Philosophy of Education

'The teacher talks about reality as if it were motionless, static, compartmentalized, and predictable. Or else he expounds on a topic completely alien to the existential experience of the students. His task is to "fill" the students with the contents of his narration -- contents which are detached from reality, disconnected from the totality that engendered them and could give them significance. Words are emptied of their concreteness and become a hollow, alienated, and alienating verbosity."

This is an excerpt from Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which was published two years before I was born. I include the publication information because I had to re-read this article multiple times to truly understand what Freire was saying about the teacher-student relationship, and this statement was one that puzzled me because as a student I never experienced a teacher like this and I would pray that none of my fellow teaching candidates teach like this.

However, after re-reading the article and discussing the topics with some peers I have a better understanding of what Freire is saying, which is; teaching needs to be a journey of exploration, not a list of terms to be memorized, regurgitated and forgotten. Especially for students who already face challenges to learning the "traditional" way; our students with learning disabilities, language learners, low SES or varied learning styles.

Learning should be fun. It should be enjoyable and help students relate to and understand their world. I will have failed as a teacher if my students can recite the Preamble but dont know how the Constitution shapes every part of our government and protects our rights as citizens, or if they can sing every grammar song from School House Rock but can't spell preposition.

I will have also failed as a teacher if I never take the time to learn from my students. One of the greatest things about young minds is how they perceive the world. How the simplest things still spark that glimmer of wonder in their eyes. My students make me laugh more than anyone and they are just being themselves. It is my goal to help my students learn more about the world and how it works and in turn have them teach me how to be a better part of the world. The day you stop learning from your students is probably the day you should retire, cause you will no longer be effective in the classroom.