Why do you want to teach?

      It is a question I am commonly asked and constantly strive to answer. I believe that education is for everyone and I do not simply want to impart a strand of facts for students to remember.  I want to share my joy of learning and discovery with all of my students, so they can take part in the wonder of how the world works. I want to share not just the deep curiosity about far away places in a distant time or near places in the present time, but also the love of the questions “Why?” and “How?”. Why are things the way they are and how can we change them to make the future better?

 

Why history?

      When asked about their favorite subjects in school, the majority of students will say that math is hard and history is boring. No one cares about what that “dead guy” said or thought about 300 years ago. But history is important; history is a part of us; a part of society, a part of every word we speak, every book we read, and every street we walk down. Everything has a history and a past. All of those histories and pasts directly affect the here and now.

How do you teach?

      Teaching is often stereotyped and presented as the teacher standing in the front of the classroom giving a lecture on a subject while most of the students slouch in their seats, text their friends, or daydream about the boy or girl sitting in front of them.  The students in any classroom are diverse people and learn diversely,  and presenting a lesson in the aforementioned manner may reach few if any of the students in the class.  I present lessons in a differentiated manner, making sure to incorporate visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning styles wherever possible.  I present classes with a variety of learning level activities and assessments to engage the knowledge and understanding of the students.  I believe that by doing so I will present material that may be uninteresting to the students in a way that will engage students.