Humanistic Education in a College Math Classroom

Kaitlyn M. Cohan

Teaching in America 86514

November 16, 2021

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When it comes to being a teacher, it is extremely important to see your students not only

as your job, but as people with their own lives and feelings. All too many times I have witnessed

teachers use humiliation and oppression to gain control of their classes. In one of my former high

school classes I had a teacher who would humiliate the students that were late in front of the

class. After being humiliated the student would be silent for the rest of the class and avoid any

form of participation. It is this form of punishment that will cause students to isolate themselves

from class which will only hurt their education. Due to this I align myself with the philosophy of

humanistic education. This philosophy is committed to a social and intellectual climate

defending students against intellectual oppression, physical punishment, and dishonor (Khatib et

al., 2013).

This psychology can be categorized into three main principles namely 'individual

self-worth', 'feelings are as important as facts', and 'personal, social and moral development

becomes at least as important as academic development' (Khatib et al., 2013). Students place too

much of their individual self-worth in their grades. By doing this, if a student fails a test, they

often lose the majority of their motivation, and their mental health is decreased. If this occurs

repeatedly, by the time a student graduates their view of themselves will be skewed and leave

them with no sense of self-worth. To the point of the second principle, when teaching it is very

important to take your students' feelings into account. This will help you gain their respect and

cause them to feel safe in your classroom. By allowing this the students will be more prone to

participate in the class and listen to your instructions. To the third principle, if a student is only

good at receiving good grades, they will essentially fail the rest of their life. To succeed a person

must be able to communicate well with others, be creative, understand the idea of right and

wrong, and understand their own emotions. If these simple ‘common knowledge’ tasks are never
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learned, then the students will never be able to become a fully functioning part of society. This

will also cause them to feel left out, stupid, or abnormal, further hurting their mental health and

self-worth.

The role of a teacher is to nurture a student's talents and to help strengthen their

weaknesses, all while making them feel safe and confident. As a future college math professor

my students will already have preconceived notions of if they will do well or not. Some may

enter believing they will do fine, and others will come in expecting to struggle and praying only

to pass. These expectations are based on how they fared in their previous math classes. However,

it is my job to take both kinds of students and help them build their confidence in math and

within themselves. To do this, I will make sure my students feel comfortable and safe enough to

ask questions and express themselves. This can be hard for math classes as the answers are

almost always right or wrong, with no room for a grey area. Due to this it is critical for me to

approach my students with tenderness so that they do not become embarrassed when they are

told they are wrong. This approach will also allow them to feel safe enough to ask questions

about material they are confused about and build a sense of trust between my students and

myself.

Creating a productive learning environment is one of my main goals when I become a

teacher. This means that the classroom is safe, orderly, and focused on both academic and

social-emotional learning (Eggen and Kauchak 2014). At the beginning of each class, I plan to

ask my students how they are feeling. My teaching style will be a cross between student centered

and teacher centered teaching. The beginning of the lesson will be teacher centered. This is

where I will introduce the topics and teach my students the lesson. However, towards the end of

the class it will be student centered, where my students will receive practice problems to do and
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will always be encouraged to ask their classmates for help if they are struggling. However, if it

seems like the whole class is struggling, I will go over the problem on the whiteboard. If a

student gets the answer correct, I will encourage them to complete it on the whiteboard.

However, I will never force a student to go to the board. This can cause unnecessary anxiety for

them and only make them not want to participate more. It is important as a teacher that I respect

my students' boundaries.

The goal of education is to have the students learn the essentials of life and to prepare

them for adulthood. A proper education will leave the student confident in their skills and ready

to face new problems and tasks. This goal relates to humanistic education as psychology values

learning morals, socialization, and other life lessons, all things that will make a person feel

confident and prepared for life.

Although I know tests will cause my students stress, I will need to give them to assess

their knowledge. I will also give out homework at the end of each lesson that will be graded. I

have had a class where the only grades in the gradebooks were our test grades and it led to a

great deal of stress and anxiety when it was test time. By grading the homework, my students

will have some buffer grades to help them succeed. I will be refraining from giving out quizzes

as they would overload my students with too many assignments and cause them unnecessary

stress. There will also be two projects a semester, one at the beginning and one at the end, that

will relate the math class to the real world. This will be to engage the students more and to

provoke their creativity, a skill that is often lost during math classes. These projects will also

most likely be group projects to help them be able to socialize and make relationships in my

class.
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Since math at a collegiate level is often difficult to understand, I expect to run into a fair

amount of academic underachievement. To combat this, I will set up at least one tutoring session

a week for my students to come in and ask any questions they have. However, as many of my

students will have other classes and jobs, I understand that they may not be able to join. Due to

this I will encourage them to email me any questions they may have and will utilize technology

to try and set up one on one video calls for tutoring. If a vast majority of my class can only go

tutoring if it is virtual then I will make that the norm for my classes. I understand that my

students will all be busy and will do my best to try to take their schedules into account. If a

student is still struggling after receiving extra help, I may send them to another professor to see if

their way of explaining is better for that student. I will also send out the notes for each lecture at

the end of the day. I have a professor who does that, and it helps profoundly.

I plan to use a smart board during my lessons. I will have PowerPoints with the key

objectives and the lesson preplanned. This is to save time on having to write out definitions,

theorems, and practice problems on the whiteboard. I will not have the solutions to the problems

pre typed, as the best way to learn math is to watch it be done step by step and then try the

process on your own. My students should have no need for technology during class time and

should only require paper, pencils/pens, and a calculator. I will give my students access to

calculators during tests if they do not have a graphing function. Students will waste too much

time and lose too many points over basic arithmetic otherwise. It is more important to me that I

can give them the time to focus on the theorems and equations they are to learn rather than basic

arithmetic. Any socio-economic problems that may occur in my class should be handled through

the college itself. The best I can do is be understanding of my students' situation and try to
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produce a solution that works for both of us. Whether this be giving them paper copies of

assignments or having the school supply them with essentials such as paper or pens.
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References

Kauchak D. Classroom Management: Creating Productive Learning Environments. In: Eggen P,

editor. Introduction to Teaching: Becoming a Professional, 7e. Hoboken, NJ: Pearson

Education, Inc.; 2014.

Khatib M, Sarem SN, Hamidi H. Humanistic education: Concerns, implications and applications.

Journal of Language Teaching and Research. 2013;4(1). doi:10.4304/jltr.4.1.45-51