My Teaching Philosophy

"It is in fact a part of the function of education to help us escape, not from our own time -- for we are bound by that -- but from the intellectual and emotional limitations of our time."
T.S. Eliot

Teaching is an important and rewarding profession.  Great teachers have the ability to change children’s lives.  I hope that one day I will have a student who will look back and say “that teacher really helped shape my life.”

 In order to accomplish this, teaching must go outside the classroom.  The teachers I remember from my past are those that I knew truly cared about me.  They took the time to really get to know me both inside and outside the classroom.  They wanted me to learn the material not to make them look good, but to better us as people.  They had true passion for their material and it showed in their teaching.

While it is vital that I provide information to my students, it is equally important how I actually teach the material.  Students should want to learn.  I strive to teach in a way that instills further questions and sparks interest in my students.  Every child has the power to learn if given the correct tools.  I want to provide my students not only with knowledge that can be regurgitated on tests but with the ability to think and formulate their own ideas.  Analysis and thinking for yourself are tools that better people for life.  

send me a comment or suggestion at jmbarnet@usc.edu