Cortney Robbins | Teaching Philosophy

Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit.---John Steinbeck When I was in graduate school contemplating teaching my first course, I remember thinking through what sort of teacher I would want to be. Like many educators, the teachers whom I respected and enjoyed most shaped a large part of my philosophy. I wanted to do for other students what those teachers had done for me. I also integrated a few ideas from the mountains of pedagogical readings that were assigned to me. Although thinking about my philosophy was critical, I realized I needed to teach a course first to decide what kind of teacher I could and wantedto be. The fact that I had to engage in teaching in order to form my educational philosophy is fitting, as one of the central tenets of my philosophy is that students must become active participants in their own learning. Three main ideas make up the foundation of my educational philosophy: relationshipbased education, critical pedagogy, and feminist pedagogy. These ideas, often consciously and always subconsciously, shape every decision I make, every assignment I create, and every activity I design for my students. o Relationship-based Education I am a strong supporter of relationship-based education. Like Cotton & Wilson (2006), I believe that if my students are able to view me not only as their instructor, but also as a person, that they will be much more likely to develop a trusting, open, and meaningful relationship with me. I spend time [both inside and outside the classroom] on getting to know my students as individuals and allowing them to get to know me as well. We all become acquainted with each other during the first day of my classes, as we introduce ourselves and participate in other introductory getting to know each other activities. I do this because I agree with Svinicki & McKeachie (2011): It is important to let the student know that you recognize him as an individual, that you are committed to his learning, and that you are willing to listen and respond as constructively as possible (p. 182). I believe that if I behave as if I care, my students will know I care. I also structure many classroom activities and group work assignments so that my students may learn about and from one another. As Svinicki & McKeachie (2011) write, Students often learn more from interacting with other students than from listening to us. One of the best methods of gaining clearer, long-lasting understanding is explaining the topic to someone else (p. 200). I also feel that a classroom built on openness and trust is conducive to an effective learning experience. My thoughts here have been very much inspired by hooks (1994) ideas on creating an educational community. It is essential that students know each other well enough to be willing to share thoughts without the fear of embarrassment.

Cortney Robbins | Teaching Philosophy

It is important to me that my students see me as a person inside the classroom so that they are willing to see me outside of the classroom. Cotton & Wilson (2006) cite research that has shown outside interactions between faculty and students may even have a more meaningful effect than experiences inside the classroom. While that effect is not my goal, it is evidence that I must consider, which is why I must show my students that I care and am open. o Critical Pedagogy Much of my educational philosophy centers on critical pedagogy. I am an adherent because, as Giroux (1992) claims, At issue here is the development of a pedagogy that replaces the authoritative language of recitation with an approach that allows students to speak from their own histories, collective memories, and voices while simultaneously challenging the grounds on which knowledge and power are constructed and legitimated (p. 105). By acknowledging their stories and allowing my students to take active roles in the classroom, they are able to realize that they can and must be involved in their educations. All too often students begin their college education as passive receptors of information, without questioning that information or realizing their own responsibility in learning. I do not foster the practice of the objectivist myth, as Palmer (2007) calls it, because our assumption that students are brain-dead leads to pedagogies that deaden their brains. When we teach by dripping information into their passive forms, students who arrive in the classroom alive and well become passive consumers of knowledge and are dead on departure when they graduate (p. 42). Because I am such a proponent of this philosophy, I limit the amount of time I lecture in my classes and instead develop many classroom activities to encourage students to become active participants. From my developmental English courses all the way through my humanities literature courses, I create assignments that demand students take responsibility for their own learning. I agree with Svinicki & McKeachie s (2011) idea that only expecting students to master the lower levels of Blooms Taxonomy (1956) shortchanges students. In my view, students must begin their educational journey as participants in their education and this idea must be reinforced all the way through graduation. I see it as part of my task as an educator to create a public sphere of citizens who are able to exercise power over their lives and especially over the conditions of knowledge production and acquisition (Giroux, 1992, p. 224). It is my hope that the foundation of active and lifelong learning I help my students to cultivate leads to their having lives of significance and worth. o Feminist Pedagogy In any course I teach, I make it a priority to critique power in our culture. In taking this approach, I am provid[ing] students with a language of critique that allows them to analyze differences among social groups, their construction both within and outside the

Cortney Robbins | Teaching Philosophy

academic setting, and their roles in various forms of domination, subordination, hierarchy, and exploitation [and] offer[ing] students ways to analyze practices such as sexism, racism, and class exploitation that structure and mediate human encounters in everyday life. (Crabtree & Sapp, 2003, pp. 1312) I do see much of my role as preparing students to become active, engaged, and critical citizens. I must promote the aforementioned ways of thinking if I am to introduce my students to this way of being. I agree with hooks (1994) about our work: [I]t is meant to serve as a catalyst that calls everyone to become more and more engaged, to become active participants in learning (p. 11). I also view part of my role as facilitating multiculturalism. Students are unprepared for the world around them if they have not had or are unwilling to embrace heterogeneous experiences. As hooks (1994) writes, When we, as educators, allow our pedagogy to be radically changed by our recognition of a multicultural world, we can give students the education they desire and deserve (p. 44). Students do deserve to be prepared for whats ahead, and they certainly will not be if they are forced to regurgitate traditional White, Western views. As Crabtree & Sapp (2003) and Svinicki & McKeachie (2011) claim, most students are unprepared for the kind of democratic environment they will find in my classroom. However, I must work to liberate my students, as hooks (1994) suggests, if I am to provide them with an emancipatory college experience.

If my students learn anything from me, I hope it is that they have power in learning both in and outside the classroom. The joy of learning is often found in the process itself. I hope to empower my students by encouraging them to be involved and take an active role in their education. I create an environment of active participation and collaborative learning in order to allow my students to see that everyone is both a student and a teacher. My ultimate hope is that the relationships I form with my students empower them to take ownership of their educations and futures.

Cortney Robbins | Teaching Philosophy

References Cotten, S., & Wilson, B. (2006). Student-faculty interactions: Dynamics and determinants. Higher Education, 51(4), Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/29734993 Crabtree, R. D., & Sapp, D. A. (2003). Theoretical, political, and pedagogical challenges in the feminist classroom: Our struggles to walk the walk. College Teaching, 51(4), 131-140. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/27559155 Giroux, H. (1992). Border crossings: Cultural workers and the politics of education . New York: Routledge. hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom . New York: Routledge. Palmer, P. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Svinicki, M., & McKeachie, W. (2011). McKeachie's teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers. (13th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.