Teaching Philosophy
“The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks.”
-- Christopher Hitchens
I seek to ensure that students are able to understand the importance of the past, present and future. This allows students to understand larger connections throughout the world. For example, being able to utilize what they learn in math, students can read charts filled with historical information in order to create charts containing their own conclusions and data. In English classes, students are given various types of readings and asked to make connections to other books, films, and conversations. Theses same readings can allow history students to use their English reading skills to analyze history readings as well. In writing classes, students are exposed on techniques to enhance their technical writing and style through opportunities such as writing essays, completing document-based questions and/or analyzing a topic. These connections span other subjects, such as science, art, technology, and physical education. These interdisciplinary subjects is often what ties what students earn inside and outside of the classroom together.
William Arthur Ward, once said, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” My goal is to be a great teacher. This quote motivates me to surround my students with the information to enhance their way of thinking.
In any given year I plan to take every student and through lesson planning, differentiation, individual and group projects, and class discussions will all of my students be able to find the historian in themselves. Furthermore, I strongly encourage well roundedness in my students, to ensure that every students' who enters my class, leaves with a deeper awareness of critical thinking skills and global awareness readiness.
As the teacher, I will be able to accomplish these goals by having students succeed by:
1. Reading, understanding and critically analyzing sources (primary, secondary and/or tertiary documents).
2. Identifying biases to determine objective behavior through history texts or the behavior of historical people.
3. Finding supporting evidence to strengthen arguments so that students can express their thought and beliefs through their writing and orally.
4. Introducing concise writing by slowly developing students' writing ability by emphasizing on main ideas, grammar, and larger ideas.
5. Using research to logically make predictions based on their historical knowledge events in the past, present, and future.
**This portfolio presents my teaching philosophy, planning experience, and evidence of student and professional growth. I invite you to explore the site to gain a better sense of my skills, approaches, and goals that I have utilized in my classes through my teaching experiences both in the middle school and high school level of Massachusetts and New York. **
Note: To view my entire Teaching Statement, please click on the Additional Artifacts link on the navigation bar. Or feel free to click on the link to be automatically directed to the file.*