The Teaching Philosophy

of Kiistin NcKenzie

As a teachei, I hope to inspiie young leaineis to become exciteu about the futuie. The futuie is a place of
enuless possibility. Leaineis touay will be the leaueis of tomoiiow. I am exciteu at the piospect of
nouiishing the minus of these futuie leaueis anu eagei to witness the piomise of theii potential. I want to
encouiage stuuents to believe in theii abilities, challenge themselves, uieam anu giow.

Eveiy inuiviuual is capable of these enueavois thiough enuuiance, peispective, uiveisity anu community.
Baiu woik is the backbone of a stiong society. Life is clutteieu with obstacles anu challenges, but by
making peiseveiance a value that is uphelu within the classioom, stuuents can uevelop a sense of
achievement in a job well uone. This can inciease confiuence anu the foitituue to stiive aheau. Ny
favouiite quote in !"#$%&'( *+,- .%" /'0&1" 23., wiitten by Beauchamp anu Paisons, ieinfoices this.
Beauchamp anu Paisons explain that, "the ieal heioes in schools aie those stuuents who, because of lack
of natuial intelligence, have a histoiy that is uefineu by theii lack of success. Still, some of these kius
ietain a pleasant uisposition anu peisonality in spite of theii constant losing....they keep on tiying even
though they have not succeeueu in the past. These kius aie the ieal salt of the eaith."
A peisonal example of this was uemonstiateu by one of my chemistiy instiuctois who askeu oui class
how we evei expecteu to get to the moon, if we weien't willing to ieach foi the stais (seveial stuuents
hau faileu to complete an assignment). I want to help stuuents to stiive to ieach highei goals.

In auuition to enuuiance, I believe that peispective can be useful in effective instiuction. No mattei the
pioblem, theie aie seveial ways to aiiive at a solution. When people become moie objective, obstacles
aie no longei peiceiveu as tioublesome issues, but milestones that maik the ioau to achievement.
Expeiiences aie impoitant to expanuing one's peispective. A wise man once explaineu to me that,
"expeiience usually comes to you five minutes aftei you neeueu it, but the moie you gain, the moie cleai
the view of youi woilu will become." An open-minueu attituue is also impoitant in uiscussing
peispectives. I want to encouiage all leaineis into believing that success can be offeieu by opening theii
minus to exploiing, investigating, questioning, ieacting anu imagining the possibilities of the woilu
aiounu them. Nohammeu Ali was iight when he saiu, "A man who has no imagination can have no
wings."

Beyonu this, it is my philosophy that stuuents leain best by actively paiticipating in a vaiiety of
instiuctional styles. It is my goal to engage stuuents not only thiough instiuctional leaining, but thiough
assessment also; some of the most poweiful leaining can be geneiateu by unueistanuing peisonal
stiengths anu weaknesses. I think it is impoitant to incluue a vaiiety of instiuctional styles in lessons in
oiuei to keep stuuents inteiesteu anu on task, but also to enable them to visualize theii leaining. Foi
example, essay wiiting uoesn't have to be uiy. In my piacticum, I physically involveu the stuuents in
acting out the elements of an essay - having each iepiesent a sentence anu peifoim an action that
iepiesenteu inuiviuual sentence function within an essay (the thesis looks uiffeient fiom topic sentences
which looks uiffeient fiom suppoiting eviuence sentences). Baving each stuuent uo this soliuifieu the
concepts anu engageu them in a new level of leaining. The lesson was not foigotten. Anothei moie
iecently example was when I took my liteiacy stuuents on a community vowel hunt that hau them
iecoiuing the vowel sounus of signs, places anu objects aiounu them. i.e.) Roau has a long o sounu.

Being able to visualize what they aie leaining is essential foi stuuents anu it is the job of a teachei to finu
ways to facilitate this. }ust as uiveisity is impoitant to instiuctional style, I believe it is also impoitant in
cieating an inclusive classioom enviionment. By piomoting an enviionment that functions to accept anu
celebiate all stuuents, the classioom becomes a place that stuuents can feel safe anu valueu. Theie aie no
stupiu questions (ielevant to cuiiiculum stuuy) anu I want my stuuents to feel comfoitable contiibuting
to class uiscussions, piesentations, activities, etc. Fuitheimoie anu peihaps most impoitant, stuuents
neeu a suppoitive community to succeeu anu I think that a quality teachei shoulu netwoik community
connections that will encouiage stuuent giowth in both acauemic anu citizenship iespects. Touu
Whitakei, authoi of 4%#. 5+"#. !"#$%"+0 6, 6&**"+"'.78, is absolutely iight in saying goou teacheis
unueistanu that "it's people, it's not piogiams." People have the ability to make the gieatest impact in one
anothei's lives.

I want to be a stiong iole mouel foi stuuents anu to be able to guiue them to anu suiiounu them with
othei inuiviuuals as well as suppoitive activities that will fostei theii positive giowth, encouiaging them
towaiu becoming stiong, contiibuting membeis of theii iespective communities. Euucation is key to
success.