Philosophy of Learning
“My goal in relation to Schoolers—or to anyone who thinks that any form of learning is the right and natural form of learning—is to stir the imagination to invent alternatives. Piaget said that to understand is to invent. He was thinking of children. But the principle applies to all of us” (Papert, 1993, p. 34).
What is your philosophy of learning?
After nine years of teaching, although I have changed how I approach lesson planning, my conversations with students, and my feelings regarding the education system, my philosophy of learning has largely remained the same. Like Papert, I too think that when we have the freedom to imagine, the curiosity to explore alternatives, the autonomy to think from our purest child forms, then can we truly and intrinsically learn. Learning is both difficult and rewarding, disorganized and structured, and planned and random. In other words, learning is a journey of opposites, ups and downs, trials and errors, and failures and successes. No matter the journey, it is a valuable one.
How do you believe you learn?
I learn best through kinesthetic, tangible, and memorable learning experiences. For as long as I can remember. I have had a visual memory, and I have been a sentimental person who keeps birthday cards, memorabilia, trinkets, and more. Part of that manifests itself into my learning as well, because in a learning environment, I am similarly attracted to “things” – whether they are classroom props, experiences, and other things that make the learning “the real deal” and something I can hold on to. I do not want to just hear about something; I want to see it. I want to experience it. I want to keep it. I also learn best through collaboration with other people. I love sharing ideas about teaching, learning a new hobby, and gaining new perspectives from conversations. As with my philosophy, I love the freedom to explore my own learning and become much more invested when I have creative control.
Who are your students?
In many ways, my students remind me of myself as a teenager. I grew up in New Castle, Delaware and attended William Penn High School; Elkton High School seems very much like a mirror to that. My students are teenagers, some experiencing high school for the very first time, and others who are counting down until May when they graduate. They are sarcastic and fully of witty, trendy thoughts. They are artists, readers, sports players, siblings, advocates, and ultimately children.
How do your students learn?
My answer to this question looks slightly different now than it did before the pandemic. There are still parallels, but my teaching, and their learning, has shifted. What I have noticed more this year is that my students learn best with consistency, structure, and routine. They value collaboration, and they appreciate creative projects rather than writing assignments. They gravitate towards audiobooks, and they like reading just to read rather than reading to complete reading guides. They like to feel empowered in their learning. They appreciate empathy, hands-on activities, and gamification.
How is this reflected (or not) in your teaching?
I talk with my students frequently about school, my class, their needs, my needs, and sometimes I do this through informal discussions or more formally through Google Form surveys. Despite the challenges in teaching, my core values regarding it have not wavered. Our classrooms should be full of passion, exuberance, randomness, rigor, and positivity. Memorable experiences are what I strive for with my students; we must create magic. I try to do this through my classroom environment and set-up, my lessons, and my relationships with students. I attribute a lot of my success with rapport to our use of restorative practices. When I lesson plan, I keep a wonder-filled approach to it: How can I teach it? What would it look like if I sought out collaboration? How can I enhance this with some visuals or maybe a game? With my students, I want them to explore and have freedom; likewise, I give myself the same opportunity when I am teaching.
References
Papert, S. (1993). The children’s machine. New York: Basic books