Teaching Philosophy
"And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer." Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet
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The world is growing smaller and smaller by the second. We are caught in that growth, redefining ideas of citizenship and cultivating relationships that transcend previous boundaries. What does it mean to be a person in the world today? Are we bound to ideologies, or are we bound to histories? Are we bound to land, or are we bound to infinite spaces in which we may exist temporally and spiritually?
The twenty-first century student needs to know how to ask these questions and a myriad of others, then through reasoning, research, critical thinking, and collaboration refine answers that lead to other questions. Amidst all this, they also need to learn how to hone verbal and written communication as well as perform and theorize about math. This is a great deal to put on young learners, but here we are. That is why rigorous academic work must be tempered with attention towards holistic health. Taking care of the self through mindfulness, movement, and radical compassion is as essential as asking great questions and learning the practical, tried-and-true, ABCs.
A focus on self should lead to relational understanding in which justice for all living beings comes to the forefront. There are a thousand trite evocations I could make about “today’s world…” but there is no time for that, really. Equality and compassion should become commonplace, and I find that the classroom is a beautiful place to begin planting those seeds. Our teaching should be diverse and intersectional; it should recognize the strengths inherent in differences while also honoring that historically we have not done an adequate job of creating and holding equal opportunity for various people in the United States. This is why the bookshelves in my classroom speak with different voices and languages: they are the homes of men and women, non-binary folks; they are the homes of indigenous writers, Latinx writers, African American writers, African writers, Muslim writers, Asian writers, LGBTQIA+ writers; they are the homes of young writers and disabled writers and writers who have survived wars and writers who have climbed great mountains. I believe stories are the greatest teachers and unifiers on this increasingly shrinking planet, and we should listen to all the stories we can find.
I see the student-centered classroom as a place to explore how we may responsibly and ethically use media to make this world a better place. I see the classroom as a place in which people are safe making mistakes, growing, and becoming themselves. I believe in the classroom that functions as both a port and a harbor for young thinkers, a place in which they are safe and free. I believe in a classroom in which fun is encouraged, in which learning is thought of as one of the best parts of life.
The world is smaller and smaller, but we are bigger and bigger within it. With that comes the opportunity to create a healthier, more just world. I think the classroom is where these ideas take root.