Thomas Horsley Teaching Philosophy

William Arthur Ward once said, “The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.” This was certainly true of teachers that I’ve had throughout my education. My academic and professional careers are a product of courses taught by some of the most influential people in my life, great teachers. Likewise, I teach with the goal of my passion and enthusiasm enabling students to reach their potential and succeed. Establishing and maintaining a personal relationship with students is the foundation of my philosophy; I believe this serves as the basis for student learning and development. I incorporate students’ interests into instruction, letting them know that their input is critical in our democratic classroom. My teaching style is centered on Socratic questioning and classroom discussion. Unit construction is structured to promote students’ self-efficacy in building their confidence, communicating that they can achieve anything with hard work.

Having just transitioned from middle to high school as they deal with the developmental challenges of adolescence, students need a teacher who acknowledges, understands, and addresses their affective needs. They need to feel a sense of belonging in the classroom and to feel valued, important, and worthwhile… because they are. In practice, teaching secondary biology, I have a caring and empathetic approach, establishing relationships with students from the beginning of a course and fostering positive relationships amongst the students within a class. I believe that every student can be reached through a personal connection, a constant willingness to help, and a genuine belief that she or he can and will succeed. I consciously make an effort to convey my belief in students in my every interaction. I let my personality shine through, sharing personal, relevant details from my life in relating to students’ experiences as they are encouraged to learn from my own.

I believe all students are inherently good and want to learn and develop as human beings, and that often times, misbehavior on their part, is the fault of their teacher. As stated by Haim Ginott, I believe good teachers “confer dignity on their students by treating them as social equals capable of making good decisions.” I approach students knowing that they are “social equals” who want to learn and actively participate in class. I assume the best possible motive behind students’ behaviors, and am always aware of the possibility of students having a hard life at home. My job is to provide a classroom that facilitates their learning and development both academically, and more importantly, socially and morally. I have an overarching democratic philosophy, and want students to feel that their input is valued and shapes the classroom. At the beginning of the school year, I discuss a core set of classroom rules, and use this conversation as a starting point for to establish the most important rules for each class. I make a conscious effort to model the kind of behavior, trust, and respect that I expect of my students. In a case when a student violates our mutually agreed upon expectations, I emphasize to that student that they have a choice, and that they are responsible for the consequences of their choice.

Whether in class discussions or one-on-one, I respond to questions with questions, and prefer to let students derive their own answers and come to their own conclusions.

However, I want students to consider relevant issues and diverse perspectives, to better articulate their own views and broaden their understanding. I prefer to play the role of a facilitator during such activities, guiding and redirecting discussion only when needed. I have high expectations, and a constant willingness to help. However, I am persistent in encouraging students to complete their work, and accept only valid reasons for not respecting due dates. I let my students know that they can always come to me or contact me with any questions they may have, and that I am always willing to spend extra time outside of class going over assignments, course material, etc. I strive to provide a safe and comfortable classroom with consistent routines and procedures. In this way, I seek to minimize common classroom sources of anxiety and stress, and encourage students to take risks in their learning.

I emphasize student responsibility and try to instill a sense of intrinsic motivation and a love of learning. I do not believe in the use of external motivation for learning. I encourage intrinsic motivation through rewarding students with my praise and approval. They will derive their own motivation for learning through their achievement and success in our class. I structure classroom assignments, activities, and other formative assessments to support and constantly gauge students’ learning, and administer summative assessment only when I am sure that the class as a whole is ready to succeed. Additionally, I survey students prior to each unit of study, and incorporate their interests into instruction. In this way, I strive to make content meaningful to students, while peaking their interest and further fostering their internal motivation.

My overarching goal in teaching biology is to foster scientific literacy in students. I want students to understand the underlying mode of thinking inherent within the scientific method; how empirically based deductive reasoning supported by evidence from peer-reviewed sources can lead us to a well-substantiated conclusion, that upon discovery of contradicting information, is always subject to reconstruction. I want students to be skeptics, never blindly accepting anything they hear, but instead seeking validation and exploring other possibilities – substantiating their views and opinions as opposed to exhibiting cognitive rigidity in acceptance of ideas based on familiarity and comfort. Students need to understand at a fundamental level, “What is science?”

I seek to provide a broader context to course material, illustrating to students how the material they are learning is applied within the field of biology and to their daily lives. I update course material with current literature and provide students with concrete, practical examples. I have had diverse exposure to the field of biology, primarily through my years of fieldwork in ecology and conservation biology conducted in many remote habitats throughout the world. I strive to bring these experiences to the classroom, demonstrating my love of biology to students, while relating my experiences to course material and classroom discussion.

I teach to help students realize their potential, to further their enthusiasm and drive, and to be there for them as they wrestle through adolescence and bridge the gap between middle and high school. Furthermore, I realize that I will be students’ first exposure to science in their freshman year. I consider this a heavy responsibility. The vast

majority of my friends that I have worked with in many different fields in biology have told me that their interest in science began with their high school courses. I want to be that spark for my students, to show them my passion for biology with the hope that it might be contagious. I strive to make every class I teach practical, relevant, and meaningful. I teach because I enjoy it, because I love interacting with students and helping them realize and pursue their passions. I want my students to one day reflect upon their schooling and think of me as I think of teachers who have inspired me. To inspire, to me, means to instill knowledge, passion, and motivation that brings about action. I want my students to act, to bring about change, and to be significant contributors within their chosen fields.