Martin Teaching Statement

Teaching Statement
Courtney Martin
East Carolina University

Martin Teaching Statement

Teaching Statement
Three principles define the activities of good teachers: understanding ones self as a
teacher, understanding ones students, and defining ones aims and outcomes. Through his book,
The Joy of Teaching, Peter Filene has outlined these criteria about which all teachers should
reflect before, during, and after teaching. It is this reflective process that will produce adept
professionals. Through the application of these philosophical ideas, one is able to develop
individualized best practices. Yet, the order of Filenes topics suggest that knowing ones self
and knowing ones students are of foremost importance. According to Parker Palmer, Good
teachers posses a capacity for connectedness (2007, p. 11). To create this sense of
connectedness, teachers need to not only know themselves, but also know todays student
culture well enough to build good bridges between the course content and what is in [the
students'] heads (Svinicki & McKeachie, 2011, p. 332). Therefore, to better understand my role
as a teacher, I need to explore my own teaching identity and the learning identity of my students.
Who am I as a teacher?
Reflecting on who I am as a teacher was probably the last thing on my mind almost
exactly ten years ago today, the day I received a call that I had been hired for my first teaching
job. I was lateral entry, hired after orientation had already started. I had five days until the first
day of school, and four days until I was to meet with the new sixth grade students and parents for
an orientation. What would I even say? In those five days, two were consumed with school or
county meetings and another half was spent on all the paperwork for a new employee. This
beginning characterized much of my first year; it was survival mode. The year I spent teaching
middle school taught me one very valuable lesson, a lesson I only understood intuitively at the
time: I dont want to teach at a school where everyone except me and the janitors are gone by

Martin Teaching Statement

3:15 P.M. This was my introduction to full-time teaching. I would likely have quit after this
experience if not for a previous job as a long-term substitute at another school with a different
atmosphere.
In the years since my introduction to teaching, my own education in pedagogy has taken
many forms. Not only do teachers vary in their goals, styles, and values, but they also work in
diverse contexts; these teachers need to be able to think deeply about teaching and talk
about it conceptually with colleagues (Filene, 2005, p. 1). It is precisely these differences in
teaching goals, styles, and values in discussion with other teachers that has taught me the most
in my teaching career. But in those first years, much of my growth as an educator came either
from my colleagues or from intuitive understanding of what would help my students to grow.
While in those early years I reflected on assignments and other aspects of class, I never reflected
on who I was as a teacher. Luckily, I didnt try to copy my favorite teachers, but I realize now
that there were times when I play-act[ed] the teachers part (Palmer, 2007, p. 18). I never
made the conscience decision to change that aspect of my teaching. Gradually, as I trusted both
my teaching and my students more, I showed more of myself and my love of English in class.
This concept of building a wall between myself and the students is still a problem for me,
though. I only realized this when reading The Courage to Teach and The Joy of Teaching
immediately after a semester in which I again put up a wall.
My second period English III class was a challenge. Their tenth grade English teacher
described them by saying, They hate life. I didnt want to believe it, of course, even when I
know that teacher is excellent at her job. Now, I understand why she was so negative about
them. They did not want to be at school; they did not have any curiosity about any subject it
seemed; they wanted to sleep and get a grade to pass. After only a few weeks facing their

Martin Teaching Statement

unrelenting indifference, I started putting up the aforementioned wall. Over the next weeks, they
read and did work with all of us in bored misery. At the nine week mark with the possibility of a
fresh start, I took down my wall long enough to talk to them about class, to ask them for input. I
asked them to look through the book starting at a particular page to find material they wanted to
read or to write down general topics. What did I get from them? Some wrote down the works
just after the page I gave them, but most said, Nothing, IDK, or Sleep. The wall came
back up and we read those few works listed by students until I happened to remember an article I
had read about yawning. That article made everyone start yawning and laughing. We discussed
the physical reactions to reading or watching a movie. Students could identify with the yawning
and with jumping at a surprising part of a scary movie. The next day I brought in a work that I
thought they would have a physical reaction to but it didnt work. The kids were disinterested
again, partly because I already had my wall half-way up. The rest of the semester, I occasionally
really engaged them again, but mostly they just did what they had to do to pass. I realize now
that a large part of my struggle was my own wall, my own disconnect.
I am certain I could write a multitude of pages about my identity as a teacher, but the
concept of connectedness and the protective wall has made the most meaningful impact for me.
I understand the effect it had on my teaching and how it will likely affect my teaching in the
future. Armed with the knowledge of this wall, I feel I will be a better teacher.
Who are my students and what do they want?
Students come to the first class wanting to know what the course is all about and what
kind of person the teacher is (Svinicki & McKeachie, 2011, p. 21). The students at my current
school have incredibly diverse backgrounds. I have students who are in gangs or are drug
dealers or homeless sitting beside students who have designer clothes and drive a BMW. I need

