Jane Hogan: Philosophy of Teaching My passion for teaching began with a passion for history.

While finding my place in the classroom, I discovered the best way to engage students in the content is to allow them to connect with the material and to take an active role in their learning. When I combine my love of the content with my dedication to a student-first classroom, three major views emerge as fundamental parts of what a high school Social Studies classroom should look like. The first, teacher as motivator and model, speaks to the student-to-teacher relationship. The second deals with my view of what the Social Studies lessons should be: one with strong ties to the discipline of History. Finally, the third point deals with having high expectations. Overall, these standards of what I strive for in the classroom reveal a student-centered environment where the content is engaging, challenging, and inclusive. 1. Teacher as motivator and model. A successful teacher is both motivating and a role model. Rather than the sage on the stage, the teacher must be willing to take a back seat to the students. After doing so, the teachers job becomes more involved. Instead of speaking at students during class, she must guide them in order maintain and boost their engagement. Becoming a motivator also allows the teacher to individualize her attention. She can move away from the front of the classroom and become a part of the classroom by speaking to students one on one, thereby allowing for easier checks of understanding and a more efficient and personal means of managing behavior. Part of the motivating involves modeling proper behavior. When the teacher comes prepared to class, provides students with multiple avenues to access the material, gives consistent and thorough feedback, and promotes fairness and equity, students will feel more motivated. 2. Unite the discipline of history with the Social Studies curriculum: The history classroom often looks strikingly different from the practice of history. Teachers know more complex versions of history, while students are given easy answers. By uniting the discipline with the teaching, students will be given the more interesting and difficult stories of the past where there are no easy answers to how and why events happened. Moreover, students will gain important skills. In learning how to be historians, they will gain skills in close reading, analytical writing, and interpreting perspective. 3. Differentiated high expectations: Maintaining high expectations that are scaffolded properly to the needs of each student is a necessary task. In order to prove to students that a teacher believes in their abilities, she must hold them to a high level of performance. At the same time, different abilities must be taken into account because High Expectations for Student A look different than High Expectations for Student B. Giving students the same content objectives, but providing them different roadmaps to achieve the goal ensures student support, without sacrificing learning. In the classroom, these fundamentals lay the groundwork for inclusive and challenging strategies for the teacher to reach students. Moreover, my philosophy provides a picture of my classroom environment: a fun and engaging learning place where all students are valued.