Philosophy of Teaching

If one asked the average person on the street today “what is education,” the answers would probably be “acquiring knowledge.” Unfortunately, this is horribly shortsighted. Many people exist whom have a vast encyclopedia of knowledge within their brains who were not educated. Being able to recite the Pythagorean Theorem or when the secession of the Confederate States of America took place does not make one educated. It means one knows facts. Life is not simply facts.

So what is education? To put it simply, it is the process of developing critical thinking. It is the ability to discover why a problem is happening and then figuring out how to fix that problem. This is not to demean facts. They are important for context. But they do not give people the ability to solve problems. This is what education should be, the discovery of why and how. The knowledge of the Pythagorean Theorem is useless if one is not able to discern when one must put it use. Knowing when the CSA seceded loses context if one cannot discover the underlying reasons as to why they seceded.

These reasons are what drew me to education. It is not just about teaching students history or civics. It is teaching them why certain events happened. It is about teaching how small events can lead to catastrophe. It is teaching them how certain governments work and why some work better than others, or why none work at all. And most importantly, it is about wanting them to be able to take the material taught to them about critical thinking and apply it to their daily lives. If this skill can be cultivated within our students, it could give birth to a generation with the ability to ease many of societies woes.

Having said all this, it should be obvious that no two students are the same. Differentiation in instruction is imperative to creating the best learning environment for the student. It is the duty of the teacher and parent to create a curriculum that fits the learning style of the student. If the student is visual learner, the teacher must adjust to this by adding visual aids, such as videos or pictures, that will help the student. If the student is an audio learner, the teacher must adjust to this by adding audio aids, such as a podcast or a book-on-tape, that will help the student. If the student is gifted, advance the lesson to a level which the student will find challenging. If the student is hindered, adjust the lesson to help alleviate the stress that may be put upon the student in a normal classroom setting. Following these steps should help create the best possible learning environment for the students as a whole.