Teaching Philosophy

“To educate as the practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn. That learning process comes easiest to those of us who teach who also believe that there is an aspect of our vocation that is sacred; who believe that there is an aspect of our work is not merely to share information but to share the intellectual and spiritual growth of our students. To teach in a manner that respects and cares for the souls of our students is essential if we are to provide the necessary conditions where learning can most deeply and intimately begin.”

Bell Hooks
Teaching to Transgress, 1994

“Before teaching can safely enter upon conveying of facts and ideas through the media of signs, schooling must provide genuine situations in which personal participation brings home the import of the material and problems which it conveys.”

John Dewey
Democracy and Education, 1916

My teaching philosophy has changed considerably over the past two decades I have been a faculty member at San Francisco State University. When I first began my teaching career I was more concerned about conveying facts to students than almost anything else. After all, most of what passes as education in the United States is the mere passing on of “the facts” to students, who are often viewed as “empty vessels” readily available to be filled up with such facts. I automatically bought into this teaching paradigm, and it undergirded my teaching practices for six to seven years until I began doctoral studies in education at the University of California, Davis in the early 1990s. In part, due to my graduate studies in the philosophy of education and learning from my experiences in the classroom over many years, I have come to reject the idea that students are “empty vessels” or “sponges” (or any of those other dreadful metaphors that are used when referring to students). To the contrary, many students are quite sophisticated and have much to offer. Furthermore, I have been most impressed by the work of those educational theorists who have argued persuasively that professional educators ought to supplant the traditional models of schooling – that are fraught with authoritarianism in which students are reduced to passive learners of “the facts” -- with teaching techniques that infuse participatory democracy in which students have more agency. I have fully adopted both the teaching philosophy and the pedagogical practices that are in keeping with this latter view.

The following tenets comprise the major aspects of my philosophy of teaching:

• Create and maintain a safe classroom environment to maximize student comfort and learning, and to encourage student participation.
• Actively work against the authoritarian role of the teacher and democratize the educational experience so students assume an active role as learners.
• Make course materials relevant to the lives of the students including the infusion and celebration of pluralism – teacher as a cultural worker
• Infuse the ethics of care, trust, and respect.
• Embrace an interdisciplinary perspective
• Teaching is one of the best ways of learning and understanding.

It is my strong belief that creating a classroom environment that is conducive to active, democratic learning is important, no matter what the size or level of the class. Appropriate conditions need to be created for this to occur. For me this has meant being up front with students on the first day of class about my approach to teaching. Students have the right to know the orientation a teacher has about teaching. I inform them that first and foremost my philosophy of teaching includes fostering a classroom environment that is safe. One concrete way I have done this is to co-create ground rules for classroom conduct including some broad educational aims for the semester. I work with students to create a safe and productive learning community. The classroom must be a safe place where students can voice criticisms, offer feedback, and feel heard.

I believe it is important that we begin to erode the “top down” model of teaching in which the teacher is the ultimate authority figure while students remain in the inferior, disempowered position. This is difficult to be sure, because teachers are in fact in a position of power simply due to the way things are set up. However, it is crucial that teachers handle power and authority responsibly and use it to facilitate the kind of learning that makes students feel comfortable being engaged, active learners. So, empowering students to critically question what they are learning is essential. I deliberately use a variety of pedagogical practices to ensure active, critical participation on the part of the students. This necessarily involves the inclusion of classroom discussions, student debates, panel discussions, and small group projects/presentations. It is “deadly” to rely simply on the old-fashioned lecture-only technique. This has been particularly challenging for me, as I have been teaching, and continue to teach, mega-sections ranging from 130 to 300+ students. Although it is logistically impossible to ask them to do small group presentations and work conjointly in general, I get them involved in class discussions, student panels/debates, etc. I firmly believe that lecturing is a viable way of imparting knowledge, and obviously students should learn the content of any given area of study (although from a critical perspective) but it is imperative that students be engaged in the learning process as active participants in what is ultimately the production of knowledge.

In my view teachers must always strive to make class materials, lectures, readings, discussions, etc. relevant to the lives of students. The notion that knowledge is good for its own sake is nonsense. It is important to me that students be able to apply what they are learning from me and each other to their lives. The question must always be, “so, how is this applicable or practical?” or “what does it mean for me?” Educational researchers have long reported that students who learn things just for the sake of learning without any relevance to their lives or that lack true import or meaning for them often forget what they have learned. Meaning and relevance are extremely important to me as well. On the one hand, to teach something that has little to do with practical application or to the lived experience does not work for me. I simply cannot put my energy or enthusiasm behind it. On the other hand, when something is relevant, innovative, and/or practical, it is exciting and makes for engaging classroom experiences that carry on well beyond the classroom into my life and the lives of my students. This is extraordinarily important to me.

Infusion and celebration of pluralism must be a priority in teaching. It is important that multiple perspectives be addressed and not in the way that is “additive.” This means that various issues of class, race/ethnicity, sexuality, and gender be infused into the educational experience, and not merely added on to the hegemonic, dominant perspective, which has been pervasive. This kind of infusion of plurality is crucial, and especially given the diversity of our student body at San Francisco State University. This means that I must be constantly self-reflexive about my own social location as I teach, encouraging students to read texts more critically, include readings that are representative of varied cultural contexts, encourage students to engage in projects that represent pluralism in every way possible. As a teacher, I find myself in a unique position to be cultural worker, in that I can promote diversity, erode prejudice and oppression, promote equity, and foster an environment that holds social and educational justice as high priorities. Demonstrating ethics of care, trust, and respect are paramount. This means that the “bar is set quite high” in terms of expecting that the students and I will not only care about each other, but also care about ideas. Using basic tenets of respect that derive from the ground rules (and from common sense) the students and I create at the beginning of each semester, trust is built, which necessarily is inextricably linked to a worthwhile and meaningful educational experience. It goes without saying that I must model care, respect, and trust as I interact with students, and respect their ideas and agency.

Interdisciplinarity is an important aspect of my teaching. Ideas and concepts often cannot – and should not – be confined to one discipline. The richness of teaching and learning is often enhanced by using an interdisciplinary perspective. This is also crucial in demonstrating the interconnections of disciplines, topics, and research methodologies. It also offers students breadth and depth in a given area of study. Also, because I have had a broad, interdisciplinary education -- from my undergraduate years through graduate school -- I am well-positioned (not to mention philosophically committed) to offer students that perspective. Additionally, my research on school-based sexuality education is highly interdisciplinary. To the extent my research and teaching are connected, I find it most useful and beneficial to use this approach in nearly every class I teach.

Finally, teaching is one of the best ways to learn. As they say, “you don’t know something nearly as well until you have to teach it.” I have found this to be the case. It is not just in the preparation of classes (e.g., lectures, guided class discussions, etc.) that my learning takes place, but rather it is in the process of teaching in which I am getting students’ feedback and reactions that my learning happens most fruitfully. Again, I don’t view teaching in a “top down” way. It is not only in the preparation of materials, but in the dynamic interactions I have in class with students that continues to add so much richness to my own learning. I have grown away from the traditional ways in which schooling has been conceptualized and carried out (e.g., knowledge as already canned or packaged to be transmitted to the students) to a more democratic, pluralistic, and dynamic enterprise.