Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy

Students, in order to function as responsible adults, must learn to think critically. I attempt, especially in my American History classes, to create a scaffolding for the students to build upon, for critical thinking and analysis.

Richardson (pp.10-13) notes the dangers of students landing on inappropriate sites and revealing personal information. However, another danger in this read/write universe in which our students are immersed, is accepting as the truth factually incorrect and politically loaded material, that is frequently presented in slick legitimately-looking packaging.

If people take information presented to them, in our media rich environment, at face value, they may loose their ability to see a situation objectively, and, consequently, formulate an opinion based upon incorrect facts. Many of my students last fall, for example, were supporting John McCain for President primarily because they believed that, were Obama elected, he would take away their guns. Certainly, there were enough valid justifications to support the Republican candidate without a specious reason concocted to rally support of gun owners; but how were the high school students to know?

I teach students to question everything they read on the web, hear on the radio, and watch on television. Students learn the difference between editorials and news reports and the publications that will provide them with unadulterated factual material.

Further, I make the effort to have American history synthesized and integrated with current events so students see the relevance of the past to their present. An example was a class discussion last fall of Roe vs. Wade following a discussion of the Supreme Court decision in a televised Presidential debate. The emotional class discussion that followed covered the rights of the individual as guaranteed by the Constitution, the power of the Supreme Court, and such provocative ideas as when does life begin. I believe that our readings in the area, and the thoughtful class discussion, gave the students a realization that issues have more depth to them than the buzz phrases associated to them; that questioning issues and opinions, and digging to find the underlying facts and philosophies will enable the students to make their own educated decisions on any issue.