New Teaching Philosophy

My Teaching Philosophy
I have had a new experience which will have an impact on my teaching philosophy, if I ever get a chance to teach again. I just finished a four day SEI (Structured English Immersion) class and I learned a great deal. Although most students in the class treated it like a joke, I really benefited from it. I haven’t had much formal education on teaching so any new resource is very valuable.
The course helped me to better understand how to word learning objectives and tie them to state standards. This is a practice I was doing before but I learned new information to make this practice more meaningful. I also learned about adding language objectives which really can help focus a lesson. We have a tendency to treat vocabulary as a separate part of the lesson rather than an integral part of the learning. I feel, after taking this class, that we are all English language learners, and are simply in different places on a continuum. If you are not learning new vocabulary, then your vocabulary is static or worse, atrophying.
We also screened a film which I would highly recommend to anyone who wants to learn more about learning disabilities, teachers and anyone else alike. The film was made by Richard Lavoie for PBS and is titled F. A. T. City. (http://www.ricklavoie.com). The film helps you understand what it is like to be learning disabled. After seeing the film I realized that I had always thought of a learning disability as something that only affects a person in the classroom. This film helped me to understand that a learning disability is with you 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I highly recommend this movie and I know my approach as a teacher would be greatly affected by it. I feel that we are all learning disabled, again at a different point on the continuum.
I have only been a teacher for two years and it was not an intended career change. I was at a crossroads in my life and looking for a break from Los Angeles. I came to Chino Valley to stay with friends for six months and write. Shortly thereafter I found out that the school needed a Drama teacher and if they didn’t find one the kids would have a substitute all year. This was a week before school started. I interviewed on Wednesday and was a teacher on Monday with an emergency certificate. At that point I had never taken an education class or been in a class room except as a student. It was a very steep learning curve.
I think my teaching philosophy changes constantly. At first I didn’t have one. It was getting through the day, one thing at a time, hardly a philosophy. Then I took a few education courses and found out there was such a thing as a teaching philosophy.
I found that other people were quick to tell me what my philosophy should be and it was always a copy of their own. Plenty of “get tough” and “high standards” and “class room management”. It felt like us vs. them. I tried to do some of these things and I always failed miserably. Mostly it turned my students away and I lost ground rather than gained it.
About a month ago I participated in a group learning experience called “Challenge Day”. It changed what I thought about teaching completely. I now see my role as a teacher is one of compassion and love. Yes, I have subject matter to teach but I also have human being training to do. My students need to be listened to, validated, and trusted to be a partner in learning. Without these things I am simply trying to push them through a curriculum that they either came in interested in or not and not much of what I do will change that. They can tell when a teacher is present with them or trying to get through the class. They can tell when a teacher feels superior or doesn’t respect them. They can tell when a teacher sees them as unique human beings and when they don’t. Without that human to human contact and care, the facts go in the short term memory and right out again.

jing lesson on the computer

Audio Clip - New Terms

Photos in the Classroom

I could effectively use photo sharing in my classroom as a version of who’s who in theatre, film and television. I find that I make reference to many people that my students are unfamiliar with. I could add to my class wiki visual images of all of these individuals. I could also project pictures of them during class lectures and discussions. I think it would help us build a lexicon of familiar artists to refer to when discussing plays, television shows or films. One of the learning paths in theatre is learning who has done what with whom and when.

I also think that visual images could be very powerful to illustrate metaphors in poetry. Some times the levels of comparison can be hard to absorb with just language, but a series of images might be more memorable. We are always using the cliché “a picture is worth a thousand words”. Now perhaps it is time to show those pictures as compared to the words.

I could also see assigning students to create a slide show of photos to go along with a Shakespeare scene or speech. Again this would be a way to bring the arcane language to light. And it would also reveal different interpretations of the same material. As the students worked on finding the images the words would become more familiar and personal. It would also be a way to show parents what students are studying in an interesting, visual method.

Ancient Greek Color Vision | Serendip's Exchange

Ancient Greek Color Vision | Serendip's Exchange

the-cobbe-portrait-of-william-shakespeare.jpg (JPEG Image, 1667x2368 pixels) - Scaled (22%)

the-cobbe-portrait-of-william-shakespeare.jpg (JPEG Image, 1667x2368 pixels) - Scaled (22%)

Steve Hargadon's Six Points

Steve Hargadon’s Six Points

I loved this blog post (?) because it so clearly outlines the process of collaboration which is essential to theatre. Without collaboration there is no spark, no learning and no growth. This process of collaboration looks very foreign to most educators. There is a great deal of time given to exploration and waiting for discovery. This can be mistaken for “doing nothing” or not having “a plan”. But the plan is always clear to the collaborator. Bring your companions to your understanding and beyond, create something that goes beyond your ideas, find synergy, create beyond your own capacity. This kind of learning fills your soul and allows you to dream beyond yourself. It’s the core of my being and it is a great privilege to create with others.

