Learning to Shine-My Teaching Philosophy

According to Socrates, the only good in this world is knowledge and the only evil is ignorance, but being a teacher is about so much more than simply transferring knowledge. My primary objective as a teacher is to help students discover how to learn and evaluate knowledge toward becoming intelligent, self-controlled and creative members of society who never stop learning. Today, students are in the greatest need for proficiency in thinking, reading and writing. I believe that by focusing on these skills, students will gain control of their education.

Learning

Problem-based learning of the Socratic method is the basis of my pedagogical practice. Open-ended questions encourage independent thinking and reasoning that enables students to form their own conclusions. A constructivist method of student-based learning that builds upon prior knowledge where the teacher is the facilitator and encourager is the best way to achieve this. Furthermore, the education of high-risk students is vital. We must concentrate on what a student can do and build upon that, rather than focusing on what they lack.

Teaching

An effective teacher stays in touch with what matters to students and creates lesson plans that both meet educational criteria and apply to students’ lives. Therefore, preparation, creativity and flexibility are vital to engaging students and keeping their focus. Current events, popular culture and technology are all ways to relate material to student’s lives.

For example, popular songs both engage students and provide real-life examples of poetic devices. Above all, expressing my passion for and knowledge of English is the best way to get students excited about learning and to keep their attention.

Growing

I know from personal experience that journaling is an effective tool for growing. As a result, students will become better communicators and will learn how to express their thoughts and feelings in effective ways. Students can ask questions and work out problems in their journals to learn to be methodical, yet creative and critical thinkers. Finally, a journal becomes a record of students’ reading and writing progress that can be used to set personal learning goals.

To determine my effectiveness as a teacher, student input and feedback is crucial. In addition to keeping an open-door policy of communication with my students, a simple suggestion box can create an anonymous arena where students can voice concerns and difficulties about lessons. When it comes to learning, the boundaries between student and teacher are interchangeable. Essentially, we are all students of life. As a teacher, I should be the biggest learner among students, constantly researching and studying ways to improve as a teacher.

Shining

Reading and writing well has been synonymous with discovering and expressing who I am. Literature has inspired me to take risks and think beyond myself. Simply put, studying English has taught me how to shine. Likewise, every student too is a light, and it is my job to help them to shine for all to see.

House of Cards

I have a confession. I am an expert at appearing and not being. Just like Machiavelli's The Prince, I have perfected the art of seeming and not being. I am a house of cards, that may look pretty, but comes crashing down at the first sign of trouble. I did not come to be this way by accident. In grade school I wanted to appear smart, yet cool, so I would purposely get things wrong on my tests and school work so that I wouldn't get made fun of for being smart and getting 100's. How sad. How very sad that insecurity had its grips on me so early. Fast forward to modeling. Oh, if ever there was a career that destroyed the inner woman at the expense of the way she looks it is modeling. I loved modeling, but I hated what I let it do to me. That's right. I was not a victim. I chose to become a professional model and listen to what the world said I should look like. This all reminds me of a poem I wrote and the importance of who we are rather than what we appear. Enjoy.

Be

We are like squirming children

darting our attention to whatever sparkles or moves

Be still my child and know that I am God

We fill our days with emptiness—

that all consuming void which violates our souls

Be still my child and know that I am God

We do busy

We do stress

We do not rest

The human-doing is not

being

feeling

breathing

Be still my child and know that I am God

The truth is out

But do we care?

The verdict is guilty—

We are lost, but if we would only stop

we would be there

we would find the way—

Be still my child and know that I am God

I close my eyes—

I breathe

I love

I feel

I am—

Are you?

Life Story

Once upon a time I used to not trust myself. I would not put anything down on the page because I was insecure. I used to write to please others before I wrote to please myself. I guess that is what happened when I tired to get accepted into the MFA program at Texas State. I tried to write for the people who would read it, but I had no idea who they were. I was writing for people that I knew would hate my stuff. Everything that I put on the page, even now, I worry if my reader will approve of it. Will they approve of me? Ultimately, I was putting myself on the page, but often times when I looked at it I did not like myself. How tragic.

Life is tragic. Life is traumatic. When I look back on my thought life especially, I wonder how I am not in a straight jacket rocking myself in a pink and blue room. But also when I look back, I am happy. I love life and I have really enjoyed living it. I feel lucky and special to have such a blessed life. I know that this is God’s doing, I wonder if everyone feels special? Sometimes special is good and sometimes it is bad. It just depends on the perspective that you decide to look at it with. Decide. Decision. Life is a decision. Life will find a way. It will go on, with or with out us, but the decision happens when we decide how to look at life and not just take life as it comes. I have felt as if I don’t have a purpose, that nothing has a purpose. I have been depressed because I have not been pressing. I have been asleep. I have been among the dead.

Perhaps it is because I am bored that I am tired all of the time. I love to have fun and I am really enjoying what it is like to be me—finally! But maybe I don’t do this stuff enough. Why must I feel like I am wasting time if I am doing something I love? I feel guilty when I am not “getting stuff done.” I have said in the past that I love to run errands, but do I really? Everyday is a new day to discover yourself. Everyday is a new day to discover God. I wish that I could just stop waiting to arrive and just look up and see that I am living my life. I decide who, I decide where and how much. Thank you Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman for reminding me. Free Will is a beautiful thing. No, not Free Willie!-- Free will. Free Willie has become a killer of a killer whale and is sick of being locked up in bondage. Sound familiar? Free will is such a beautiful gift of God. Why do I, you, we choose to use it to decide to be in bondage. Life is free so we should live free. The End.