Expanding Lives: My Teaching Philosophy

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Expanding Lives: My Teaching Philosophy

Life progresses in front of our own eyes, sometimes without us noticing. The days go by, the nights grow dark and then it is morning. In the course of each passing day, countless opportunities arise, some of which we take on while others we ignore. Teaching and learning are two of these chances, two I feel upon which we should never pass. In order to ensure I am teaching and learning at nearly every prospect, I have always lived my life as if it is a coloring book. When I was a child, I scribbled on every page, leaving messy streaks of crayon and never staying in the lines. Time went by with elementary school, and I learned the importance of following rules and staying in the lines. As I grew older and entered high school, I decided it was time to strengthen the boundaries, solidifying each picture with clarity and neatness. But here I am, in college and at the completion of my Junior Professional Experience—junior student teaching. How can my coloring book already be complete? It is not. Now it is time for me to go beyond the restraints, to color the world outside of each picture. By teaching and learning at every possibility, I will enrich not only my coloring book, but the pages of others as well.

Teaching is not a simple task and it is not trouble-free, but I feel it is the most rewarding of all of life’s opportunities. I see teaching as a way of helping an individual expand. That expansion is not limited to knowledge, however. I want to expand a student’s mind, personality, understanding, worldview, and personal drive as well. If I help a student learn to read, that is teaching. If I assist a child in tying his shoe, that is teaching. If I practice with my brother while he works on his touchdown throw, that is teaching. If I make someone a better person, that is teaching in its most immaculate form. By expanding an individual’s ability to have an open mind and to accept people and their differences, I have made them a nobler person. If a student sits in my class all year with the literature and grammar going in one ear and out the other, but she still leaves with a better understanding of herself and a broadened scope of the world around her, I have succeeded in expanding her to some extent.

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