I agree with Mr. Hargadon that facilitating this kind of learning takes being authentic. I often have to admit to my students that I don’t know where we are going, I just know there is a journey to be had. And the journey is completely made up of the individuals involved: change the participants and you change the journey.

I also agree with his point that engagement is essential. Without engagement there is no genuine sharing. It means allowing the students to take the lead and trust their instincts and sense of pride to create a result. The result is a direct product of their engagement. But this process is tricky. Some learn very quickly and sometimes you have to keep them busy while the other members of the group catch up. But once several people have found their voice the process becomes contagious and has a life of its own.

My future as a teacher is very unsure right now. But one thing I can guarantee is that those who have collaborated with me in this way will continue to seek this collaboration. If they don’t find it in their classes they will look for it until they do. Once you are hooked you are hooked.

Six Degrees

I decided to choose the social network site “Six Degrees” because it was the first recognized site of this type. It began in 1997 as a means for users to connect with each other and send messages. The initial concept was for each user to convince ten friends to join the site. These ten friends would be your “first degree”. The bulletin board of the site would only list messages from your first degree. The entire site was the “sixth degree”. The general concept was to create a site that would eventually link all the people in the world.

I have been aware of and intrigued by the concept of “six degrees of separation” since I first read the John Guare play. It was later made into a movie with Stockard Channing and Will Smith. The concept was first proposed in a short story in 1929 by Frigyes Karinthy. A character in the story believed that any person could be found to have a connection to any other person through five to other people. In 1967 a scientist at MIT tested this theory. He asked random people in the Mid-West to send a package through their network of friends, who they knew on a first name basis. to a person they did not know in the Massachusets area. All the senders knew was the package receiver’s name, occupation and general location. The results were that it took five to seven people to get the package delivered. In 2001, a Columbia University Professor, Duncan Watts, tried the experiment on the internet. His results showed that an e-mail message to a person that he was not acquainted with took six senders to reach the desired receiver. This was the “six degrees of separation”.

The Six Degrees web site lasted until 2000. It was speculated that its demise resulted from the smaller number of users on the web at that time. There has been speculation that the site was ahead of its time and might have thrived had their been a larger number of internet users.

Its users were not interested in meeting strangers, but instead using and communicating with their existing contacts. The site was set up so that an e-mail confirmation was needed to add members to your list of contacts. The site supported itself with ads and asked members to sample one of several services advertised on the site. The site also offered some premium savings to users of the site shopping online with some vendors.

I would have been interested in using this site because of my fascination with the inter-linking of people. I have had many experiences with “knowing someone who knew someone”, etc. I found this type of networking very helpful in finding jobs in many cities in the creative fields I was pursuing. After all there is the old Hollywood adage: it’s not what you know, it’s who you know.

Wild, Wonderful, Wacky and Wuseful Wikis

WIKIS are an inspiration. I would use my wiki to help me gather all kinds of information to create a curriculum for teaching a filmmaking class to high school students. I would use the wiki to help me plan the class and to gather as many web sources for material as I could find. Since we don’t have a textbook, it would be as if we were creating our own textbook as we learned. The wiki would be an interactive tool for my students and I to figure out what we wanted to learn and where the sources of that information are.

I would use my students as a co-creator of the site. We would start with the AFI list of the 100 greatest films of all time (AFI.com) and have my students pick one film from each category. As my students did their work on this project, I would have them add that content to the wiki, as well as links to where they got their information. I think this would be an active lesson not only in filmmaking but how to use sources without plagiarizing.

I would also have the students use websites and other internet sources to learn about the camera and editing software we have. One of the first projects would be to film an instructional video about our equipment. When another member of the faculty or other students wanted to use the equipment we’d be able to give them the video to learn from. I think this would be a great example of learning by teaching others. Also in creating this film everyone would learn the camera and the software backwards and forwards.

I would also try to draw from existing lesson plans online and be open with my students where those ideas came from. The great hope would be that they would continue to draw from these websites to learn from lesson plans we would not be using. Perhaps I could even use their input on what they learned form other lesson plans to start to create an advanced filmmaking course.

