Beathei Piatt's Philosophy of Teaching anu Leaining

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-bell hooks
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I want my stuuents to know how to be ciitical agents of change. Like Paulo Fieiie, I want my
"stuuents uevelop consciousness of fieeuom, iecognize authoiitaiian tenuencies, anu
connect knowleuge to powei anu the ability to take constiuctive action" (uiioux). In this
iespect, my teaching goals closely align with the philosophy of ciitical peuagogy, which
Fieiie anu hooks both auvocate. I believe that the goal of euucation is to cieate a moie just
anu equal society. In oiuei to piepaie stuuents to be agents of social change, they must
know how to be ciitical thinkeis, exceptional communicatois, anu collaboiative woikeis.
Stuuents must also have empathy anu an awaieness of multicultuialism in oiuei to connect
anu communicate with those who aie uiffeient fiom them. Because I teach skills that aie
closely linkeu to political values anu beliefs, it can be uifficult to achieve these goals if
stuuents to buy not into the values that I base my philosophy on.

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I use the stuuent-centeieu teaching appioach wheie I act as a paitnei anu facilitatoi in
stuuents' leaining iathei than an aibitei of facts. I enuoise collaboiative leaining, I give
stuuents a lot of choice anu iesponsibility in my classioom, anu I emphasize stuuent
involvement anu paiticipation. I believe that the teachei stuuent ielationship shoulu not be
a one-siueu one, but iathei, an egalitaiian one, wheie both people teachei anu stuuent show
up in the classioom active anu ieauy to leain fiom each othei. 0nly when this soit of equal
exchange occuis can euucation ieally be what bell hooks calls, "euucation as the piactice of
fieeuom," which I believe is oui highest goal as teacheis.

I consiuei this appioach to be appiopiiate foi my goals because these methous help my
stuuents uevelop inuepenuence anu allow them the fieeuom to uniquely acquiie the
necessaiy skill sets (ciitical thinking, communication skills, an awaieness of
multicultuialism) that they will neeu to be social agents. Because ciitical peuagogy involves
a ciitical questioning of one's ielationship to society, it woulu not make sense foi me to
mouel an authoiitaiian teachei-centeieu classioom, since this woulu uiscouiage the type of
behavioi that I am tiying to teach them.

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In oiuei to encouiage stuuent iesponsibility in my classioom anu to emphasize the iuea
that I am a co-collaboiatoi, eveiyone assesses each othei in my classioom. I assess the
stuuents anu myself, the stuuents assess themselves anu each othei, anu they also assess
me.

Ny foimative assessments incluue ieflections papeis, online uiscussion posts, class
uiscussions, uaily ieauing quizzes, uebates, essay uiafts, paiticipation in wiiting woikshop,
anu smallei uaily assignments like exit tickets anu venn uiagiams.

Ny summative assessments incluue final essays (analytical, peisuasive, compaiative,
cieative, etc.), ieseaich papeis, piesentations, anu stuuent-leu "fishbowl" uiscussions wheie
stuuents exploie the inquiiy question in ielation to the unit's texts.
By asking stuuents to ieflect upon an inquiiy question in both small anu laige gioups, to
wiite many uiffeient types of essays, to uebate, anu to cieate new meaning fiom texts, I
teach stuuents to think foi themselves anu to woik with one anothei to solve ieal-woilu
pioblems.

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I cieate an inclusive classioom enviionment by ueveloping a set of community stanuaius
with my stuuents that piomotes inclusivity. Because stuuents help cieate these stanuaius,
they take owneiship of them anu aie moie likely to abiue by anu enfoice the stanuaius. I
mouel this behavioi anu ask my stuuents to holu me to these stanuaius as well.

In oiuei to meet each stuuent wheie they aie at, I tiy to uiffeientiate many of my methous
anu assessments to give eveiy stuuent the best possible chance foi success. I tiy to appeal to
many uiffeient types of leaining styles. Foi gioup uiscussions, I sometimes uiviue stuuents
baseu upon ability, so that gioup membeis feel challengeu but not oveiwhelmeu. While
eveiy stuuent gets ioughly the same essay topic foi each papei, I uiffeientiate assignments
accoiuing to the inuiviuual. Foi example, last yeai I hau a stuuent who hau alieauy
masteieu the analytical essay, but hei classmates hau not. In oiuei to challenge hei, I gave
hei an aiticle to ieau by a liteiaiy ciitic, we uiscusseu the aiticle in ielation to the book, anu
I askeu hei to implement this souice into hei essay by positioning hei papei in conveisation
with the ciitic. This auueu challenge alloweu hei to fuithei uevelop hei ciitical thinking
skills without isolating hei fiom the iest of the class.

Inevitably, stuuents' iuentities, backgiounus, expeiiences, anu levels of piivilege affect any
classioom enviionment in a vaiiety of ways. To a ceitain uegiee, one's iuentity shapes what
knowleuge anu skills one has access to, anu in tuin, ueteimines how one appioaches anu
inteipiets a text. Consequently, because my stuuents aie uiveise, they unueistanu texts in
uiveise ways. I see this as an enoimous asset to my classioom, since it foices stuuents to
unueistanu anu appieciate people anu views that aie uiffeient fiom them, which ieinfoices
the habits of minu anu skills neeueu foi a classioom baseu upon ciitical peuagogy. A
successful ciitical peuagogical appioach also asks stuuents to ieflect upon theii own
ielationships to society, anu iecognizing anu appieciating inuiviuual uiffeience allows
stuuents to moie auequately evaluate theii own piivileges anu how they can use this
piivilege to cieate a moie equal anu just society

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Pait of the ieason why I became a teachei is because I love leaining. I love ieauing anu
wiiting, uiscussing liteiatuie, anu figuiing out the best ways to haivest this love of
liteiatuie in my stuuents. I want to continue to leain anu giow as a teachei by taking a class
oi attenuing a confeience at least once eveiy yeai. I teach my stuuents that euucation is a
lifelong jouiney anu I intenu on moueling this behavioi in my appioach to piofessional
uevelopment.

Woiks Citeu

uiioux, B. (0ctobei 27, 2u1u) "Lessons Fiom Paulo Fieiie", :(&-$0)*# -3 ;0<(#& ='2)+%0-$8

hooks, bell. >#+)(0$< %- >&+$,<&#,,? ='2)+%0-$ +, %(# @&+)%0)# -3 A&##'-.. New Yoik:
Routleuge, 1994. Piint.