LASHAUNDRA TYLER

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TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

As a writing teacher, I want to encourage my students to embrace, explore, and understand that
writing is more than just essays and grammar. I want my students to be successful in their personal life,
academic endeavors, and career writing. The vision for my classroom is that it will be instructor
facilitated and student centered where students are responsible for their learning (Boud). I believe that
all students can become better and aware citizens through composition.
I understand that students are where they are in their writing because of their experiences,
community, and environments, although its not easy to pinpoint where the problems really begin. I am
a teacher who focuses on the students needs to create a good writing curriculum for my students. This
can be done by creating lessons or using invention strategies such as freewriting, outlining, or note-
taking ones thoughts which can be a precursor to teaching what writing can be and for the writing
process.
I am a teacher offers my students the proper support commits to the students in teaching them
the importance of grammar, writing, and language. I seek to accomplish this in three ways; First,
acknowledge that students are a part of a particular community, but do not use it to limit their
potential. The students community is vital to their perception of self and sense of community
connectedness. (Delpit) Second, recognize that there is conflict between what students have been
taught in their homes, community, environment, and what they have been taught in school. Third, allow
discussion of the injustices students feel when it comes to writing, language, and grammar.
I l use low-stakes writing to encourage students understanding and exploration of the world
around them as well as prepare them for upcoming assignments. Students achieve this through writing
prompts in class, blogging on Blackboard, process journals, freewriting, and mini-group activities.
(Elbow) I want them to understand that they use rhetoric in everything they do such as in tweeting,
posting a status on Facebook, texting, and in speaking to an audience.
I am a teacher who encourages collaboration. Students learn best within a community.
Students can draw from each others strengths to make their writing better. Students will engage in
community practice to foster ideas and make better decisions. Students will participate in peer reviews.
Students are allowed to collaborate on projects such as profile of a place.
I encourage students exploration of various media such as MovieMaker and YouTube, audio
tools such as Audacity, images, and web applications such as Prezi or Storyboard to produce multimodal
compositions. They seek out the best available means of persuasion to reach their audience (Aristotle).
I am a teacher who continues to learn, grow, understand, and stay current on the changes
within this discipline. I want to be able to meet students where they are so that we can analyze, think
critically, and promote social change within our community together.