Bartolotta 1 Teaching Philosophy In Why School?

, Mike Rose makes a simple but eloquent statement about education; A Good Education helps us make sense of our world and find our way in it (31). This has been my belief as an educator since before I read Rose, yet Rose expresses my belief more succinctly than I could. My goal as a teacher of writing is to encourage students to ask themselves: how does writing shape my world? How can I write back to that world? How does my writing help me find my way in the world? I believe education should be rooted in everyday experiences of the world, and that the classroom becomes a sacred space where students and teachers come together to ponder their world and their place in it. I believe that the education that helps us make sense of our world and find our way in it ultimately prepares us to become engaged citizens of our classrooms, neighborhoods, nations, and world. A Good Education to me does not call us to merely deconstruct the world around us, but to edify students to engage that world. I encourage students to engage their world by connecting the world outside the classroom to students in a way that makes texts, individuals, institutions and ideologies mentionable, comprehendible, and able to be interrogated. In my classroom, students read seemingly dense texts such as Supreme Court Decisions and National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accident reports to understand how texts can shape their lives. When I teach First-year Writing, students read Supreme Court Decisions to understand the way justices make arguments that ultimately have huge ramifications for the whole nation. In my Technical Writing Courses, students read NTSB Accident Reports to understand how an important regulatory body presents and analyzes evidence and clearly writes about highly technical concerns clearly in an effort to protect the public from catastrophes. Both of these examples are sometimes met with resistance from students, but ultimately the response from students has been positive with many calling the texts and our discussions about them interesting and useful. I believe that I should incorporate my own research interests into the classroom. Students are excellent checks on my own thoughts, but I believe part of my job is to model the professionalism, rigor, resourcefulness, high standards and novelty that I approach academic work with. My decisions to use NTSB accident reports and Supreme Court Decisions into the classroom come from my desire to model my own academic research to students. Because my teaching and research agendas are both informed by my belief in pursuing a good education, each agenda keeps the other in check; my research consistently has to do with everyday experiences that are intelligible to students and my students get to see the vigor, hardships and joy of thorough research and hopefully come to think of themselves as researchers as well. By bringing my research interests to the classroom, I have forged relationships with students outside the classroom based on mutual research interests. Some students have shared with me that my efforts to engage them in their own research interests have shaped the majors they join as well as the way they write years after our time in the classroom is over. I consider this my proudest accomplishment, and I will continue to join research and teaching interests in my classroom. I believe that the classroom is a sort of sacred space where we come together to ponder and discuss our world and our place in it. Through our inquiry, we can come to realize our own strengths and weakness in communication, and how messages, no matter how small, persuade us. I believe that this inquiry, even at its most discouraging points, is still a celebration of the faculties of the human mind, and ultimately helps people appreciate themselves and others anew. Rose, Mike. Why School? Reclaimimg Education for All of Us. New York: The New Press, 2009.