I believe the main objective for education should be to build morals and character.  Only when this is accomplished can we improve the quality of life for everyday people.  In my opinion, an education in the humanities (specifically literature) can achieve this better than an education in any other area of academics.  In order to provide my students with the opportunity to receive such an education, I choose literature that inspires productive thought.  The literature also exposes students to various cultures, particularly those that make up a good part of the American population.  In addition, the literature spans multiple civilizations and important periods in history.  It includes writing from women as well as men.

I also employ collaborative learning in my classroom.  Tools such as classroom discussions and small group projects allow the students to be fully involved in their own learning process.  Opinions are shared openly and discussed in a professional fashion.  In these proceedings, my role is that of a guide rather than a dictator.  I do not pretend to know that I have all of the answers; neither do I assume that my students have nothing to teach me.  My job as an instructor is to provide the necessary structure for promoting useful dialogue and critical thinking.  Within this structure, my students are able to grow as individuals with the understanding that personal values are something to be cherished rather than constrained.  They are also able to grow as a group through their efforts to understand and appreciate each other’s values and beliefs.

My composition classroom philosophy falls uniformly in line with my teaching philosophy.  In order to develop a passion for writing, students must be able to write about areas that interest them.  Consequently, I give my students topics where they can explore their own individual feelings and experiences.  I also give them topics that create an awareness of different cultural practices and beliefs.  In the writing classroom, collaborative learning is of some use, but not to the same extent as in teaching literature.  Within the literature-based classroom, it is convenient to have open discussions because every student is reading the same material.  However, this is not the case when students are learning to write.  They require a lot more individual attention because each student encounters different problems.  In addition, each student requires freedom from classmate persuasion in order to develop his or her own unique style.

Where group projects are concerned, I have never found peer reviews to be very useful in early composition classes.  If the students don’t yet know how to write, they certainly cannot critique the grammatical mistakes in one another’s works.  However, I do give them the chance to openly discuss their papers’ themes and receive feedback from their fellow students.  Ultimately, my students learn how to organize their thoughts, narrow down topics, plan structures, write with clarity and confidence, and revise accordingly.  I believe in a strict adherence only to the major, rigid grammatical rules.  It is confusing for students to learn specific minor mechanics only to see them broken by experts within the English academic community.  For example, I have never encountered a uniform usage of commas, semicolons, and dashes anywhere within our discourse community.  With that being said, there are certain rigid grammatical rules to which each student has to adhere.  In those instances, I help them make the right decision.  Most importantly, though, I tell them why they must make that decision rather than subjecting them to some inadequate explanation such as “That’s just the way it’s done.”  I can’t count how many times I have heard this type of insufficient reasoning throughout my schooling.  It is certainly not something that I pass on to my students.

My teaching philosophy hinges upon the idea that teachers are to do more than just fill their students’ heads with information.  I see education as a way of improving the morals and values of the upcoming generations.  However, it is only through appropriate literature, an emphasis on students as individuals, and the use of collaborative learning that this can be accomplished.  The future need not be a moral wasteland.  It is what we make of it.