Personal Teaching Philosophy
By James Michael Menke, PhD
My friend Professor Ron Gallimore once won the Nobel-prize equivalent for innovation in education, the WISE award, for his work in the State of Hawaii public schools. Professor Gallimore wrote a popular biography of Coach John Wooden, UCLA’s winningest-ever basketball coach. The book was titled after a trenchant Wooden-ism: “You Haven't Taught Until They Have Learned.” The subtitle: “John Wooden's Teaching Principles and Practices”.
A foundation for life-long learning
Of course, what helped me learn will never apply to all learners under all circumstances. Yet, the big principles are the same: connect and engage with students’ individual levels. I grew up in Ohio, living near dirt roads in a four-generation household. My parents and grandparents read to me, encouraged me, were truly interested in my school, my teachers, and my performance as a student. Dinnertime was time to discuss what we learned. As one of four young children, they helped me with homework when they could.
My mother grew up in Union City, Ohio, a rough and tumble railroad town. My mother was fierce, competitive, and protective, and wanted the best for her children. She knew education was the way of social mobility and job security.
On that small farm, informal learning resources were deep and rich. Essentially, I lived among several thriving ecosystem laboratories (pond, creek, mud, farm animals, and agriculture) along with four-generations of collaborators. My favorite tutor, Grandma, was just down the stairs. Her kitchen had enough room for my scraps of paper and my frustrations.
In my 7th grade, a new teacher shared my enthusiasm about science. He ignited and gave me permission for rigor, method, and critical thought. During our high school Ohio state tests, I was surprised to find I had scored among the state’s top students in several categories. Yet, I would not learn to study for another few years.
I learned study a few years later when grades slipped precipitously in my then engineering major. From then on, study time was sacred and without interference. I learned to read faster, with intense focus, and to retain more.
Armed with new learning skills, I graduated three years later with summa cum laude honors. From there, I took on my first Master’s degree and eventually a Ph.D. in psychology with an emphasis in research methodology.
I work to instill my students to set aside specific study time for their learning and to experience the satisfaction of mastering something new.
Agile objectives
My experiences have kept me receptive and agile for education innovation. Yet, I still think the meta-communication in education is that teaching works best with younger and adult students trust, relate, and are willing to receive mentorship, in a safe place for discussion, questions, followed by uninterrupted and rigorously defended pre-set time for study. A learning alliance or contract is implied in all courses. Learning is persuasion. Persuasion requires trust in the persuader.
I certainly understand that as a technique, the teaching methods I encountered do not generalize to everyone. I was educated in the teacher-lecture format. Teaching today requires some entertainment and variety. Younger students learn differently from adults. And many adults today are upgrading their education and skills. So we must teach to all ages.
Course correction
From learning theory, we know the best way for someone to learn new material is by building on what they already know. The crucial bit lies in assessing each student’s current knowledge, state of mind, and motivation to learn. Only then may you design the bridge from old thinking to new.
The Association of Psychological Science reported some years ago that frequent testing keeps students engaged with course material. Such “pop quizzes” may be graded, or simply scored in an informal electronic classroom response system. Testing also helps learning by motivating learning. One such technique – learned from an Australian professor – is to administer a two to three-item quiz for five minutes, followed by allowing the student to check for the correct answers. The tension induced by staring at a blank page and trying to recall creates an emotional investment in permanent learning. This method also provides classroom data for future instruction research and publication.
In the end, my own “flipped classroom” seeks to improve engagement and investment in learning to motivate students who may not yet see the reasons. Can we make the distinction between recall and recognition, between memorization and how to think? Recall and thinking are the real prizes. Memorization can be converted to understanding. Anatomy of the ankle can be a memorized list of bones and muscles, or it can be the most distal interlocking subsystem in the evolutionary efficiency of human locomotion – along with weaknesses and defects.
Frequent testing also detects early signs of student disengagement. As a student falls behind, a private conversation should occur. Boredom? Homelessness? Problems at home? The course is not relevant to your future? Not committed to a career you or your parents have chosen for you? Each question has a unique and personal answer that is often solved just by giving the student the opportunity to talk.
Over twenty years ago, I wrote one of the first on-line courses for the University of Arizona. It was asynchronous with ungraded homework assignments. I just this week completed the revision after 20 years for a 2021 release. One reason that course was so successful was my acknowledging their questions and needs of the students along with respecting for their comments.
Learning by assessment
Frequent classroom assessment reveals more than students’ grasp of the material. Assessments check for progress of course objectives and might suggest changing presentation material to meet areas requiring more time or informative side-trips to meet the original course objectives.
Writing is great for revealing aptitudes and organizing mastery of complex knowledge, but are often impractical in large classes. Better to offer multiple choice and short answer questions based on item difficulty to assess the full range of knowledge, skills, and abilities in the physical or virtual classroom. A psychometric analysis enables a preview of course mastery and test validity. Furthermore, testing helps to design a better curriculum, perhaps one better attuned to student needs.
Following the new jobs
Finally, employers also need to educate teachers and learning institutions. A teacher’s academic proclivities can fail in preparing students to meet future job demands. Therefore, our teachers must maintain partnerships with industry and the public sector to continuously update and improve courses to meet real-world facts of the coming skills. What is just good enough for previous generations will likely fail the new ones.
In the end, students need to have mental tools to learn, to know how to think, to think critically, and to understand numbers. Psychology is a great resource for other sciences because it still struggles for a paradigm, and deals with big threats to generalizability and from measurement error. Therein lies the opportunity to gain real-world skills in statistical programming, theory-testing, scientific and critical thinking, and superior communication through speaking and writing. Each class of psychology offers an opportunity to gain real-world skills beyond understanding of human behavior.
Recorded video samples of my classroom management and teaching are on my YouTube channel. These presentations were made for PhD’s and MD’s and support for encouraging and starting their own research programs:
Resources and References
Bloom’s Cognitive Taxonomy
Pocket Guide for Evidence-based Instruction
The Reflective Practitioner, Donald Schon
