Teaching Philosophy
by
Carl N. Schroeder, M.Ed.
American Sign Language Studies
Western Oregon University
by
Carl N. Schroeder, M.Ed.
American Sign Language Studies
Western Oregon University
Quote from Candidate Statement:
"My vocation to education has two inextricably linked parts of a Dutch term that I learned when I was a young Dutch boy, wetenschapen: weten is in Dutch meaning the whole spectrum of knowledge (wit); and schapen, in Dutch meaning the shaping or leading (leading students into a world in which they learn with disciplined creativity). Accordingly, my philosophy of teaching follows my childhood ideas about how people learn. I have elaborated my teaching philosophy "Passion to Teach and Learn" in my portfolio. (This short paragraph on teaching philosophy is tough to write because I proceeded it through four different languages: Gebarentaal (Dutch Sign Language), Dutch, ASL and English.)"
Wetenschapen: Passion to Teach and Learn
The Dutch word wetenschapen in English translation is a loose form of the word education. However, with it broken down, it can be seen to mean wit-shaping, i.e., molding the brain, shaping the wit to become a deep/faster thinker. Whereas education can be translated to mean giving information to another but not actually being immersed in the process of shaping/molding. To me, wetenschapen is close to mentoring rather than simply educating.
My first principle of professoriate is always demonstrate a passion to learn and teach. There is no unique recipe for passion that works for learning and teaching. While for some students in the newly designed ASL program, it is important to know how to use ASL exclusively, others find the ideas for the courses in ASL interesting by themselves. The final grade has been a top-priority for many students, but I always do my best to explain that it should not be an ultimate goal for acquiring skills in ASL. Otherwise students may lose the skills in ASL after the course is over and that is very undesirable for me. Therefore it is necessary for the passion to learn and teach from different angles.
I always start the first class with a brief historical introduction, explaining my credentials, why ASL we are studying is important, and where ASL is used today. Then I try to explain the ideas behind linguistics and philosophy, propagating the idea that ASL can be approached from two different perspectives, science and art. For example, educators of ASL inform that ASL can be said to be the product of social, educational and cultural developments of only the last two centuries; linguists inform that ASL is a language independent from all other languages by its own rule-governed communication system. ASL can by its very nature not be satisfactorily described on paper; the parts of signs being learned must be examined at as early a stage as possible.
Another very important source for my passion to teach and learn is enthusiasm for acquiring and mastering ASL. My enthusiasm must be infectious enough to transmit to the students. In this case students will learn ASL because of ASL itself and not only because it is used somewhere else. My goal here is to share the beauty of ASL.
The second principle of my professoriate is mentor-mentee learning. Through my pondering aout teaching philosophy, I thought back to my undergraduate cell biology class at Floyd College in Rome, Georgia more than thirty-five years ago. Even though I cannot remember a single fact from the lectures, I can remember at least two activities I had with Professor David Cook, who taught part-time at Floyd. I remember discussing with fascination the probabilities of taking pictures of cell membrane under the elctromicroscope in the lab. The second experience Iremember was having a delightful luch with him and a sign language interpreter. I rememer this luch becuase Professor Cook tiik me to Georgia Highlands College were he was Professor Emeritus and introduced me as one of his extraordinary students to his colleagues.
Later, in 1982, during my senior year at Gallaudet College (now University), the world's only institution of higher learning exclusively for the Deaf in Washington, D.C., my major advisor Professor Trent Batson urged me that I apply for a fellowship underwritten by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. I was selected in the competition with over 1,400 applications for only 70 Fellows, and I traveled and studied in The Netherlands, the country of my birth, for one year after my graduation from Gallaudet in 1983.
in 2005, when I was teaching at Montgomery College, a student of mine Alison Niska was selected as a scholar to present her paper on "Bilingual Education for the Deaf: Facilitating Learning and Equipping Students to Reach their Potential" in the 2005 Beacon Conference for Student Scholars, and I was mentioned as her mentor. Through this thought process I realized that to really remember something, you have to be inspired.
The final principle of my professoriate is modeling professional behavior and respect. To me learning and teaching is palpable: When I can sense it in a student's visible delight in acquiring and using ASL; when I can read the excitement in student's essay about ASL. I cannot say anything better than W. B. Yeats about teaching when he wrote: "Education is not filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
I can best summarize my personal teaching philosophy in one word: passion. Students will enjoy ASL if they have passion to pursue wetenschapen, the molding of wits.
