Philosophy

My philosophy of teaching revolves around the central idea that service is the key to impacting our educational system, and thus impacting young lives and minds. It is essential for me to view service to others in order to promulgate what I believe are necessary components of a successful teaching philosophy. By being service and action oriented, I may translate a body of knowledge necessary for not only a well-rounded social studies education, but I may also prepare young people to be well informed, helping them to make independent decisions. This view of service in education will also translate into a future world citizenry that can function, operate, and thrive in the “smaller” global world in which we live. Globalism is happening right before our eyes; in our families, neighborhoods, cities, states, country as well as the world, we are surrounded by people of diverse beliefs, creeds, ethnicities, religions, and worldviews. Social studies educators have the perfect platform to have an impact on society as a whole. We hold the keys to transmitting the body of knowledge, changing society by educating its future citizens, and making a difference in the global world in which we live.
In the classroom this can be achieved by approaching the education of the pupils as a service to them, to society, and to ourselves as teachers. We interact increasingly with the global world, and so we all benefit from this service we are providing for the aforementioned groups.
With that in mind, a good background of the history of issues must be provided so that we can help the students realize where we have been. This includes differing perspectives on history. We have western history, but there is also other rich traditions of history that need to be examined from another point of view than we are traditionally taught as history. These will also further building cultural bridges in neighborhoods and beyond. We need also prepare the students for being responsible citizens by informing them on how our republic works. The “nuts and bolts” of government, bureaucracy, and our voting and economic systems will prepare our students to be active participants in the world. They may choose not to be involved, but our responsibility is to give them the option to participate in society to the best of their ability and their wants, needs and desires.
Another concrete step that can be made in action planning a current and future classroom strategy to carry out this philosophy is to make the learning engaging and enriching for the students. It is not an easy task, but by being creative with assignments, using theory, proven (and maybe some unproven) strategies to add to their existing schema of knowledge. We need to turn to Bloom, Gardner, Maslow, Rosenblatt, Vygotsky, Piaget, Mathews and meld all sources available to us to create exciting classrooms, lessons, and learning. The classroom should be the “situation room” of students’ lives. My goal is to make my classroom the “situation room.”