My personal philosophy as it relates to providing educational instruction in the modern classroom would be as follows: every student is like a clay bowl that has yet to be fired or placed in the kiln. It is possible to pour into these relatively empty academic vessels enormous amounts information as dictated by the approved lesson plan. Yet, as anyone who has ever taken a pottery class can attest to; prior to “firing” or being placed into the kiln, pottery can be very fragile vessels to work with.

   Further, these vessels often have their own deficits as well as enhancement specific to said student/pottery.  Thus, the educator must be constantly vigilant in recognizing the student as a work in progress. Recognize that these bowls we are entrusted with will ultimately be “fired” in kilns of confidence or destroyed by the lack thereof. An effective modern educator must not only have effective lesson plans, but strategies and re-enforcers that allow students to feel comfortable with the curriculum. When this is done correctly, we produce pottery bowls that feel a since of confidence when confronted with the next academic refill; rather than a sense of apprehensiveness  associated with  having  received a passing grade, yet having no confidence in how the grade was acquired.

     Therefore, it is my personal philosophy that all students can learn at different rates and to different levels.  As a constructivist educator, I believe that students should be guided to education and not given answers.  Students should be taught how to think and not simply told what to think.  It is my belief that I am a lifelong learner who has a constant gift of education to share with the world.