My Philosophy of Teaching

How does one impart passion? Is it something that is learned? Caught? Shared? How can my life make a difference in the lives of countless others, if not through that which I teach? Yet, how to get the student to a place of thinking that is foreign, foggy, fuzzy, and sometimes fun? How does it happen? Where does it happen? Why should it happen?

I am not concerned about grades. They tell me nothing about outcomes. They tell me nothing of the difference the student will make in his or her world. They tell me nothing about their progression through their stages of growth and change. They can tell me how well the student has learned to play the game of school. Or how well the student can memorize - irrelevant details, noxious pieces of information. They can tell me who is winning the internal battle - tradition or cognition? I struggle to do different, yet exist in an "old" world.

I love to teach, probably because I love to learn. It seems superficial to do one without an obligation to do the other. I respect the obligation - it has given me opportunities that I othewise would never have had.

My Philosophy of Leadership

This future that you are training for - the responsibility of being a building principal, assistant principal, central office, or superintendent - is one of great importance. You will be effecting the lives of countless individuals. The ability to read and to think are crucial to the ability to have options - to do better - to live better. You must model what you expect - at all times in all ways. When you make mistakes - you must apologize - for you will make mistakes - and only you can determine if that mistake will lead to future ones or if you will learn from it - grow through it.

Many people will expect much from you - what will you expect from yourself? I tried hard to "never leave any circumstance or situation with less of me than I entered with." This was sometimes difficult to do - not because of the circumstance or situation but because of my immaturity. Leaders need to be mature - always striving toward a higher level of thinking, caring, being. This is in contrast to the world that says we need to be about "making more money - having more power." Be assured of this fact, the higher up the food chain you go, the less real power you have - but the greater the responsibilities you bear. Leadership does not occur in a vacuum and as such, you will only be as strong and as effective as the people that you surround yourself with - at home, in the community, and at school.

The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards.
Anatole France (1844 - 1924)

Too often we give answers rather than problems to solve. Levin