My Teaching Philosophy

I have experienced firsthand the transformative power of education and of educators. I grew up in a house where food insecurity was a daily reality, but so was learning; where both of my parents worked multiple jobs to put not only food on the table but also books on the shelves; where I was constantly reminded that we didn't have much, but I could earn so much more for myself if I worked hard in school. Thanks to their support and that of several inspiring teachers, I fulfilled the promise my parents made and have dedicated my career to paying it forward as a teacher myself. This experience informs my practice, driving my focus on three core principles: inquiry, equity, and community.

Inquiry

“Liberating education consists in acts of cognition, not transferals of information.”― Paulo Freire

To me, inquiry is the first principle of effective pedagogy, especially in ELA. After all, one of the primary functions of fiction is to provide a safe space for experimentation, for asking "what if?" or "why not?". Teaching students to formulate and find the answers to their own questions empowers them to understand skills and concepts deeply and engages them with a sense of ownership over their knowledge since they created it rather than merely receiving it. In my experience, the best way to obtain such outcomes is through what Dale refers to as "Direct Purposeful Experiences." I therefore design my instruction to facilitate critical thinking and provide real-world contexts. For instance, my unit on Ray Bradbury's novel Fahrenheit 451 asks students to analyze the novel's portrayal of the relationship between humans and technology by engaging with current scientific research and their own reflections on the role of technology in society. When exploring Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart, students identify major themes in the novel that resonate with them, research methods used by modern-day social scientists to effect change from outside of a culture, and create a TED talk or traveling exhibit designed to resolve conflict while respecting culture.

Equity

“The teacher is of course an artist, but being an artist does not mean that he or she can make the profile, can shape the students. What the educator does in teaching is to make it possible for the students to become themselves.”― Paulo Freire, We Make the Road by Walking: Conversations on Education and Social Change

Equity is the moral imperative that drives me as an educator. The goal of my teaching practice is to empower all of the students in my classroom to achieve their dreams regardless of the zip code in which they live, the family into which they were born, or any other circumstance that might otherwise circumscribe their trajectory in life. For this reason, I work hard to provide rigorous, culturally-responsive instruction to all of my students. Since Spring of 2020, for example, I have implemented SMART goals in my classroom so that my students can set both academic and social-emotional goals for themselves and measure their progress. This allows me to see what my students want out of their education and to tailor individualized instruction toward not only their current skill level and their achievement in state standards but also toward their own desired outcomes. I supplement this with periodic surveys that ask students to respond anonymously to prompts like "I feel I belong in this classroom" or "Ms. Does should do more/less ___ because ___." In this way, I ensure that my instruction has the impact I intend and my classroom environment provides all students a place to feel safe taking intellectual risks.

Community

“For apart from inquiry, apart from the praxis, individuals cannot be truly human. Knowledge emerges only through invention and re-invention, through the restless, impatient, continuing, hopeful inquiry human beings pursue in the world, with the world, and with each other.”― Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed

The purpose of education, as I see it, is to support students as they grow into individuals and provide them the tools to become citizens of the local and global community. For this reason, I consistently connect English instruction to the real world through students' lived experiences and the involvement of community stakeholders, including other students and school staff, parents, and others beyond school walls. I want my students to view communities not only as something we can influence or be influenced by, but also as a source of strength and support that we can turn to and that we can provide for others. To that end, I model for my students what being a member of a professional community looks like by sharing my own professional development journey. This year, for instance, I shared my own SMART Goal with my students of completing all four required components of the National Board Certification process. When they did a SMART goal check-in, so did I. When any of us needed help, we brainstormed where in our communities we could turn for support or how we could act as a classroom community to support each other. It had a powerful positive impact on the classroom atmosphere.

As an educator, these three principles, inquiry, equity, and community, continue to drive my practice and professional growth. By embodying them faitfully, I hope to empower all of my students to reach their full potetial.