My Teaching Philosophy
My teaching philosophy can be seen most easily as the answers to three simple questions: Why teach? What should I teach? How should I teach it?
Why Teach?
There is no simple answer to the question of why I want to teach. The best I can do is to say that there are three significant parts of teaching that are important to me—I love my subject, I enjoy students, and I enjoy continuing to learn. These three pieces, combined with a strong desire to transmit them to others, lead to teaching.
What to Teach?
I have always been fascinated by the stories of History. In high school, however, I somehow could not connect this fascination with the History I learned in school. History is only about dates and details in the most peripheral of ways. A better way to think about it is that History is about people and their lives, about the world, ultimately about all of us. History provides an extraordinary window onto the human condition. In addition, the study of History provides a valuable environment in which to learn and make use of a variety of skills, including both analytical thought and good clear prose.
How to Teach?
It is essential to engage each student individually, to meet them where they are, rather than establish a one-size-fits-all pedagogy and demand that the students fit. To that end, I want to understand who each student is as an individual, discovering both their differences and their similarities. Students need to be active participants in their learning, not just passive vessels receiving wisdom from the talking head at the front of the room.
