There was a time in my life when I would have attributed as much benefit to writing my philosophy of teaching as recording my philosophy of breathing. It was something you just do, not something you write down...

However, I was challenged to write down my philosophy of teaching a while back and found myself struggling to identify those things that seem so natural in the classroom. What do I believe about the nature of learning? How do different adults learn, and how do I enable learning when so many different learning styles exist in one classroom setting? What should be the focus of my time in the classroom? To educate? Or motivate? Maybe innovate and liberate, or simply just submit to fate? (ok, so now you know why my Ph.D. isn't in literature) Most importantly, writing my ideas regarding the complexity of teaching has forced me to consider the most difficult question of them all: why am I fit to be a teacher?

Please note that this document is a work in progress. The teaching philosophy found on this page is one that will (indeed must) constantly evolve as I experience teaching during my professional career. The words on this page are mine, and mine alone, sand follow the commonly found edict concerning the writing of a teaching philosophy: make it unique to you. As such, don't expect to find perfection. Don't look for incredible insights into the psyche of the learner, or amazing new ideas about how one can effectively teach adults. Rather, the statements found on this page are written to communicate my personal beliefs regarding the teaching experience, expressed through three specific components: the student, instructor, and learning environment.

1. Each student is unique. It is essential that an effective instructor recognize the uniqueness of each student / group they will teach. As such, I firmly believe that there is no one teaching approach that will work in all circumstances. Rather, a mixture of different approaches will be appropriate depending on the students involved. For example, I spent several years during the pursuit of my undergraduate degree as a guitar instructor. Experience with a large number of students demonstrated that some learned best when verbal discussion was emphasized, while others tended to benefit more from increased hands-on exercises. I will be effective as an instructor when I adapt my teaching approach to the audience, rather than trying to force the audience to adapt to my teaching approach.

2. Each student arrives with a unique set of experiences. It's also important to recognize that each student can have something worthwhile to contribute in a classroom setting. Each student comes to the table with life experiences that can be leveraged in the learning process, and an effective instructor will help each student draw on these past experiences to enrich the learning process. This requires that I invest time learning about my students, actively searching for ways to encourage each student to take ownership of their learning process. If I'm successful in this, I will receive an ancillary benefit by expanding my own understanding through the increased involvement of the students. Thus, effective learning is a two-way street where both the instructor and student grow through the process.

3. Each student possesses both ability and motivation. Two aspects of the student should be addressed in the learning experience: ability and motivation. It's obvious that the learning process should improve a student's abilities. However, an effective instructor must also seek to amplify student motivation regarding the subject. By addressing ability, the instructor will help a student to achieve sufficient self-efficacy such that they can effectively pursue continued learning in the subject area. Still, it is highly unlikely that the student will seek to improve their understanding if the instructor hasn't encouraged a sufficient motivation for the subject matter. I am convinced that effective teaching will be evidenced through an increase in each student's ability as well as their motivation to apply and extend that ability.

1. I have power over the students. This is a very simplistic statement, but one that must be acknowledged and understood if one is to effectively instruct others. This power mandates that I take responsibility for the learning process; much like a captain takes responsibility for the operations of a ship in getting from one point to another. Responsibility means that I must be properly prepared for each teaching event, making sure that I exhibit behaviors that I require of my students (such as reading materials before dates specified in the syllabus). More specifically, responsibility requires that I create a clear and concise plan for each subject I will teach, detailing the when/what/where/how/why so that progress can be objectively measured throughout the learning process. My position of power also requires that I exercise it with great care, humility and impartiality. I must be fair and respectful to all students under all circumstances.

2. I am fallible. The most effective instructors I have had were honest about their own limitations, and were willing to admit when they didn't know something or when they had been wrong about a subject. This requires a great deal of humility and honesty, and makes the instructor vulnerable in ways that are often difficult to swallow. However, this perspective allows me to address my own deficiencies such that I can continually improve my teaching capability.

3. I have been in their situation. I strongly believe that empathy is critical if an instructor is to be effective in the classroom, and my personal experiences as a student help provide a compass when addressing student issues. Exercising empathy doesn't mean that I relax standards that were specified before the class began, or that I treat one student with more favor than another student. Rather, empathy allows me to view the learning experience from the eyes of the student. This is essential since it will help to refine and mature the teaching process over time.

1. The learning environment must be open. An open learning environment requires that I treat each student with dignity and respect, encouraging their interaction during the learning process. Regardless of medium, the learning environment must be structured in such a way that students are encouraged to interact and not penalized for saying something that's considered "incorrect". An open environment will allow each student to advance their understanding. Looking at my own life, the most effective teachers have always been very accessible people who encouraged interaction. As such, I believe that an open learning environment also requires that I provide students with the opportunity to interact outside the classroom, through means such as maintaining office hours and encouraging e-mail communications. I must treat each interaction in a professional manner, responding within an appropriate timeframe and in a considerate manner.

2. Learning materials must be appropriate. This means that any texts required for a course should be utilized in the course, and where possible should not cause a financial burden on the students. I'm reminded of a statistics class I once took where the books specified in the syllabus totaled more than $250. During the first week of class the instructor mentioned that, while all books were required, he probably would only reference them occasionally and would focus mostly on his own notes. The book was a nice resource for statistics, but the cost was not justified for most students given the small amount of attention the books received. In addition to text considerations, the medium used to instruct must be appropriate given the subject matter. For example, a course on C# would require some degree of instruction through hands-on exercises and thus would require access to computers with the correct software. In areas where computers are utilized in the classroom, respect for the students requires that I take responsibility to ensure that required tools have been installed and that computing resources are sufficiently reliable to allow completion of course requirements. Finally, grades must accurately reflect reality set forth in the learning materials. This requires that I create assignments / tests that are relevant and appropriately measure student knowledge of the subject matter. Specifically, my objective shouldn't be to ease my grading load but should rather be to accurately represent each student's understanding of the subject matter.

3. Goals must be both specific and challenging to achieve. Research is quite clear on the value of setting high goals in order to achieve superior results (Kohli, Shervani & Challagalla, 1998; Sujan, Weitz & Kumar, 1994). Indeed, this is something that has been evidenced in my own life as a learner. As an undergraduate student, I took two management classes one semester that were on opposite ends of the difficulty continuum. One was very simple and required very little work outside the classroom while the other was extremely challenging and required a high degree of efforts outside the classroom. In reflecting back on that semester I know that the challenging class increased my understanding exponentially while the easy class didn't significantly impact my knowledge. In my own life I have consistently found that difficult and specific goals lead to improved performance levels, and as such believe that I must set specific goals that are difficult to achieve for my students if they are to maximize the value of their education.