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TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

No matter what anybody tells you,

words and ideas can change the world.

-Dead Poets Society

I strive to send my students to their next step--be it that afternoon, the next course, or "the real world"--as critical consumers of information, as enlightened and empathetic members of society; to me, that is student success. Creating a fun, safe, and encouraging environment in our day-to-day learning space helps ensure this success. 

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To create this environment, I do my best to become the facilitator in the classroom so as to put the emphasis on the students rather than on myself. I've found that when students feel as if they are in control of their own learning, that sense of responsibility yields greater results than when I try to take charge.

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Beyond facilitating my students in this environment, I believe sharing my passion and enthusiasm for my subject is one of my greatest strengths. There is nothing better than when a student realizes the symbolism behind killing a mockingbird, when a student masters a thesis statement that sets them up for more than five pagaraphs, or when a student who is otherwise silent in class finally feels comfortable to share his/her opinion aloud. I love being a teacher, and I do my best to make sure my students know I do.

Current 
Classroom

For the past five semesters, I have taught as an Adjunct Instructor of English at Young Harris College in Young Harris, Georgia. YHC is a small, private United Methodist college located in the North Georgia mountains. The English faculty, in particular, is a group of intelligent, passionate people who value professionalism, student success, and who are always working toward bettering the department and the college. I am honored to be one of them.

 

I teach ENGL 1101 Composition and ENGL 1102 Composition and Literature. I usually teach three sections on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and each course is a semester long. Classrooms are equipped with SmartPodiums, and my class sizes are anywhere from 8 to 20 students. My students are usually first and second semester freshmen, but I often have upper classmen as well. I get to structure my classes to my strengths while working toward the objectives set by the department to work toward student success. 

 

Please feel free to read more about the way I have structured my classes and see two of my syllabi by hovering over the "Courses I Teach" tab.

Current Classroom
Teaching Methods
Teaching
Methods

It's Saturday morning. I sit down and begin to think about the new unit coming up, and even though this unit was set before the semester began, I still feel the pressure to make it novel and engaging the best I can. However, I know that not all my students learn the same way. Therefore, I am a strong believer in differentiated instruction, and so Dr. Howard Gardner and I get to work.

 

Dr. Gardner is the mind behind the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. The theory goes beyond the idea that everyone learns best one of three ways--audibly, visually, or kinesthetically--and suggests that there are nine ways in which people can learn.

 

  • Verbal

  • Logical

  • Spacial

  • Bodily

  • Musical

  • Interpersonal

  • Intrapersonal

  • Naturalist

  • Existential 

 

The theory also suggests that no one fits solely into just one of these intelligences but rather everyone has some stock in all nine but are strongest in a few. I take this theory as motivation to plan each lesson in the week. I try to incorporate as many intelligences I can so each student will more likely be reached.

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In Practice:

 

[Because I do not have my own classroom--each section is assigned its own--this is what I do in the event that I am able to get to the classroom early to set up. If I am only able to get in on time, I set up as soon as I can so I can talk with my students before class starts.]

 

I welcome my students with music in the background. I also create a welcome slide to project that usually has the date and some kind of image to introduce what we'll be doing.

 

After the formal welcome, I have them write. It may be a quiz, it may be predictions for what they believe is coming; whatever it is, they write. It helps them mentally transition into being in English class. This helps students channel the intrapersonal intelligence. 

 

The structure of each class varies by what material is to be covered and how I believe the students will best be able to process the information. I like to scaffold my lessons and teach by the way of "I do, we do, you do" and ideas start to flow in the planning stages while applying the multiple intelligences. I have seen this work beautifully through the way I teach the interplay of words and images while my students read the graphic novel The Complete Persepolis. 

 

Each class ends with a recap, what's coming up, any homework they need to remember, and a farewell.

With so much technology readily available, why not bring it into the classroom if possible? I am rarely found in a classroom without a Prezi or PowerPoint to supplement my lessons. It creates a visual for not only the students with which to engage during the lesson, but frankly it keeps me on track as well! The button at the bottom of this page will take you straight to my Prezi account where you can take a look at the presentations I use in class. However, keeping in line with the student-centered classroom, I have had many moments of trial and error and am still searching for relevant and useful outlets.
 
Programs I have tried in the past:
  • PollEverywhere.com: I used this site when introducing new units. It requires just a little work prior to class, and students get to text in responses to a prompt in real time while the poll is projected. Unfortunately, not all students' phones are compatible with the program which skews the results. While it doesn't always work out as smoothly as I hope, I do believe the students enjoy it.
  • Instagram: In the fall of 2015, I set up an Instagram account for each of my courses. While I tried to encourage my students to follow the accounts by unashamedly advertising extra credit opportunities, not many students followed the accounts. My hope was to engage them in the class outside of the classroom, but the idea was better than what happened in practice.
    • In trying to continually create a student-centered classroom, I have since turned my Instagram efforts into my students posting to specific hashtags instead of the work being all on me.
  • Blogs: I have required my students to create blogs in the past in order to present their final projects. I tried to give guidelines instead of rules, and that was a mistake on my part. 
 
As I continue to teach, I continue to search for technological outlets that are useful and meaningful to the learning environment I try to create. Only posting grades on Moodle, sending email reminders, and posting on Instagram to a very small audience does not reach the technological standard I aim for in my student-centered classroom.
 
Some of my technological successes now include using Hootsuite to schedule Instagram posts, using Calendly to schedule student conferences, and I have jumped into the world of Google Drive! Being able to edit a Doc, Sheet, etc. and have it update automatically to the shared link on Moodle is wonderous. I also use it to collect student information through Google Forms, and I once held an interactive workshop through Google Docs--I dogfooded an essay and had my students comment on it before we came together as a class to discuss the decisions I made and improvements to be done.
Technology
Technology
Assessment
As a college composition teacher, formal assessment is mainly found in the form of papers. My students typically write three papers as well as one major project. Each paper builds on the skills required by the previous paper, and while the page minimum does not always increase, the skills required to do well become more complex.
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As the students work toward final drafts of the paper, I take class time to informally assess their progress. This assessment can look like anything from pop quizzes based on readings to in-class group work. The most informative assessment before the final copy of each paper is due is each workshop held before the paper is due.
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Before every paper, I schedule one-to-two days' worth of workshopping (increased from prior semesters). The students are required to bring in a rough draft that looks like a final copy. During most workshops, papers are switched among peers and there is a formal set of skills that are paid special attention. This is also a time during which I am open for any questions they may have to ensure the best grade they can earn.
Assessment
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