with students to disrupt the inherent power dynamic between student and educator and undo systems that have targeted and damaged marginalized students. Students benefit from understanding how a larger idea or goal can be translated into more granular and actionable steps. When co-creating classroom norms, I encourage students to think about what behaviors would communicate meeting or missing expectations. Within this classroom community, I see myself as a trustworthy facilitator and coach. I reinforce this through classroom activities such as Envision, Coach, Reflect and dilemma consultancies. Dilemma consultancies, a pillar of High Tech staff development, can be recreated in the classroom to ensure that students are a part of conflict resolution in a way that feels authentic.

 

In my classroom, I invest time upfront getting to know my students, their interests, and prior projects. My lessons and projects are considerate of the information I’ve uncovered. For example, when I discovered that my class was extremely interested in current events and the Black Lives Matter movement, I restructured a unit to include a close read of Representative John Lewis’ final essay and a deeper dive into historical events he references. This type of responsiveness ensures that students feel seen and heard, while also increasing academic engagement. 

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Project-based learning (PBL) provides an incredible vehicle for students to be at the center of their own learning. I incorporate countless opportunities for student choice and design into my projects, which ensures deeper learning. These projects and lessons allow students to engage in challenging work and produce meaningful reflections of learning. I create opportunities for students to find, pressure test, and reevaluate the truths that they hold for themselves. In order to push student thinking, I make sure to incorporate external partnerships to every project I design. This is made easier by having a wealth of connections from my professional life, but I also draw on my outreach experience to discover new people and organizations that can bring unique, rich context to student learning. 

 

My curriculum is designed to place the cognitive load on students, with lessons and projects that I design requiring students to engage in higher order thinking. It is a disservice to students to spoon-fed knowledge, even coming from a place of wanting to protect or support them. “Watering down” curriculum only reinforces to the student that they are not equipped to think for themselves, and stifles their cognitive development compared to their classmates. I approach the Humanities curriculum with the primary goal of connecting literacy to sociopolitical and historical concepts. Literacy gives individuals the tools to make the world a better place as well as the ability to critically understand themselves and their world. While literacy curricula can emphasize reading and writing, active listening is also a critical skill that must be taught. Students must be encouraged to listen just as much as they speak, listen to understand, and allow their thoughts and opinions remain fluid as they listen to others’ ideas. The beauty of literacy is that there is no ceiling –it provides all students, regardless of ability, with lots of kind, constructive feedback on how to advance their skills.

 

In terms of explicitly supporting students with disabilities, I proactively communicate with the student and their support team to ensure the classroom is set to support them. In my classroom, I invest time with  neurodivergent students’ to learn what their “whale” is, and make sure I design opportunities for these students to share their interests with in the classroom. Students with disabilities bring a truly special experience and set of talents that will only enhance the classroom community and co-created learning. 

 

The first step of building any equity and justice-based classroom is to address my own position of power and privilege. I hold myself accountable to call out my own privileges while simultaneously ensuring that my curriculum is equitable and representative, which helps me build trust with all of my students. Students need teachers to acknowledge their own privilege, but also to model what it looks like to show up and be vulnerable. During a lesson on perspective, I shared with my freshman that I struggled with an eating disorder as a teenager and early adult. Students shared with me that this discussion helped them see me as a whole human. As a Humanities teacher, my learning goals emphasize critical perspectives. These topics and conversations are inclusive, relevant, and allow multiple access points. I am clear with students that the goal is not to cause distress about difficult history, but to ensure that they have the knowledge and resources to never repeat history. To this end, I design curricula that highlights excellence, bravery, and incredible talent of individuals from every racial, gender, and socioeconomic background. 

 

A teacher’s primary responsibility is to nurture the holistic development of the students in their care. Educators should guide students to set aspirational, yet achievable, goals that foster self-motivated learning.  I believe that this can be achieved through strong classroom culture, authentic learning goals, inclusion and differentiation, literacy instruction that connects to social science, and a north star of expanding students’ sociopolitical consciousness. In ten years, my first students will be approaching their mid-twenties, and creating a class that emphasizes these areas will lead to adults who are loving, loved, and hold a firm critical consciousness that drives them to positively impact society.