Sam Willett

SEC 328
Teaching Philosophy

Music isn't just a passion; it can be a successful learning lifestyle. For me,
listening and learning from music is one of the greatest stimulates to engages in rich
learning. This art form creates diverse communities, engaging debates, and
relentless praise from those who dedicate passion towards its complexity. As a
result, a discussion involving multiple opinions and perspectives is started, allowing
every participant to learn something new about others and their own perspective.
This is something that many teachers aim adapt in the classroom, but their
focus is on the result, rather than the process. My teaching philosophy concentrates
on this focus and develops results due to exposing students to their passions on
multiple levels. If a teacher is able to apply this ideology, students will be able to
become engaged in text easier, encouraged to think deeply about a text, develop a
stronger sense of literacy, and stimulate interesting discussions that allows all
students to contribute and learn from each other. Learning isn't optional, so it
should be our job to make it as fun and exciting as possible.
The root of this passionate development is personal interest, stimulating
questions like, why does this matter to me?, or how can learning about a piece of art
contribute to my well-being? This needs to be considered in the classroom, and it is
a major element of my teaching philosophy. Many rely on canonical texts for their
classroom because they fulfill multiple expectations of the Common Core standards,
but it's possible to think beyond that and discover new texts that meet the same
goals. If a teacher gets to know their students and find texts that are relatable and
exciting, the first essential spark of learning will surface. It's harder than it sounds,
but it's possible, if the work is dedicated towards achieving it.
While there are many definitions of literacy, the common denominator
relates to interpreting text beyond what's given at face value. Deconstruction gives
light to this and encourages dismantling the text based on personal knowledge,
values, and experiences with reading, something that is not replicable and unique. A
focus on literary brings the classroom and outer world together, in a sense. If a
student is encouraged to think beyond a text and apply its themes to their own lives,
they will catch deception, make well thought-out and mature decisions, and
influence their peers to consider the same. This thinking also allows IEP, ELL, and
other handicapped students to engage in conversation comfortably. While factual
and right-or-wrong situations may seem overwhelming to these groups, this open-
ended thinking depends on how they learn and how a text encourages them to do
so.
What makes this form of thinking most interesting is sharing those ideas,
though. This shift allows students to more in charge of their learning, become
acquainted with multiple points of views, and be placed outside of their comfort
zone to accommodate new knowledge and develop more well-rounded
perspectives. With this in mind, right and wrong answers aren't the focus. The class
can consider this openness to develop a conclusion concluded by the class and
consider it later, outside of class. The best classroom conversations are the ones that
travel beyond its walls, so I'm determined develop topics to do so.
Its easy to disregard outside-of-school topics in the classroom when quotas
must be reached and particular assessments need to be completed. Passion can be
infused into the classroom, but one must dig within themselves to open their
passion to enter the classroom and encourage others to do the same.