Pedagogical Philosophy
In my role as a GT teacher for the particular schools I serve, my teaching philosophy is best described as being Constructivist viewed through a Humanist lens. That is, in order for my students to best learn and grow, I have to actively value my students’ humanity and believe that they possess the ability to learn, and that they can and will create their own meaning and knowledge after being guided through new situations. My role as a teacher is to expose my students to as many ideas and situations as I can, guide them through processing and interpreting the new experiences, and then allow the students to determine how what they discover fits (or doesn’t) into their existing schema and decide what they would like to do with their new-found knowledge. Looking at data for mass incarceration and evaluating and creating solutions for it is not something my students are currently doing in school, and it is an excellent opportunity for my students to process new ideas to help the community.
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