Educational Philosophy
Dad used to say, “pick something you love to do and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” I'm happy to say that I listened to at least one pearl of wisdom from him. In fact, I have grown quite fond of teaching STEM. The best part of our profession is being a part of our student lives as they begin to develop ideas and follow through with solutions. I’ve seen some truly amazing results. I’ve seen students that didn’t care about school grow a love of learning. I’ve also seen students with tremendous expectations demand even more and really stretch to become better. |
As you may have noticed, I've modified the typical STEM acronym to be more reflective of my own philosophy. I call it STREAM. I added the R for Reading and I'll bet you can guess the A is for Art(s). While I truly believe we can inspire creativity in an artisitc way, I also think we can inspire other arts such as social studies, music, and even kinesthetic learning styles such as physical education. A HUGE undertaking in my teaching is for students to understand WHY we have other subjects and how they relate.
I believe all students can learn and I also believe relationships are key to student achievement. It’s incredible to keep up with our students and develop life-long relationships. One of my main goals as a teacher is to engage students. While some might disagree, I do feel it is necessary to entertain students. As a result, I do my best to relate material to students in meaningful ways. Students need to know I am dedicated to serving them and will do whatever it takes to help them succeed. Students also need to know anything is possible. If students believe in themselves, and take the necessary steps to prepare, they can accomplish anything.
In the past few years, our engineering programs have helped several students move on to post-secondary levels. In fact, we’ve sent students to Purdue, Rose Hulman, Indiana University, Air Force, University of Evansville, University of Southern Indiana, Murray State University, Taylor University, Tennessee Tech University in different engineering disciplines. Furthermore, we've had students enter straight into the workforce through programs that have afforded additional training such as Toyota AMT.
I believe all students can learn and I also believe relationships are key to student achievement. It’s incredible to keep up with our students and develop life-long relationships. One of my main goals as a teacher is to engage students. While some might disagree, I do feel it is necessary to entertain students. As a result, I do my best to relate material to students in meaningful ways. Students need to know I am dedicated to serving them and will do whatever it takes to help them succeed. Students also need to know anything is possible. If students believe in themselves, and take the necessary steps to prepare, they can accomplish anything.
In the past few years, our engineering programs have helped several students move on to post-secondary levels. In fact, we’ve sent students to Purdue, Rose Hulman, Indiana University, Air Force, University of Evansville, University of Southern Indiana, Murray State University, Taylor University, Tennessee Tech University in different engineering disciplines. Furthermore, we've had students enter straight into the workforce through programs that have afforded additional training such as Toyota AMT.