My Final Reflection.
My teaching philosophy and how it has changed:
I can't say that my teaching philosophy is much different now than when I started this class. What has changed is my willingness to take bigger chances based on that philosophy. The main thing I will take from this class is to "be the change you want to see." We've read and heard lots of leaders in education talk about the need for more student-centered, interactive education that better engages students' life outside the classroom with what is going on within it. Nearly everyone I've talked to agrees with that basic assumption. And yet so much of the educational environment works against that, both actual and virtual. Classrooms anchor students to desks that point them to the teacher up front. Learning objectives, not student interest, define class content. The despised Blackboard is largely designed for information to flow in one direction, from teacher to student. If I am to take seriously what is being argued: that students should control their own learning, that more freedom leads to more and better learning, that the old idea of the "sage on the stage" is no longer relevant, then I'm going to have to actually allow it to happen, to accept and creatively overcome the obstacles built into the old system that still governs education and trust that it will work out. And I might as well have fun while I'm doing it.
