What is your teaching philosophy?

I believe that a teacher should facilitate the student's learning process. It is my job to guide students as they analyze a text or as they work on refining a piece of writing. I don't want students to just focus on getting the "right answer". For example, if students are working on analyzing a short story, I want the students to wrestle with it. I want them to draw out its meaning and then be able to defend their interpretation of the story with specific evidence from the text. If they get stuck, I will model text analysis with a different story so they can understand how to pull it apart and analyze its elements. If they understand what they need to do at that point, I will send them back to the original story to work through it on their own. Some students might need more support, so then I would use guiding questions as we work on the text together. Whatever strategies are used, it is important that students feel that they have ownership over what they are learning and understand its place not only within the course, but also its relevancy to their other subjects and their aspirations for the future. I want them to have confidence in their abilities. Developing their skills in English and gaining a deeper understanding of the content will serve them well not only in future English classes, but it will enhance their ability to excel in their other subjects.