As a graduate student and simultaneous post baccalaureate student, I spend most of my days stretched between laboratory experiments, studying for my master’s exam, completing work for my teacher certification classes, writing my thesis and participating in my observation hours. While this is where I am now, I dream of teaching; managing a classroom that is lively and engaging where students feel excited about the material they are learning as well as encouraged by my faith and confidence in their ability to learn.

 

Students bring a lot to the table of learning. They bring their educational histories and personal histories to the classroom, as do the educators. The comic above shows how sometimes educators choose to see a very limited view of what students bring to the table.  I have been on the side of the student who is nothing more than a fountain of, most often a trickling fountain of, research knowledge to the adviser. In the three year span of my career as a chemistry graduate student I have fallen in and out of love with chemistry, been excited with my research, been elated with great results, been confounded with results that did not make sense and many more emotions and yet my adviser saw the same student week in and week out: a student who sat more or less emotionless and spoke when spoken to. It was pretty telling that when I decided to leave graduate school to pursue secondary education certification, my adviser was one of the last to know. My adviser had no stake in my education or personal well-being and I knew it. My work suffered and so did my health.

 

My view is to educate and learn from the whole student and I hope to illustrate this throughout this portfolio. The student brings the teacher so much material with which to work. The picture above shows the hopes and dreams and ambitions of the student---these are all wells in which we can tap to find those things that really make our students tick. Our students are not isolated brains on a stick. These students are not empty vessels that need to be filled with an onslaught of information without thought of the students’ needs or particular considerations. 

This section will illustrate my emerging teaching philosophy as well as teaching theories I hope to draw from and practice. Nestled in these segments will be some introductory material I consider imperative such as subject matter and teacher preparation, industrial experience and pre-collegiate experience. Taken altogether, this section will portray an autobiography of learning and philosophy of education.