See a Video of my Teaching Philosophy

    What do students and teachers dread most about classes?  THE SILENCE--- The uncomfortable silence after a teacher asks a question in class. The "please don’t call on me" silence. The "what in the world are you saying?" silence. The silence that deepens and stretches for an eternity until a shy hand finally rises, or we’re put out of our misery by the teacher giving the answer. To eliminate this silence, forms the basis of my teaching philosophy.

My objective as a teacher is to create a learning environment where students are not afraid to give a wrong answer, ask a question or voice an idea. Encouraging experimentation, communication, and the ability to learn from mistakes are skills that are just as important as the cognitive knowledge students learn in school. Additional objectives include sparking new interests in students, improving written communication, and being able to look at all sides of an issue.

Fortunately for me, all students eat. As an educator in the agricultural sciences, this fact enables me to bring any subject matter I am teaching into students’ reality. Engaging students in this way proves effective in eliciting participation and building interest in the subject. I utilize many resources outside academia to try and make the connection between subject matter and its application in real life situations. I teach primarily through experience and active learning. I give students a clear, basis of factual information and directions, then step back as they apply this knowledge in as close to real-life situations as possible. Once students have their own experiences, my objective is then to enable critical discussion.

As my objective is to create active learners through activity, my evaluation follows suit. Class participation is the largest indicator of my success. A combination of other tools from traditional tests, to cooperative learning projects are used to evaluate students acquisition of knowledge.