John Frye
Teaching Philosophy
Doctoral Canidate
Department of Geography
University of Georgia
I have always been compelled to participate in situations which allow me to influence the lives of others. What greater profession to choose to fulfill this passion, than teaching. As a teacher, I see myself impacting the lives of students by helping them obtain skills that encourage them to become life-long learners. Two of the most important skills used to becoming a successful life-long learner are critical thinking and problem solving.
In order for these skills to be developed and enhanced in the classroom, a teacher must understand the diversity of students which are enrolled in the class. Each student comes into class with various schema. Students also learn in a wide variety of ways. In the five years I have been both a teaching assistant and contract faculty member, I have found that an active learning environment in a classroom best supports students with diverse backgrounds and learning styles. This method of teaching is best summarized by an old Chinese saying: “I see, I forget. I hear, I remember. I do, I understand.”
I believe that the first step in producing this active learning environment is encouraging and allowing students to ask questions at anytime. I provide a non-threatening environment in which all students feel safe. In the classroom, I stop frequently and check understanding about the concept just covered thus engaging students in the topics being discussed. I also ask higher level questions to help students gain a deeper understanding and use real-world examples in everyday life to demonstrate various scientific concepts. These methods can be used in physical geography, weather or climate, and most any other subject being taught. Students become active learners and use their new knowledge of a concept by relating it to everyday life. This is an excellent way to comprehend concepts they may be struggling with.
Another way I create an active learning environment is by utilizing daily weather briefings in my weather and climate classes. These briefings allow students to apply the concepts learned in class to the current weather condition. This is extremely beneficial when a significant weather event is occurring locally or around the world. Conducting hands-on experiments and demonstrations in the classroom are often used to enhance the active learning environment that I create. This active learning is continued outside of the classroom by promoting student usage of on-line discussion boards about concepts that may need further explanation. Students are also encouraged to bring questions about newspaper or television reports to the attention of the class for discussion with their peers. This allows critical examinations of the content contained within reports on concepts they have learned about physical geography, weather, or climate.
Each of these skills, however, can be applied by the student to other aspects of their daily life. A life long learner is a person who examines the world around then using critical thinking and problem solving to make sense of what is going on in the world. My goal as an educator is to help provide the tools and resources so that all students leave my class with not only a deeper understanding of geographical topics, but also with the skills needed so that they may become life long learners. I hope to influence a new generation of life long learners.