We would continue to add the films we made to the wiki and the site could serve as a showplace for students work. We could also create a blog that would have the same films. But the films on the wiki become an ever increasing library for future students of the class to draw from.

We could also use the wiki to pull together and update information about film contests and film festivals that we could enter our work in. I think all of these uses would increase student interest in the wiki and create an incentive to create great content.

In teaching Drama, I can see two Instructional models that seem to be useful. The first is the Constructivist theory by J. Bruner. This theory makes use of learning by discovery which is the very basis of learning to act. You must discover what characteristics of your own personality. emotional history, relationships and experiences are similar to the character and where do you differ. Bruner’s method is described as: “inquiry-based, constructivist learning theory that takes place in problem solving situations where the learner draws on his or her own past experience and existing knowledge to discover facts and relationships and new truths to be learned”. The problem to be solved is how do I create this character into a living person?

The second method of Instructional Design that seems appropriate to me is John B. Black and Robert O. McClintock, with their methodology of Observation, Contextualization, Cognitive Apprenticeship, Collaboration, Interpretive Construction, Multiple Interpretations, and Multiple Manifestations. The very essence of Drama is Collaboration and Interpretation.

Both of these models center on the use of experience as a component of the learning. That is in essence what a rehearsal is. You continuously re-experience the material adding layers of interpretation. The teacher is the facilitator to the student’s learning by asking questions, pointing out results and encouraging discovery and exploration.

Some parts of the Black and McClintock model would be most useful for studying text of plays that are not going to be produced as a public performance. It is very important to not encourage young actors to imitate the performances of other actors. Whereas the Bruner model, would be more helpful in studying acting in terms of forming an interpretation that is solely personal., which is the goal of an actor creating a role in a production.

The learners I often deal with are a diverse group. They range from the extremely interested and motivated to the captured non-student. What is remarkable about their diversity is they all have creative skills which can be tapped into. Many of my students come from stressed financial situations and have had few opportunities to see or be in plays. The great common denominator is that they have all seen movies and television. Many of my students are motivated to pass the class, some are motivated to learn the craft and still others are in the class because they have to be. The last group needs to be motivated through their innate creativity and desire for play. One of the most difficult societal factors to overcome is the perception that drama is “gay”. This label inhibits many learners and limits enthusiasm to within the classroom walls.

drama in education blog

drama in education blog

My Teaching Philosophy

I have only been a teacher for two years and it was not an intended career change. I was at a crossroads in my life and looking for a break from Los Angeles. I came to Chino Valley to stay with friends for six months and write. Shortly thereafter I found out that the school needed a Drama teacher and if they didn’t find one the kids would have a substitute all year. This was a week before school started. I interviewed on Wednesday and was a teacher on Monday with an emergency certificate. At that point I had never taken an education class or been in a class room except as a student. It was a very steep learning curve.

I think my teaching philosophy changes constantly. At first I didn’t have one. It was get through the day, one thing at a time, hardly a philosophy. Then I took a few education courses and found out there was such a thing as a teaching philosophy.

I found that other people were quick to tell me what my philosophy should be and it was always a copy of their own. Plenty of “get tough” and “high standards” and “class room management”. It felt like us vs. them. I tried to do some of these things and I always failed miserably. Mostly it turned my students away and I lost ground rather than gained it.

About a month ago I participated in a group learning experience called “Challenge Day”. It changed what I thought about teaching completely. I now see my role as a teacher is one of compassion and love. Yes, I have subject matter to teach but I also have human being training to do. My students need to be listened to, validated, and trusted to be a partner in learning. Without these things I am simply trying to push them through a curriculum that they either came in interested in or not and not much of what I do will change that. They can tell when a teacher is present with them or trying to get through the class. They can tell when a teacher feels superior or doesn’t respect them. They can tell when a teacher sees them as unique human beings and when they don’t. Without that human to human contact and care, the facts go in the short term memory and right out again.

When I'm hooked, I'm hooked.

Thanks for the new addiction. Went to bed at 1:00am (after 7 hours on the computer) and back at it at 7:00 am. This stuff is incredible!

All right, when I'm wrong I am wrong. I really do need to learn to type! Who knew it was going to be this important when I was staring out the window day dreaming?
Does anyone know how to add the missing people's names on the blog list? I have one name twice and not 24 names. Yikes!

Has anyone checked out my video. It was made by my students and won Honorable mention in a international video contest about character traits. I think they did a great job (and in only a week ).

I need a blog like a hole in the head

I really don't like to type that much, so the last thing I need is to be typing a blog. Besides, who in their right mind would read this crap.