Teaching Philosophy
My teaching is motivated by a desire to see students succeed. This means much more than passing a class. Success means different things to different people. My goal is to help students make good decisions about their professional and personal development so that they can achieve the larger goals they set when they decided to pursue higher education. I believe that there are four essential parts to this process 1) Students should be at the center of teaching and learning 2) Theory should inform practice and vice versa 3) Learning is a function of making connections and being a part of a greater community and 4) Self awareness is essential to becoming a lifelong learner.
As a first generation college student I had specific goals for my college education that centered on getting a job post graduation. However, the influence of wonderful, academic, social, and spiritual guides in my own college experience helped me to see greater value in what I did outside the classroom. Being able to understand how those two aspects of college work together to create a whole educational experience has informed my professional path to this day. For this reason I strongly believe that the role of the teacher in the classroom is to guide students toward discovery by finding ways to connect their lives outside the classroom to their learning inside it. A teacher must be able to bring all that they are to their class to help find those connections; to guide them in seeking out opportunities to become engaged in meaningful ways with the campus and surrounding community.
As a first generation college student I had specific goals for my college education that centered on getting a job post graduation. However, the influence of wonderful, academic, social, and spiritual guides in my own college experience helped me to see greater value in what I did outside the classroom. Being able to understand how those two aspects of college work together to create a whole educational experience has informed my professional path to this day. For this reason I strongly believe that the role of the teacher in the classroom is to guide students toward discovery by finding ways to connect their lives outside the classroom to their learning inside it. A teacher must be able to bring all that they are to their class to help find those connections; to guide them in seeking out opportunities to become engaged in meaningful ways with the campus and surrounding community.
A Teacher is what I am not what I do.
History
I first began teaching as an Assistant Instructor in a martial arts class in 1992. In 1994 I took over the class as the Lead Instructor and have been teaching martial arts ever since. This one teaching experience provided me with the most important lesson a teacher can learn: You must always remain a student if you intend to continue to teach. Nothing embodies the spirit of lifelong learning more than serious study of the martial arts. There is an adage that the more you learn the more you realize what you don't know. I have found this to be very true, and I learned it first in a dojo.