I teach to promote educational opportunity
and social equity for students from diverse backgrounds, perspectives,
and experiences. I teach composition and literature to help students
develop personal and social agency through reading, writing,
critical thinking, and community service.
- I respect the human dignity, personal experience, and intellectual
potential of every student and colleague with whom I work.
- I believe that my teaching should always advance the causes
of social justice and educational opportunity.
- I believe that reading, writing, critical thinking, and community
service empower students to better understand themselves and
their cultural contexts.
- I believe that teachers have a unique opportunity and responsibility
to demonstrate the power of community to advance human knowledge
and effect social change.
- I recognize that humans learn in a wide range of styles, many
of which may differ from my own approaches to learning. I have
a responsibility as a teacher to consider developments in cognitive
psychology and learning theory as I develop curricula and lead
classes for students with a wide range of styles and skills.
I also have a responsibility to help students develop study skills
and learning styles that may be new and different for them.
- To serve as a catalyst for engaging and empowering learning
experiences with students and colleagues.
- To cultivate the sense of community and mutual responsibility
necessary to sustain growth and progress in my classes and in
the larger communities in which my students, colleagues, and
I learn, work, and live.
- To share my passion for reading, writing, learning, and American
culture and to encourage students to explore their own intellectual,
creative, cultural, and social interests.
- To challenge students to develop their intellectual and communication
skills to the highest levels while providing them with many options
for personalized and constructive support.
- To find a balance between helping students achieve their career
and academic goals and encouraging students to question how and
why cultures impose professional, academic, and other social
standards and criteria.
- To incorporate emerging technologies into teaching and learning
when those technologies enhance the quality of learning and human
interaction, but to do so critically, with an understanding of
the ways that these promising technologies can also perpetuate
and even exacerbate social inequalities.
- To continue to expand and develop my knowledge of composition,
pedagogy, literature, and American culture so that each year
I become a more effective teacher than I was the year before.
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Updated:
January 27, 2006
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Designer and Author: Jim
Sullivan
Miracosta
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