“Who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” John Cotton Dana
I learned early on that my primary gift as a teacher is my ability to create learning experiences that engage and surprise students. Being willing to embrace technology, to try new pedagogical methods, to create learning experiences that keep students interested and motivated, to explore how digital media can be used in learning – I have continued to develop my gift for innovative pedagogy throughout my teaching career.
I am currently a doctoral candidate in VCU’s Media, Art, and Text program, an interdisciplinary digital humanities degree. Our course of study demands both scholarship and practice, emphasizing the creation of new media and the study of how emerging digital technologies are changing global culture.
I believe in the power of education to change the world. What education changes, of course, is not the world itself, but the thoughts and actions of men and women. As a teacher, I design learning experiences to encourage students to take risks in the classroom, to discern how they best learn so they can use education to meet their life goals, and to expand their ideas about what is possible.
I teach communication, media studies, writing, and documentary arts. Sometimes my primary goal is for students to become more skilled writers or speakers. Sometimes my primary goal is to introduce students to aspects of media studies. Always I want us to investigate questions that lack simple answers. Always I want students to leave my classroom better equipped to pursue their goals than when they crossed the threshold on the first day of class.
WRITING IS CENTRAL IN MY PEDAGOGY
My first job when I graduated from Wellesley College was as newspaper reporter for The Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg. Since 1996, I have taught courses with varying names and stated subjects – Journalism: Newspaper, Writing and Rhetoric Workshop II, Documentary: Beyond the Evening News, and The Recorded Human Voice: Using Interviews in Radio, Drama, and Text. Writing has been central in every course.
As a pedagogical tool, writing gives students an excellent way to focus and deepen their thinking. Even if the stated purpose in a class is not the improvement of writing skills, I ask students to write frequently. Writing is “thought made visible” and can serve many functions in a classroom beyond writing for assessment. Through practice, a student’s writing skills are also likely to improve, particularly because I employ low-stakes writing assignments in addition to writing as a means for assessment.
If writing is only used in the classroom to assess student knowledge or skill, students can lose sight of how they can use writing to help them reach other goals. Low-stakes writing, or writing which I assess only on completion and never on quality, is something I encourage no matter what course I am teaching.
If the course is a creative writing course, low-stakes writing can exercise the imagination. In a media studies or literature course, low-stakes writing can encourage reflection about process, can engage students around ethical questions, can develop logical thinking skills, and can improve close reading and observation skills. I have found that having students keep a response journal enriches course discussion – both in-class or on a class blog – and also provides a means for me to teach students how to “read” non-textual media.
TEACHING IS A RELATIONSHIP
My goal in every classroom is to foster a classroom community where the cultivation of knowledge is student-centered. While it is essential that I am clear about my objectives, it is also essential that I remain open to various ways of meeting those objectives. I never abdicate my role as the leader of the enterprise – I am a skilled writer, scholar, documentarian, and successful former student – but I do listen to my students and allow them to influence the direction and goals for our shared experience.
No matter how young they are, students walk through the doorway to my classroom with prior life experiences that have shaped them, with attitudes and beliefs about learning, with assumptions about my role as their teacher and their role as my students, and with personal dreams and professional goals.
First, I engage students individually and as a group. I learn their names and ferret out their attitudes and their assumptions – about learning, about our roles as students and teacher, and about the subject they’ve signed up to learn from me. I also have them introduce themselves to each other.
By building a rapport, we can craft a sense of shared purpose for what we are to do together – whether the task at hand is a mastery of academic argument or an introduction to media studies.
If I am successful, then students are intrinsically motivated to explore the subject and practice the skills that go along with mastering the subject. I also use extrinsic motivators, like grades, but I have found intrinsic motivators to garner better long-term results.
When students “own” the study of a subject, they pursue their study with a fervor that far surpasses my expectations. I don’t just believe in the ability of the human being to learn, I have observed the power of this human potential first hand. My work as a teacher is to inspire and motivate each student, as an individual, to take ownership of her learning experience, and then to get out of her way.
THAT DOOR IS LOCKED ON THE INSIDE
A saying I have taken to heart, as a reminder of what I cannot control in the classroom, is that the door is locked on the inside. I cannot force anyone to learn anything. I can create a positive classroom climate, plan experiences, give written and verbal feedback, coax students to learn, threaten them with poor grades – but I cannot make them learn. That power remains with each individual.
I believe our schooling institutions mislead students about where power for learning resides and they do it primarily through assessment. The perception is that I, as a teacher, “give” grades. I try to counteract this by being as transparent as possible with assignments and with assessment, encouraging students to actively choose what grade they have decided to earn.
MY RESPONSIBILITY AS A TEACHER
I believe that the teacher is responsible for the climate in the classroom. While some institutions make it harder to create a positive climate than others, ultimately it is my responsibility to create a climate that encourages risk-taking within a supportive structure and that gives everyone an equal opportunity to be heard and to learn.
I also believe that it is my responsibility to be as interesting as possible. One way to keep students motivated and engaged is to plan well, to use our time together in interesting ways, and to assign reading and other assignments thoughtfully, with our shared goals in mind.
THE TRUE GOAL OF A TEACHER
While I value what happens face-to-face in a classroom, I believe that there is nothing sacred about schooling as it currently exists in the early 21st century. In fact, I believe that our schooling institutions must evolve to address the interests, goals, and educational needs of young adult and adult learners.
As a teacher, I am willing to embrace digital technology and to try new pedagogical methods in an attempt to create learning experiences that keep students interested and guessing. I also respect that my students have professional goals and that it is my job as their instructor to design learning experiences that will prepare them for the future. And yet, I wonder if the most valuable thing I can offer students is a sanctuary from the fray – a place for reflection. A time not to be practical or plugged-in, but to explore what it means to be human in the early 21st century.
In an attempt to provide a practical education, our institutions frequently train students for careers that disappear out from under them with the click of a computer key. I believe a better approach is to teach students how to think and how to learn. If someone knows how to learn, he or she can adapt to whatever comes without necessarily needing a guide. That, to me, is the true goal of a teacher.
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” Peter F. Drucker
