A Philosophy in Progress ; FA09

This is late. If it were an assignment (which it is) it would or should be taken on its merits with points deducted, according to one philosophy. It would be disregarded completely for lack of punctuality by a few. Given its full due by still another, who might be thankful the student did it at all.

By my standards, which are expressed here for the first time in (semi-) formal form, my philosophy stands with the camp willing to look at each student with very forgiving eyes. I empathize. It is very important, it is true, to learn the particular outcomes; go forward more informed of the subject, able to teach others what's been learned, have the confidence to do what was alien before; to make knowledge out of what was only information, through detailed in-depth study and the practice and application of those techniques, until, by their individual creative acts, each learner comes to understand what they are doing. Yes.

If they cannot do that quite within the framework of academic necessity, by jimminy get it done by the end of the semester, and make it worth the extra effort its going to take to evaluate it at that late hour.

This is the product of a few semesters of teaching experience, drawn upon in all its raw pragmatic dogma. While I can talk about teaching philosophy from as the aspirations of imagination, it would be telling to simply look at the evidence so far. To learn, you must do the work (or at least SOME of it).

The most difficult part of a class is meeting students both individually and as a whole, and I have tended to teach to many ones instead of gathering the strength of the group - there is room for improvement. In the end each one gets a very individual grade, though, and ultimately learns through their own very personal experience.

There is nothing more a teacher can ask than for students to do the work to the best of their individual ability. Some call it A for effort, but I am more stringent than that. A teacher has to trust their judgement of that effort, and so cast their opinion onto the academic record as to whether the work is really the product of learning.

A teacher should inspire their students to engage with the subject, and inspiration is a very intangible asset. There seems no doubt that every student benefits by a teacher's clarity and definition of expectations, rigorous organization and synthesis of the content. Teacher's should strive toward these goals with their curriculum. Whether the students are motivated to do something with those gifts of knowledge, however, is the best measure of success. Every effort should be made to bring passion to the subject.