teaching philosophy

After spending some time thinking about why I teach the way I do, I have concluded that my family is very central to the way I teach. In class I often refer to experiences I had with my family and relate them to communication. I think it is really important to give personal stories to students in order for them to better connect to some of the ideas we teach. Also, it helps them to realize that you are a human and that perhaps if you relate some of these issues to your life, then they can do the same thing. The more personable you are as a teacher, the more likely the students may be to realize that education is not just a one way flow of information. I think it is important to push education to a new level where everyone admits that everyone, including the teacher, can learn from these lessons.

I have had some trouble with this in my current class because not many people participate. However, recently I had them all bring in news articles and give impromptu speeches. It seemed like the kids really liked learning about what was going on in the world and that they were much more vocal in terms of responding to the presentations. I think that because the articles were mostly about events that mattered to the students, they really have some connection to it and enjoyed talking about it. There was one article about the girl who died after she was given the cervical cancer vaccine that really got a response. I think I need to think about how I can further connect this class to their lives.