"My vocation to education has two inextricably linked parts of a Dutch term that I learned when I was a young Dutch boy, wetenschapen: weten is in Dutch meaning the whole spectrum of knowledge (wit); and schapen, in Dutch meaning the shaping or leading (leading students into a world in which they learn with disciplined creativity). Accordingly, my philosophy of teaching follows my childhood ideas about how people learn. I have elaborated my teaching philosophy "Passion to Teach and Learn" in my portfolio. (This short paragraph on teaching philosophy is tough to write because I proceeded it through four different languages: Gebarentaal (Dutch Sign Language), Dutch, ASL and English.)"
Wetenschapen: Passion to Teach and Learn
The Dutch word wetenschapen in English translation is a loose form of the word education. However, with it broken down, it can be seen to mean wit-shaping, i.e., molding the brain, shaping the wit to become a deep/faster thinker. Whereas education can be translated to mean giving information to another but not actually being immersed in the process of shaping/molding. To me, wetenschapen is close to mentoring rather than simply educating.
My first principle of professoriate is always demonstrate a passion to learn and teach. There is no unique recipe for passion that works for learning and teaching. While for some students in the newly designed ASL program, it is important to know how to use ASL exclusively, others find the ideas for the courses in ASL interesting by themselves. The final grade has been a top-priority for many students, but I always do my best to explain that it should not be an ultimate goal for acquiring skills in ASL. Otherwise students may lose the skills in ASL after the course is over and that is very undesirable for me. Therefore it is necessary for the passion to learn and teach from different angles.
I always start the first class with a brief historical introduction, explaining my credentials, why ASL we are studying is important, and where ASL is used today. Then I try to explain the ideas behind linguistics and philosophy, propagating the idea that ASL can be approached from two different perspectives, science and art. For example, educators of ASL inform that ASL can be said to be the product of social, educational and cultural developments of only the last two centuries; linguists inform that ASL is a language independent from all other languages by its own rule-governed communication system. ASL can by its very nature not be satisfactorily described on paper; the parts of signs being learned must be examined at as early a stage as possible.
Another very important source for my passion to teach and learn is enthusiasm for acquiring and mastering ASL. My enthusiasm must be infectious enough to transmit to the students. In this case students will learn ASL because of ASL itself and not only because it is used somewhere else. My goal here is to share the beauty of ASL.
The second principle of my professoriate is mentor-mentee learning. Through my pondering aout teaching philosophy, I thought back to my undergraduate cell biology class at Floyd College in Rome, Georgia more than thirty-five years ago. Even though I cannot remember a single fact from the lectures, I can remember at least two activities I had with Professor David Cook, who taught part-time at Floyd. I remember discussing with fascination the probabilities of taking pictures of cell membrane under the elctromicroscope in the lab. The second experience Iremember was having a delightful luch with him and a sign language interpreter. I rememer this luch becuase Professor Cook tiik me to Georgia Highlands College were he was Professor Emeritus and introduced me as one of his extraordinary students to his colleagues.
Later, in 1982, during my senior year at Gallaudet College (now University), the world's only institution of higher learning exclusively for the Deaf in Washington, D.C., my major advisor Professor Trent Batson urged me that I apply for a fellowship underwritten by the Thomas J. Watson Foundation. I was selected in the competition with over 1,400 applications for only 70 Fellows, and I traveled and studied in The Netherlands, the country of my birth, for one year after my graduation from Gallaudet in 1983.
in 2005, when I was teaching at Montgomery College, a student of mine Alison Niska was selected as a scholar to present her paper on "Bilingual Education for the Deaf: Facilitating Learning and Equipping Students to Reach their Potential" in the 2005 Beacon Conference for Student Scholars, and I was mentioned as her mentor. Through this thought process I realized that to really remember something, you have to be inspired.
The final principle of my professoriate is modeling professional behavior and respect. To me learning and teaching is palpable: When I can sense it in a student's visible delight in acquiring and using ASL; when I can read the excitement in student's essay about ASL. I cannot say anything better than W. B. Yeats about teaching when he wrote: "Education is not filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
I can best summarize my personal teaching philosophy in one word: passion. Students will enjoy ASL if they have passion to pursue wetenschapen, the molding of wits.
;-)
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