Martin Teaching Statement

to be able to make all these semi-strangers with very diverse backgrounds into a community. I
have realized that it is only through my own identity that they can create that community; only
through my learning about them and their learning about me can we [create a community [that]
is a mutually empowering (Palloff & Pratt, 2008, p. 28). Getting to know my students and
allowing them to know me allows the classroom to connect into a community. This allows us
both to be comfortable in an environment that requires connections. This sense of
connectedness and coalescence can lead to an increased sense of knowing one another, or social
presence, through the shared experiences of struggling with course materialconnectedness also
comes through conflict and through learning to learn in a new way (Palloff & Pratt, 2008, p. 51).
Often when students are more comfortable with each other as human beings, they are more
willing to let classmates see them struggle and fail. Without the possibility of failure for the
students, they are not reaching beyond their comfort zones as learners and will not grow.
Designing coursework requires extensive knowledge of the students. The most
important characteristic determining student learning is prior knowledge (Svinicki &
McKeachie, 2011, p. 26). Prior knowledge, or mental models, such as from movies can shape
how students will understand what we tell them (Filene, 2005, p. 14). Yet, if I do not take the
time to understand my students strengths and weaknesses concerning the prior knowledge
needed for classwork, I am inadequately preparing them. Marilla Svinicki and Wilbert
McKeachie (2011) argue that one of the good purposes of lecture is to build prior knowledge (p.
56). Therefore, before I can adequately prepare a lecture, I must know my students.
Knowing students when it comes time for discussion is crucial. To help students learn
and think, you need to find out what is in their heads. Discussion can help (Svinicki &
McKeachie, 2011, p. 37). If I pick ideas or concepts that the students are not interested in, they

Martin Teaching Statement

will find it more difficult to discuss it. If they dont care, they will not try to reconcile, explain,
modify, or integrate new knowledge with old (Bain, 2004, p. 31). If they do not reconcile,
explain, modify, or integrate how can I assess their thinking process during class? The best
teachers didnt ask students to discuss readings; they provoked and guided them into discussing
ideas, issues, or problems that some article or chapter might help them approach (Bain, 2004, p.
127). In order to provoke a response, again, the students have to care. When Palloff and Pratt
(2005) layout the principles to creating good discussion questions, they seem to understand that
relating the material to the students is imperative. In Questioning Techniques for Collaborative
Discussions, they point out that questions should assist learners in getting clear on their
thinking (p. 70), push learners to look at potential scenarios and possible solutions (p. 71), be
designed to stimulate reflection and possibilities (p. 71), and be used to help learners see
connections (p. 71). In other words, I need to understand the students in order to ask the right
questions for them to grow.
In designing assessments or giving feedback, it is imperative that I know my students.
Years ago I realized I had to change the way I assessed papers. I had marked up student rough
drafts with an enormous amount of detail, yet they had not corrected the papers when I received
the final drafts. I talked to them about not correcting the papers. From their responses, I realized
that the number of corrections needed overwhelmed them, so they gave up. Since, I have learned
to focus my corrections/comments on specific elements. This practice has made students more at
ease with my comments.

Conclusion

Martin Teaching Statement

Filene states, Teaching and learning should not finish or terminate at the end of a
course or a year or a book about pedagogy (2005, p. 132); consequently, I cannot simply
explore these concepts once and believe I am finished; I will need to reevaluate each time I
teach. My stockpile of methods is substantial. But when I walk into a new class, it is as if I am
starting over (Palmer, 2007, p. 10). Just as Palmer must explore the possibilities for each new
class, I must explore Filenes philosophical ideas for each teaching situation in order to design
the best course. References
Bain,Ken.(2004).Whatthebestcollegeteachersdo.HarvardUniversityPress.
Filene,P.G.(2005).Thejoyofteaching:Apracticalguidefornewcollegeinstructors.Chapel
Hill,NC:TheUniversityofNorthCarolinaPress.
Palmer,ParkerJ.(2007).Thecouragetoteach:Exploringtheinnerlandscapeofateacher'slife.
(10thAnniversaryed.).Wiley.
Palloff,RenaM.,&Pratt,Keith.(2005).Collaboratingonline:Learningtogetherincommunity.
SanFrancisco,CA:JosseyBass(Wiley).
.(2008).Buildingonlinelearningcommunities:Effectivestrategiesforthevirtualclassroom.
(2nded.).SanFrancisco:JosseyBassIncPub.
Svinicki,M.,&McKeachie,W.J.(2011).Mckeachie'steachingtips,strategies,research,and
theoryforcollegeanduniversityteachers.(Thirteenthed.).WadsworthPubCo.