Learning in the Digital Age

Learning Philosophy: Building on your Manifesto

I'm proud to say evolved a lot in my teaching career. I wouldn't say I felt like a strong teacher my first year, but I did everything I could to learn and improve from the get-go. Over the years, I've become more confident and knowledgeable. I see new teachers and marvel at how different my own perspective is now compared to when I started. The changes I recognize in myself didn't happen quickly, and I fully expect to look back in another ten years to see even more progression.

There are many experiences that have changed my philosophies and methods. I've participated in a wide variety of professional learning, worked under multiple administrators all with their own unique preferences and styles, taught different subjects and grade levels, had a family of my own which allows me to experience school from the parent perspective. While some of these experiences have added stress and complications at times, I know that they've all contributed in some way to my thoughts and beliefs on my career.

One of the most obvious changes I see in my professional career are my philosophies on teaching and learning. You'll find more information about my teaching philosophy on my Learning Manifesto page, so I'd like to focus on my Learning Philosophy here.

In the past few years, I've really started to understand that the stereotypical idea of the teacher being the all-knowing sharer of knowledge is completely antiquated. This might have worked before we had full-time access to the internet and the ability to search for an answer to any question we could imagine. Back then, teachers had the answers and we had to trust them to give us in the information we needed. What I've noticed, particularly since switching from teaching math to teaching a STEM elective, is that I will always have students who already know more than me about particular topics or who can find answers to questions much faster than I can. At first, this realization bothered me. I felt unwanted, unnecessary, and there was a short time I considered leaving the profession because I was convinced I would never be successful. However, I soon realized I was not unnecessary in the classroom. I was actually very capable of using my teaching skills to guide students when they took the reigns of their own learning. In fact, I feel like a much more successful teacher now than ever before.

Thinking back to my first years as a teacher, I see now that I was a control freak. I wanted to force this specific knowledge upon my students, and I hoped to bask in the glow of their knowledge at the end of each school year. You might not be surprised to learn that I was continually disappointed. While I, personally, am interested in math and enjoy solving math problems, the majority of my students were not. I didn't take time to notice or care that they weren't interested, and I felt unsuccessful when they didn't finish the school year with perfect scores on their state assessments.

What I now understand is that students learn better when they are curious in a topic. Sometimes this curiosity comes naturally, and sometimes teachers have to work a bit harder to make a topic appear more intriguing. For example, there are some things our state requires that we teach, and some of those things are just not very interesting to the average middle school student. The job of a good teacher is to take these "uninteresting" topics and provide opportunities for students to become interested. Perhaps this is done by challenging the students with a real-world problem to solve, or incorporating an escape room activity, or giving kids access to technology while learning the concept. This is part of what a "good" teacher does: they create the opportunities and sometimes disguise the overall objective to increase student buy-in. When a student buys into what your classroom offers, they'll be more willing to put forth the effort to learn.

The past few years, I've done as much as possible to avoid direct teaching and force-feeding students knowledge based on what I tell them is important. Instead, I usually challenge my students with an open-ended problem. They must brainstorm solutions and then learn the necessary skills to design those solutions. Therefore, their natural curiosity and willingness to seek out information takes over and I become a guide, rather than the all-knowing master of the classroom. Some of my students just want me to stay out the way as they take charge and some need helpful guidance on staying on track with time management or teamwork skills. I never really know which direction my students will go when challenged with their design problem. Sometimes I have to do some impromptu learning of my own to guide my students, but this allows me to grow my own knowledge base about various topics. I maintain interest in my own class, instead of feeling like each year is just a repeat of the last.

I often think back to the spring when I applied for the STEM elective position. I was feeling very disheartened teaching math and couldn't seem to dig myself out of the hole I felt I was in. Switching topics made me confront the fact that the main problem I'd been experiencing in my classroom was me and my unwillingness to understand my learners differently. This change allowed me to admit that I could never know everything and truthfully, I don't need to. Instead, I need to provide a comfortable place for my students to learn, for them to ask questions and seek out their own answers, for them to feel confident sharing what they know. I know I will continue to grow, but I'm so proud of how far I've come.