My Philosophy on Education

                                         

 Early in my art teaching career I recall introducing a unit on architecture and design to an eighth grade class.  I was excited about this lesson because it ignited a memory of my own bedroom growing up.  It was a large room, even by today’s standards, and I had slept, played and imagined there for 14 years, ten as the only tenant.  It was my art studio, my study, my media room and my refuge.  As the lesson began I excitedly asked students to imagine their own rooms; to start with what existed and add features they would like.  I was puzzled when many of my students just sat there. Seemingly clueless to the world I thought they were experiencing.  I soon discovered that many had little experience of their own space.   The physical representation of a bedroom or home was inconsequential in their lives.   It was this moment in my career where I truly realized that students understand a variety of things in a multitude of ways.  It was here that I began to understand the value of experience in learning and developing student inquiry.

My initial understanding of the classroom and student achievement revolved around a systemic approach to the classroom and teaching.  My experience has taught me that systemic efforts fall short because each childhood encounter is unique in perspective and perception.   Although we can make generalizations about student response and learning, these stereotypes prevent us from helping each child realize the gifts before them.   It is the role of the teacher to reach every child where they are intellectually, socially and developmentally.  Therefore, learning does not begin or end in the classroom, but a school acts as a conduit to synthesize and stimulate intellectual development. 

I prefer to see education in a cellular rather than systemic context.  Each child brings their own experience into the greater community.  If the individual child is to contribute to a community in a meaningful way,   then that child has to see that he is valued and brings value.  Our ultimate responsibility as educators is to help bring a child up in a greater community where he believes he can contribute and participate.  This requires a thorough understanding of learning styles, pedagogy and instructional strategies along with an insatiable intellectual curiosity on the part of a teacher, the school leadership and the greater community.   The role of state and federal education policy is to provide the time and resources that allow such learning to exist. 

My leadership practice is not merely collaborative but intentional.  As a principal I lead with the premise that I am only as successful as the people around me.  At Myers Park Traditional School and Providence Elementary School we demonstrated significant academic growth through efforts to help teachers understand that they have the prominent role in student success and that they have the ability to move students toward greater opportunity.   I have worked to get the school communities behind our teachers to support them in their classrooms.   Although the qualitative data at both schools shows growth, it is our development as cultures for learning that is most important.  I strive to lead an academic culture where every child has a vision as a prominent contributor to a greater community.