Teaching Philosophy

         My teaching philosophy has evolved over the last several years and is the result of my interaction with students, practitioners, and other faculty members.  To a great extent my teaching philosophy is a reflection and emulation of the many people who have mentored and shared with me as I have progressed through my exploration of life.  My teaching philosophy is characterized by service; this service can be seen in three areas of teaching: as a role model, as a mentor, and as a servant leader in the classroom. 

          Mentoring is key to my philosophy of teaching.  I feel that students should be mentored in such a way as to challenge them to explore not only their chosen field of study but to also explore themselves as both individuals and as members of the human race.   The process of mentoring should include encouraging the student to explore and embrace the diversity of life and to constantly develop new mental models of the environment.  The objective of mentoring is development, to develop the student’s ability to challenge existent mental models and to develop within the student a love of learning and the desire to become a lifelong learner.   

           The second aspect, or component, of my teaching philosophy is that of leadership, specifically servant leadership.  The classroom environment should be one of challenge and learning.  This environment can only be developed through the leadership of the professor.  The essence of servant leadership in the classroom is to develop an environment that is student centered and that reflects the learning styles and experiential levels of the student rather than of the professor.  It is said that servant leadership is leadership through service and sacrifice; I offer that this type of leadership is required for effective teaching and mentoring.  The professor as servant leader must share his or her vision of the classroom environment with the students in such a way as to incorporate the expectations of the student into the vision, and thus develop a shared vision with the students and assure their ownership of the university experience.

          The final component of my teaching philosophy is that of being a role model to the students.  The act of being a role model to the students transcends the petty vagaries of daily life; it is the essence of the professorate.  The professor must act in a manner that encourages students to release themselves from their self-constructed prisons of bias and fear and thus enable them to discover and embrace the diversity and mystery of life.  The professor must not only model a role, he or she must live the role.  To this end the professor must demonstrate the traits of a life long learner: continuous intellectual curiosity, continuous professional development, and continuous challenging of limits and existent mental models.